Masonry in Woodhaven, Queens

What Masonry Work Do Older Woodhaven Houses Need?

Most are frame houses with masonry in key places: porch piers, brick or block foundation walls, chimneys and front steps. Those parts carry weight or take weather, and when they fail the damage spreads to the wood above.

Porch piers hold up the porch roof and floor. A pier that cracks, leans or loses mortar can let the porch sag. Many Woodhaven porches have stood for a hundred years, so the piers have seen a lot.

Foundation walls below older houses are often brick or stone laid in lime mortar. That mortar turns soft and sandy with age, and water moves in.

On Jamaica Avenue, mixed use and apartment buildings have brick facades, parapets and storefront piers that need their own kind of care.

Corner buildings on Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard are exposed on two sides. Both walls take wind driven rain, and the corner brick often takes impact from trucks and delivery carts. We pay close attention to those corners.

Stone and brick retaining walls beside steps and driveways appear on sloped lots. A wall that holds soil needs weep holes and gravel behind it, and we check both before we call a wall sound.

How Do We Repair Masonry on an Older House?

We find out why the masonry moved, remove damaged material and rebuild with brick, block or stone suited to the original. New work is bonded to old and set in matching mortar. Where wood meets masonry, we make sure water drains away.

Porch pier work often means jacking or supporting the porch while we rebuild. We plan that carefully, and we tell you when a carpenter should be part of it.

Foundation walls get repointed and, where bricks have crumbled, rebuilt. Drainage around the wall is checked, since a dry wall lasts longer.

Do you work on chimneys?

We repair the masonry parts of a chimney, such as the stack, crown and joints. Flue liners and heating units go to other trades.