Try to break a chunk of granite with a cold chisel and hammer, and you may not even scratch the surface. Like other dense stone, it should last indefinitely in walls, patios, steps, chimneys and other ...

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 ...

Q. I need to repair the mortar joints on my older brick home that was built in the late 1800s. I’ve seen some horrible workmanship where the mortar doesn’t match at all, and I want to avoid this. How ...

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 ...

Dear Tim: I have a lovely brick patio that has mortar between the brick. After pressure-washing it this past weekend, I noticed several locations where the mortar has disintegrated. Most of the mortar ...

Q:After a hard rain, we found water in our basement near where our chimney attaches to the house. We noticed that the caulking between the chimney and the house is dry and cracking. We also noticed ...

If properly designed and constructed, brick masonry can be highly durable and tends to demand little in the way of routine repairs. However, it is still important to conduct regular inspection of the ...

Dear Nina: Complete glass block window installation kits are available, but it is not difficult to do it yourself using individual glass blocks and mortar. This will result in an extremely strong ...