The reasons St. Louis became a brick city are manifold: clay deposits in the earth, innovative brickmakers here in town, European immigrants who knew how to stack and scrape the blocks into elegance.

Q-Some of the mortar in my brick chimney is cracked and falling out and I would like to do the necessary tuck-pointing myself. Do you have any advice? A-Scrape out all the old mortar that is loose and ...

Brick chimneys and walls can last decades, but they can become damaged by moisture and other environmental elements if not regularly maintained. Tuckpointing, which is the process of repairing mortar ...

Dear James: We have a brick house and the mortar between the bricks has fallen out in spots. It looks terrible. What is the best method to repair this and how can I get new mortar to look like the old ...

Water, snow and ice erode both brick and mortar. Perhaps the most damaging of the three is ice. Water that soaks into the mortar between brick can and does freeze. Water expands as it freezes and this ...

Dear James: We have a brick house and the mortar between the bricks has fallen out in spots. It looks terrible. What is the best method to repair this and how can I get new mortar to look like the old ...