Repairing painted bricks.

When bricks are painted they may hide the beginning stages of deterioration because the paint will hold the brick faces to the wall. However after some time the wall will deteriorate and even at a more rapid rate than if the wall wasn’t painted. You see the paint holds in the moisture not allowing evaporation to take place. This locks in the moisture and lets the freeze thaw cycle do its’ damage. The following pics show you what happens to the wall and how we repair the damage. Just click on any picture to enlarge the gallery.

Are you calling for an estimate?

Folks… I know this is a kind of sticky issue but I just have to say something…

When you call in for an estimate? Please be honest with us. We really are here to help you solve problems.

I’m getting to old to play cat and mouse games with people, so if you don’t want a ‘professional masons’ opinion… please don’t call. I mean that sincerely.

Sometimes people call in acting like they got this huge project that needs to be done and if I play my cards right… I might get the job.  Really? Thanks but no thanks. I get all the work I need without having to jump through hoops. Not that I won’t for a honest customer, as I will. Please not games.

Look I’ll say it right here… if you are looking to get some work done ‘in the near future’ then I’ll bend over backwards to do what I can for you. But if you are just shopping, let me know, I’ll still stop by and look at your problem but maybe not quite as quick. You understand don’t you? I have bills to pay so I need to estimate work that folks want done NOW… not next year.

If I see a ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard then there is a charge of $39.95 (as of this date) for my time and to write an estimate. Otherwise your estimate is free.

Call me when you are ready to get your worked priced out. Thanks

Peace to all of you!

Michael

Is spring finally here?

Hehe… well the temperatures a pleasant 69 degrees today (March 10th)!

Hurrah’s!

Been a long winter hasn’t it!

Today would be a good day to get out and look at all the masonry items on your home: your patio, chimney, brick work, stone retaining walls, sidewalks and the like. I think you’re going to find some damage this year from the harsh winter we’ve just had. So if you see some cracks, spalling (flaking of bricks or concrete) or broken pieces of brick, stone, stucco and concrete give us call.

We’ll be happy to stop by and have a look.

Peace to all of you!

Michael

Chimney Stucco Repair Video

Chimney stucco must stand up to the most rigorous conditions facing any material on your home. Deciding when to repair and when to replace the stucco on an older home is the most important decision that needs to be made when deciding to perform a chimney repair. Watch this video for more information.

video management, video solution, video streaming

Just take the chimney down.

Sometimes it is more economical and prudent just to take an old chimney down and terminate it just above the flashing.

This is particularly true where you have extreme heights to deal with or difficult staging problems that can make the cost of accessing the chimney expensive. By taking it down then you know you won’t have to deal with any chimney problems again because… it’s not there! Read more

Chimney Crown Repair Video

The most important part of your chimney is the chimney crown. Watch this video and learn how we solve chimney crown repair problems.
video management, video solution, video streaming

Rain, rain, rain… rain!

Many customer have contacted me regarding their projects wanting to know when we will get them in the schedule. I thought I would post some information here so customers and prospects alike will have an idea of how the scheduling works for our construction and repair projects. A day of any type of rain or snow usually moves our projects back by a day so 3 days of rain a week moves your schedule back three days.

First and foremost we are in a weather sensitive industry. If you report to an office each day and work under controlled (air conditioned or heated) conditions, then you likely look to the weather as an attraction – interesting to watch but not really affecting your daily job.  For just a moment, try to imagine performing the work you do each day at your desk, outdoors! Imagine the wind blowing your papers around or the rain getting into your computer and printer or your feet freezing in the snow or the heat and cold. You probably never thought about this before but we face these issues everyday.

We will usually give you a window of one to two weeks in which we will perform your project unless other wise instructed. Since a lot of our services are small in nature and done on the exterior of the home, we don’t have to meet with you to have access to your home. That way you don’t need to take off work or arrange for others to meet with us while your project is going on. We circle the city every few weeks and when we come into your neighborhood, your work will be completed in fact customers contact us frequently and tell us “We never even knew you were here until we saw the repair done! Thanks.”

Paying for your job. If we happen to catch you at home while we are doing the repair then by all means pay our men when they are completed or if you like leave a check for them taped to your door so they cvan pick it up when they have completed the work. If you are going to pay by credit card then call our office and give them your credit card number. You project will not be billed until after the job is completed.

shedule your work  and are small by nature we have to have the freedom to schedule them as we see fit in order to continue giving our customers the best possible price. All we ask is that the exterior water be turned on in case we need it. We’ve been at this a long time and know how to work around our custoA day of rain completely alters the schedule and add to this the potential problems of orders being delayed, shippments coming in wrong, employee issues and you begin to see that we are just like any other business in that things change.

Since we cannot contact our customers everyday

Stone Wall Repair Video

Thousands of old stone retaining walls or stone structures are  deteriorating. Find out how we combat deterioration by watching our video on tuck pointing of a typical stone retaining wall. 
video management, video solution, video streaming

Old Concrete Steps Resurface Video

Old concrete steps and porches can be dangerous for your health and those of your family. Check out this video of how we address deteriorating concrete steps and porches and  how we can re-surface your old concrete. Remember that replacement is always the first choice if you have the funds. We provide our re-surfacing service to help people keep their steps and porches safe for use but it is not permanent like ‘new’ concrete. Yes it will buy you some time but we can’t tell you how long it will last… to many variables.
video management, video solution, video streaming

This porch foundation was crying for help!

One of the most common requests we get besides chimneys rebuilding, is for repairs porch foundation stucco repairs. Usually a corner of the porch foundation has ‘chunked’ off because of excessive water building up in the foundation. This comes from the porch runoff that usually goes down one side or another and constantly saturates a particular corner of the porch foundation stucco and ultimately causes it to fail. Read more

Next Page »