The mortar joints between bricks and stones can become porous with age, allowing rainwater to penetrate to the inside. This can cause damp patches to appear on interior walls and ruin decorations. The ...

Q. I need to repair the mortar joints on my older brick home that was built in the late 1800s. I’ve seen some horrible workmanship where the mortar doesn’t match at all, and I want to avoid this. How ...

Dear Tim: I have a lovely brick patio that has mortar between the brick. After pressure-washing it this past weekend, I noticed several locations where the mortar has disintegrated. Most of the mortar ...

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.

Try to break a chunk of granite with a cold chisel and hammer, and you may not even scratch the surface. Like other dense stone, it should last indefinitely in walls, patios, steps, chimneys and other ...

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 ...

If properly designed and constructed, brick masonry can be highly durable and tends to demand little in the way of routine repairs. However, it is still important to conduct regular inspection of the ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As the weather starts to change, cracks in stone and paver walkways can begin to be more of a problem. Moisture can work its way into any cracks in ...

Q: My house was built in the '40s and has a cinder-block foundation. On the inside, it has paint that's peeling. Some of the blocks are crumbling, but the problem is not deep, less than an inch. In ...