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 ...

Brick walkway or patio mortar joints need to be almost level with the brick tops to avoid water damage, as well as deter unwanted plant growth. Repairing the mortar joints between walkway or patio ...

Avoid costly damage to brick or stone structures by repointing loose, cracked or crumbling mortar. Step 1: Use a cold chisel and a hammer to clean out the mortar joint to be repaired. Place the chisel ...

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 ...

Q: Mortar is falling out of the inside of the granite foundation in my 137-year-old house, and wind and rain are coming through. What can I do to stop it? A: When mortar comes out, put new in. It's ...

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 ...

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the typical U.S. family spends close to $1,300 a year on their home’s utility bills. Small leaks around the house often waste a lot of that energy. There ...

One of the most common questions people have when preparing to tuckpoint (replace deteriorated mortar between bricks) is how to make the new mortar look similar to the "sound" mortar already in the ...

Q: My house was built in the '40s and has a cinder-block foundation. On the inside, it has paint that's peeling. Some of the blocks are crumbling, but the problem is not deep, less than an inch. In ...