DEAR TIM: I’ve just placed an offer to purchase a two-bedroom house. It’s an older building, probably close to 70 or more years old. After placing the offer, I then took a closer look around the ...

The English word "joint" has many different meanings, not only in the medical, political and social realms, but also in the world of architecture. A joint, and specifically the masonry mortar joint, ...

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 ...

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.

Q: It appears I wasted some money five years ago. I had my brick building repointed with new mortar, and it has deteriorated quickly. Do you have any idea what caused that? The building is close to ...

Masonry construction is one of the oldest methods of creating built structures. However, the brick wall has changed considerably since the first fired clay bricks were laid nearly 8,000 years ago. To ...