Here are some pictures of jobs that we have done showing the original condition along with improvements and some of the work that was done to get there.
The deferred maintenance on front porch wall led to failure of the wall and it started to collapse causing damage to other sections of the home. The homeowner had several issues with structural damage to historic home porch. Bricks were falling into driveway and eventually completely collapsed so that the front pillar was pushed out from the home. The deterioration was putting stress on other parts of the home including the wall, roof, and supports. If left un repaired, the front porch would eventually collapse causing major repair costs to much of the home. We salvaged original brick and stone and replaced when necessary to match existing home and installed steel wall ties (steel supports) to reinforce brick and wall to provide longer lasting brick bringing the wall back to its original design and appearance. The structure was reinforced and the homeowner no longer had to worry about a major collapse and tens of thousands in repair costs
We needed to remove the entire top layer of brick because at some time prior to this, another person did a very poor job tuckpointing and the bricks we’re falling apart. Because of the bad work water started getting into brick causing failures and cracks throughout. The first thing was to find a similar looking brick and then rebuilt the entire job with a matched color pigmented mortar for final touches. The result matched the modern look of the home, alleviated water problems, and will last the home owner for years to come.
This decorative stone lamp post is very common in this neigborhood. They used to have gas lanterns on every house in this area making it a signature design of the period, fashion, and area. The stones came loose from deteriorating mortar between stones and there were some pieces falling off. We wanted to maintain the original look for the homeowner so we mapped out where every stone went and proceeded to removed every stone all the way down to footing. The next thing was cleaning off all original mortar joints from each stone and then after it was clean and prepped, we began to rebuilt it exactly the way it was originaly with matched pigmented mortar similar to the house colors.
We were called to this condo because water was leaking into the owners bedroom and damaging carpet, causing mold, and seaping on the interior walls. We removed a section of brick on the exterior (while saving as many original brick as possible) to discover the cause and location of the water leak. We installed a rubber flashing on interior wall (behind brick and under first course of brick) to assure that if any water does get in again that it diverts out rather than inside the wall. After the flashing, we replaced all original brick back on the wall using carefully colored or “pigmented” mortar to match. Because of the damage, a few bricks needed to be replaced but we were able to find some that almost exactly matched the color and pattern of the original. We solved both the water leaking and the bricks matching so there were no signs of water damage and water would not leak there again.
This home had a chimney was severely deteriorated and many bricks were loose or had already fallen out. Again, because of work that previously had been poorly done (tuckpointing badly). There was some scaffolding that was erected up and around chimney for working and preventing any damage to the roof. First, the old chimney bricks were torn down carefully below the roof into the attic. We found a very similar brick that matched in texture and color and then rebuilt the chimney to the original height and to city codes. Although this chimney lasted for over 50 years, the poor job that was done tuckpointing caused severe deterioration but after rebuilding, they should see many decades of use without any problems.