Chimney Repair
Crowns, flashing, rebuilds and repointing — the most exposed masonry on any building.
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Exterior Services
Tuckpointing & Masonry Repair
Failing mortar joints ground out and repacked — the most important maintenance a brick building needs.
Chicago is a brick city, and brick buildings fail at the mortar long before they fail at the brick. Tuckpointing — grinding out deteriorated mortar joints and repacking them with fresh mortar — is the single most important maintenance a masonry building receives.
Luna's Roofing Service PC provides tuckpointing as one of our four core services, and we do it alongside roofing rather than as an afterthought. On a flat-roofed Chicago building, the parapet mortar and the roof membrane are one system.
Why Mortar Fails First
Mortar is deliberately softer than brick. That is by design — it is the sacrificial element, absorbing movement and moisture so the brick does not crack. But once the joint face erodes back, water gets in behind. In Chicago that water freezes, expands roughly nine percent, and levers the joint wider. Then it thaws, more water gets in, and it happens again — dozens of times each winter. Left long enough, the freeze-thaw stops attacking the mortar and starts spalling the faces off the brick itself, and at that point you are no longer looking at tuckpointing but at brick replacement.
Where Roofing and Masonry Meet
Most of the flat roof leaks we are called to in Chicago do not begin in the field of the roof. They begin at the parapet — the masonry wall running up above the roof deck around the perimeter. Water gets in through open mortar joints or a failed coping cap at the top of that wall, travels down inside the masonry, and emerges below the roof line where it looks exactly like a roof leak. Replacing the membrane without addressing the parapet fixes nothing. Because we do both trades, we diagnose the whole assembly.
Tuckpointing & Masonry Services
- Full and spot tuckpointing on facades, parapets and chimneys
- Parapet wall rebuilding and coping cap replacement
- Brick replacement where spalling has gone past the point of repointing
- Lintel replacement and repair where steel has rusted and jacked the masonry
- Chimney rebuilding, crowns and flashing
- Caulking and sealant at masonry joints and window perimeters
- Masonry cleaning and water-repellent sealing
- Mortar colour and profile matching for historic buildings
Signs You Need Tuckpointing
- Mortar you can scratch out with a key or a screwdriver
- Sand or mortar dust collecting at the base of the wall
- Visible gaps, cracks or recessed joints across the facade
- Damp patches or efflorescence — white powdery staining — on interior walls
- Brick faces flaking, popping or crumbling
- Stair-step cracking through the mortar joints
- A leaning or bowing parapet above the roofline
Tuckpointing across Chicagoland
We provide tuckpointing in Chicago, IL, Cicero, IL, Berwyn, IL, Oak Park, IL, Elmwood Park, IL, Schaumburg, IL, Naperville, IL, Joliet, IL and everywhere else inside our 100-mile radius. Free estimates throughout.
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Answers
Tuckpointing — Frequently Asked Questions
Typically every 20–30 years for the whole facade, but exposed elevations — usually south and west — and parapets above the roofline often need attention much sooner because they take the worst of the weather.
Mortar needs to cure above freezing, so the practical Chicago season runs roughly April through November. We will not repack joints in conditions that will cause the fresh mortar to fail.
Yes. Colour, texture and joint profile can all be matched, and on older buildings the mortar mix matters too — modern high-cement mortar is harder than soft historic brick and will damage it. We specify appropriately.
No. It is structural maintenance. Open joints let water into the wall, and in this climate that water freezes and progressively destroys both the mortar and eventually the brick. Tuckpointing on schedule is far cheaper than masonry rebuilding later.
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