Crumbling mortar, cracked joints or loose brick? We repair the damaged spots and keep your good original joints in place.
Brick repair in Chula Vista usually means repointing, which is cutting out the worn or cracked mortar between your bricks and packing fresh mortar in its place so the wall stays tight and keeps water out.
Most calls start with something you can see. It might be sandy mortar collecting at the foot of a wall, a crack that zigzags through the joints or a brick that wiggles when you push it. The fix is most often new joints, not new brick. Loose brick in a driveway or patio is a different job, and our driveway pavers page covers that one.
The price and the schedule both turn mostly on how much of the wall needs new joints, and on an older house, how closely we have to match the old mortar. I'll show you exactly what I'm seeing before you decide anything. We're licensed and insured for masonry work, so you're not taking a chance on who's up on your wall.
Call (619) 257-1054 or use the form and tell us where the brick or mortar is giving out. We'll set a time for me to come look at the wall with you.
I come out myself, show you what I see and mark the damaged joints with you so we both know what gets repaired. Then I send the estimate in writing, so you know the price before any mortar comes out.
If you go ahead, we check with the city first and pull a permit if the job needs one. I run the work on site with our crew the whole way through.
When the joints are done and the site is clean, we walk the wall together. I'll point out what we repaired and anything worth keeping an eye on.
Original joints in good shape hold up better than repointed ones, so I'd rather keep yours than redo a whole wall. We cut out only the damaged mortar, clean out the joints, pack new mortar in firmly and tool the face so it lines up with the joints around it.
The mortar matters as much as the work. New mortar should be no stronger than the old, because harder mortar pushes the stress into the brick and the faces start to flake off, which masons call spalling. On an older home we talk about matching the old mortar before we mix anything, and when it's needed, a lab can test samples from your wall so the new mix comes as close to the original as possible.
What our brick repair covers:
If the bricks are sound and it's the mortar that's failing, repointing is almost always the better choice, because it keeps your original wall and costs far less than tearing it down. Rebuilding a section makes sense when bricks are cracked through, badly flaked or the wall has started to lean. A leaning wall that's holding back soil usually needs more than brick repair, and that's where retaining wall construction comes in.
Repointing is slow hand work, so the biggest factor is how many joints need new mortar. Height comes next, since a tall wall or a chimney means ladders or scaffolding. Replacing broken bricks, finding a color match for older brick and lab testing the old mortar, when it's needed, all add to the job. A few cracked joints on a garden wall sit at the low end, and a whole face of an older house sits at the high end.
I started K&L in Chula Vista in 2023 after teaching myself masonry by patching brick and then working next to experienced masons. I come out to every job myself and I'm on site with our crew while the work happens, so the person who looked at your wall is the one answering your questions.
Before we touch anything, I'll show you what I see and why, and I'll ask you questions back, because you know how your house has behaved. We protect the plants and paving below the wall and clean up the mortar dust before we leave. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
Tell me where the mortar is failing and whether your house has a chimney or counts as historic, so I come out ready.
Tell us where the brick or mortar is failing and how to reach you. We reply within one business day to set up a free on-site estimate, with no obligation.
Your brick needs repointing where the mortar is crumbling, cracked, has holes in it or has worn back more than 1/4 inch from the face of the brick. Joints that don't show those signs should be left alone, so we only repair the ones that do. A few close-up photos help me tell you what I'd look at first.
Professional brick repointing across the US usually runs about $400 to $2,500 per 100 square feet of wall, and that's the market's range, not a quote from us. Where your job lands depends mostly on how many joints need work and how hard the wall is to reach. Your own number comes from the written estimate after I've seen the wall.
Some do and some don't, and the city's Building Official is the one who issues them. The city exempts maintenance repairs made with similar materials, along with freestanding masonry walls up to 48 inches tall, while other repairs to regulated structures need a permit. We check with the city before work starts, and when a permit is needed, we pull it, line up the inspections and keep you posted.
If the city counts your home as a historical resource, a major alteration needs its approval first, and the city has to find that the work keeps the exterior's material, color and texture. The work also has to meet the Secretary of the Interior's standards for historic properties. That's one more reason we match the old mortar and repair only what's damaged, so let me know when you call and we'll plan for that review.
Look the contractor up on the Contractors State License Board's online license check, which shows their license and any complaint disclosure. The board's masonry classification covers brick and other masonry units laid for walls and fences, with or without mortar, so that's the license to look for on a brick job. The board also suggests reading its page on hiring a contractor before you sign a contract.
Mortar joints typically last more than 25 years, while the bricks themselves can go well past 100. How long yours hold up depends on how exposed the wall is and the mortar used, so over a wall's life you can expect to repair joints now and then. That's why we'd rather fix worn spots as they show up than redo a whole wall early.
We're based in Chula Vista and repair brick in National City, Bonita and the other cities below. Pick yours, or call (619) 257-1054 if it isn't listed.
