Chimney Tuckpointing by Local Jacksonville Masons
Worn mortar joints raked out and repacked to suit your brick. Our local family masons start with a free joint inspection.
- Family owned and operated
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- Upfront pricing, no hidden fees
Get Your Free Inspection
Get a quote for chimney and fireplace repair and installation in Jacksonville.
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Why Choose Us
Repointing by the family that mixes the mortar
- Locally owned in Jacksonville
- Family owned and operated
- 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- Free inspection and estimate
- Same-day service available
- 10% off when you book today
Mortar is meant to wear before the brick does, and repointing at the right time saves the brick. We are a family business, and our masons rake each failed joint to depth, refill it with mortar matched to your brick in hardness and color, and leave the sound joints alone. Every face gets its own written price up front, and we knock 10% off a first service. Call (904) 920-5495 to book a free inspection of your joints.
- Family owned and operatedThe family masons who map your joints also mix and pack the mortar, so the color match stays in the same hands.
- Upfront pricing, no hidden feesEach face of the chimney gets its own written price, so the worst sides can go first if you choose.
- Workmanship warrantyOur workmanship warranty stands behind every joint we repoint.
What's Included
Chimney tuckpointing, joint by joint
Sandy, recessed joints are the early warning on a brick chimney, and catching them in time saves the brick. Chimney tuckpointing, which on a chimney means repointing, rakes the tired mortar out to a sound depth and packs in fresh mortar your brick can live with. Local, family-owned masonry pros do it under our chimney masonry repair service, and the first step is a free inspection of the joints.
- Sandy, recessed joints raked out to sound depth
- Mortar type picked to suit your brick
- Joint color matched with a cured test batch
- Caulk and smear patches cut away before repointing
- Only the faces that need it, priced face by face
How It Works
Four steps to sound mortar joints
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Tell us which sides look worn
Call and describe where the mortar looks sandy or sunken. We set up a free joint check at a time that suits you.
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Every joint scratched and mapped
The mason tests the joints on each face and marks the failed courses on a sketch, which becomes your written price.
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Raked deep, packed in lifts
Failed mortar comes out to at least twice the joint width, head joints by hand. New mortar goes in thin layers, each firmed before the next.
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Tooled to match, cured slowly
Joints are tooled to the profile around them, and the fresh mortar is kept from drying too fast for the first few days.
10% off your first service when you book today
Book your repointing today and the joints come in at 10% off as your first service.
Materials
Mortar and sand for a lasting repoint
- Mortar to ASTM C270
- The standard sorts mortar into Types M, S, N and O, from hardest to softest. The type your brick can live with is written into your quote.
- Softer than the brick
- Preservation Brief 2 has new mortar softer and more vapor permeable than the brick, so stress and moisture leave through the joint instead of the brick face.
- Sand chosen for color
- Color comes mostly from the sand. A test batch cures against your old joints first, because mortar dries lighter than it looks in the bucket.
- A repellent only where it helps
- Once the mortar has cured, some chimneys take a vapor-permeable water repellent on the maker's schedule. The write-up says if yours needs one.
Free Inspection
Joints mapped on the free inspection
- Which faces and courses need repointing, marked on a sketch of the stack
- The rake depth for each joint width, and how the head joints are cut
- The ASTM C270 mortar type and how its color is matched
- Spalled or cracked brick to replace before the joints around it
- Crown, flashing or cap defects found while we are on the roof, priced separately
- Roof protection, access and clean-up
- What can wait, and what to watch until then
FAQ
Tuckpointing questions we hear
Can you repoint only the top of my chimney?
Yes, if the lower courses are sound. The courses near the crown are exposed on every side, so we check them first, and the quote covers only the faces that need work.
How many days will tuckpointing take?
A chimney top is usually a short job from the roof, while a whole stack takes longer. The estimate shows the days on site and any cure time before a fire.
Do you repoint chimneys in Springfield?
Yes. Springfield is one of the Jacksonville neighborhoods we serve. Tell us which faces look sandy when you call (904) 920-5495, and the free joint check starts on those sides.
Will the new mortar match my old joints?
Close enough to read as one wall. We mix a test batch, let it cure against your brick and adjust before the real work.
Does the price change once you start raking?
Not for the faces on the estimate. If raking shows a cracked brick we did not price, we stop and ask before replacing it.
Common Problems
Mortar problems our repointing specialists fix
Sand trickling out of the joints
The mortar has lost its binder. We rake those joints back to sound mortar and repoint them before rain starts working on the brick.
Joints sunk well behind the brick
Weather has eroded the mortar, so water sits on the brick edges. Recessed joints are raked square and refilled in thin layers.
Caulk smeared over old cracks
A skim over unraked joints peels within a season and hides how far back the failure runs. We cut it out and repoint properly.
Cracks stepping up through the mortar
A stair-step crack can be shrinkage or movement. We check the brick and the crown above before quoting the joints.
Our Services
More masonry work for your chimney
- Chimney Masonry RepairCracks, open joints and damaged brick repaired with matched mortar.
- Spalling Brick Repair and Chimney Brick ReplacementSpalled or cracked chimney bricks cut out and replaced with matched units.
- Stucco Chimney RepairCracked, hollow or stained chimney stucco patched to match, over block or framing.
- Stone Chimney RepairLoose stones reset, joints repointed and failed stone veneer reinstalled on its backing.
Get your mortar joints checked for free
A local mason scratches every face, marks the failed joints and writes down the repoint before any mortar is mixed.
Free InspectionFull service details
Tuckpointing and repointing on a chimney
Strictly, tuckpointing is a decorative finish, a thin ribbon of contrasting mortar laid over flush joints. On chimneys the word has come to mean repointing, the real chimney mortar joint repair. Worn mortar is raked out to a set depth and the joint is rebuilt with fresh mortar, so a request for tuckpointing a chimney is a request for repointing.
Neither word covers the smear job, where mortar or caulk is buttered over cracked joints without raking them. The thin skin has nothing behind it to grip, so it peels away, and while it lasts it hides how far back the old joint has failed.
Why chimney mortar is meant to wear first
A brick chimney is two materials doing different jobs. The brick carries the load and sheds the weather. The mortar keeps the courses in line, takes up small movements from heat and settling, and gives moisture inside the wall a path back out. Because the joint is the softer of the two, it wears first by design, and a joint left open for years is where brick damage starts.
How deep chimney repointing goes
For chimney repointing, Preservation Brief 2 sets the depth by the width of the joint. Old mortar comes out to at least two to two and a half joint widths, and deeper wherever it is still loose, which for most brick joints works out to roughly half an inch to an inch.
Head joints, the short vertical ones, come out by hand with a chisel, because a grinder that slips sideways cuts into the brick. Long bed joints can sometimes be opened with a grinder where the brick and the joint width allow it, then squared up by hand. Raked joints are brushed out and dampened so the dry brick does not pull water out of the new fill.
Spalled brick and wet chimney tops come first
Repointing restores joints. Bricks whose faces have spalled off come out first and are priced on their own, and a cracked crown or lifted flashing above the stack is fixed in the same visit so the new joints stay dry.
The free inspection tells you which of these your chimney needs. Call (904) 920-5495 to book it.
Guides
Chimney and fireplace guides
- What moves the price of repointing and brick repair on a chimneyMasonry work is priced by how deep the damage runs, in the joints and in the brick itself.
- Tuckpointing and repointing, explained for chimney ownersTwo words for mortar work get used as one. What each really means, and the signs that chimney joints need attention.