Last week, I fielded no fewer than five phone calls from homeowners with the same grim news. They found it nearly impossible to get quotes from contractors to do fairly simple repairs. Each caller’s ...

I am a renter in a beautiful duplex brownstone in Carroll Gardens. We have exposed brick walls in the kitchen, with a non-working brick fireplace. The owner has chosen not to seal the interior brick.

INDIANAPOLIS – Do you know what “repointing” bricks means? By definition, it consists of “removing a portion of the deteriorated mortar and redoing the joints with new mortar.” Doing that basically ...

Dear James: The mortar between the wall bricks is crumbling in spots and looks bad. How can I repair it so that it does not look much different from the existing mortar joints? — Nick R. Dear Nick: It ...

Brick is some seriously durable stuff—clay bricks commonly endure for a century or longer, and there are plenty of examples of brick structures that are much older than that. If you have a brick home ...

When the mortar between bricks starts to fail, more significant problems will begin to emerge. Water will have an easier passage into the structure of your home, leading to unwanted damp issues.

Brick houses may be sturdier than traditional wood-framed builds, but they need frequent maintenance to keep them stable. Most importantly, homeowners are being urged to check the mortar at the start ...

Q: We love our family room corner fireplace with rock but hate the color of the grout. The grout is dark to medium gray and we prefer light gray which we think would look better as our decor is mauve, ...