Masonry restoration in Huntsville AL - tight joints and clean brick without damage
Crumbling mortar joints or stained brick? We repoint and clean your walls the gentle way, so the brick stays sound and keeps its face.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What does masonry restoration on a brick house involve?
Masonry restoration in Huntsville usually comes down to repointing, where we take worn mortar out of the joints and put new mortar back in, along with a careful cleaning so your brick walls shed water and stay sound.
Most calls start with sandy mortar, a stained wall or brick faces flaking off. The price turns mostly on how much wall needs new mortar and how hard it is to reach, and the schedule turns on the weather for any cleaning and on historic review if your house needs it. If some bricks are cracked through, we fold brick repair into the same job. I'll give you your own figure in a written quote after I've seen the wall.
How do you know your brick and mortar need work?
Sandy, recessed mortar joints
If you can scrape mortar out with a key, or the joints sit well back from the brick face, the mortar has worn out. Water gets into open joints and works into the brick, so the longer you wait, the more likely you're paying to fix brick as well as mortar.
Brick faces flaking off
When the face of a brick crumbles or pops off, water is usually trapped in it, sometimes after a past pressure washing. That face doesn't grow back, and each winter you wait usually adds a few more bricks to replace.
White crust or dark streaks
A white powder or dark streaks under a sill or gutter mean water is moving through the wall. Cleaning the stain without finding the water just means cleaning it again, and a wall that stays wet wears out its joints faster.
How we handle masonry restoration
First I look the whole wall over and find what's causing the damage, because repointing a wall that stays wet wastes your money. Then we clean the gentle way, not with a blaster or a hard spray, since those strip the face off brick and it doesn't come back, and any cleaning that uses water gets booked well away from the cold months. Next the old mortar comes out. National guidance for historic masonry says hand chisels and mash hammers take more labor but in most cases do the least damage, while grinders in unskilled hands can ruin soft brick, so ask any mason which tools they'll use on yours. Last, we pack the joints with new mortar, and that choice matters more than anything else on the job, because the mortar has to let moisture and vapor move out of the wall or the brick itself takes the damage.
Restoration often turns up other work. If the old firebox is past saving, fireplace installation gives you a sound new one, and if you'd rather put a new face on a wall or chimney than restore what's there, that's stone veneer installation.
Spot repointing
This suits a house where only a chimney, one weathered side or a few patches have gone soft. We repoint just those areas, so you fix the trouble spots without paying to redo joints that still have years left.
Whole-wall cleaning and repointing
This suits an older home where the mortar is worn all the way around and the brick needs cleaning too. Doing it as one job keeps the wall consistent and gets every joint sealed against water at the same time.
Get a written estimate for your brick and mortar
We reply within one business day to set a time. I come out myself, the estimate at your property is free with no pressure and no obligation, and you get a written quote after I've seen the wall.
- Based in
- Huntsville, AL 35801
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 6 AM–9 PM, Sat–Sun: 7 AM–9 PM
What happens after you call about your brick?
Here's how a restoration job runs from your first call to the final walk-through, and who you'll deal with at each step.
Call or send us a note
Call (256) 417-4326 or use the form, and we'll get back to you to set a time. Photos of the worn joints or stains help me come prepared.
I come out and look
I look over the brick and mortar, take photos and tell you what I see, including what doesn't need doing. Then you get a written quote that lays out the work and the price, so you're not guessing.
Permit check, then the work
If you go ahead, I check the permit and historic district steps with the office that covers your address before anyone touches the wall. Our crew lead then runs the work, and I walk the finished job with you.
Why Huntsville homeowners call Capstone for brick restoration
I do every estimate myself
I sold brick, block and stone for years before I laid it, so I've seen which repairs fail and why. You get a straight answer on what your wall needs, and I'd rather lose the job than sell you work you don't.
Mortar work since 2021
We've been in business since 2021, five years now, and mortar work on older brick homes is what we're best known for. Our crew lead runs the work on site with our masons, so the job is in steady hands from start to finish.
We're licensed and fully insured
We're licensed and fully insured, and I'm glad to show you the paperwork before you sign anything. That matters on a job with ladders, staging and your house all in the same place.
Historic review started first
If your house is in one of the city's historic districts, I get that review moving before we book the crew. The city's faster staff review lists routine exterior repairs and can be filed any time, which can keep a small job from waiting on the Commission.
If your joints are going or your brick needs cleaning, call or send us a note and I'll come take a look. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
Masonry restoration and historic review in Huntsville
The City of Huntsville has four locally designated historic districts, Twickenham, Old Town, Five Points and Alabama A&M University, and inside them exterior changes need approval from the Historic Preservation Commission before the city issues a building permit, either a Certificate of Appropriateness or an Expedited Staff Review. The city asks for a certificate when exterior features are restored, renovated or changed in material, color or structural appearance, and that includes painting brick that was never painted. Whether your repointing job falls under that is the city's call, not mine, so we check with the office that covers your address before work starts and handle the permit when the job needs one.
Outside the districts, the houses still tell us a lot. On older brick homes around Huntsville we usually find the worst joints on the weather side, under gutters that overflow and where downspouts dump against the wall, so we fix the water path along with the mortar. We see the same aging brick on jobs in Decatur and Athens.
Questions about masonry restoration in Huntsville
What is the best way to clean old brick without damaging it?
The safest way is a gentle method, not abrasive blasting or high-pressure water. Those clean by wearing the surface away, so they can etch the mortar joints and strip the outer face of the brick for good. Water at the pressure common to power washing can easily etch marble, other soft stone and some kinds of brick too.
When is the best time to clean brick in Huntsville?
In the warm months, well clear of any chance of frost. Water left in the masonry can freeze and crack the brick or make its surface break away, and a wall can take more than a week to dry, so water cleaning should stop several days before the first average frost, or earlier if cold is forecast. Huntsville's normal lows in December, January and February sit right around freezing, so those months are out.
How do I know if my Huntsville home is in a historic district?
Ask when you call, because I check your address with the office that covers it before any work starts. If you're in one of the four districts named above, historic approval comes before the building permit, so it goes at the front of the schedule.
Does a mason need a state license in Alabama to repair a brick house?
A mason counts as a residential home builder with the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board when the labor and materials for repairing or improving your home cost more than $10,000. Work outside the board's jurisdiction is excepted, so on a larger job it's fair to ask your mason, or the board, whether that license applies.
How much does masonry restoration cost in Huntsville?
It comes down to how much of your wall needs new mortar and how much cleaning goes with it. A chimney or second-story wall needs staging, soft old brick takes slower hand work and broken bricks add replacement, all of which raise the figure, while one weathered side costs far less than the whole house. I'll give you your number in writing after I've seen the wall.
What is the difference between repointing and tuckpointing?
Most of the time they're used for the same job, taking out worn mortar and putting new mortar in its place. Repointing is the proper name, and you may also see pointing or, a bit loosely, tuckpointing on a quote.
Related masonry work around your restoration
Fireplace installation
If restoring the brick shows the firebox is cracked or worn past repair, a new fireplace can be built to suit the room and the chimney you have.
Stone veneer installation
When a wall or chimney needs a new face rather than saving the old one, stone veneer gives it a fresh, solid look over a sound backing.
Service areas for masonry restoration near Huntsville
Capstone Huntsville Concrete and Masonry is based in Huntsville, Alabama, and does restoration work in the 10 cities listed below, including Madison and Guntersville. We work in other cities around Huntsville too, so if yours isn't here, call and ask anyway.
Get your brick and mortar looked at
Worn joints let in more water every season they stay open, so a look now usually means less to fix later.