Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

What is tuckpointing? If you've ever renovated a brick or stone structure, there's a good chance you've come across this process. Tuckpointing is a fairly common practice that involves freshening up ...

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 ...

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 ...

The University of Virginia Chapel was swathed in scaffolding for the new year. Facilities Management’s historic masons, specializing in historic preservation, have been working on repointing the ...