Brick repair in Lake Elsinore CA - fixing the joints that are actually giving out
Crumbling or cracked mortar between your bricks? We find the joints that are failing and repoint them so your brickwork holds up again.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What does brick repair involve, and does my wall need it?
Brick repair in Lake Elsinore usually means repointing, where we clear out the mortar that's crumbling or cracked between your bricks and pack the joints with fresh mortar so the wall is tight again.
Most people call us after they brush a hand along a wall and come away with a palm full of sand, or notice dark lines where the mortar has pulled back from the brick. The price turns on how many joints are really failing, how deep they've worn, whether any bricks have to come out and how easy the wall is to reach, so a garden wall at knee height is a different job from a tall wall beside a second story. The schedule turns on whether your job needs a permit and an inspection, and on keeping fresh mortar out of rain and hard afternoon sun while it sets. I'll give you your own figure on site at the estimate. If the trouble is up at the roofline, our chimney repair page covers that work.
How can you tell your brick needs repair?
Mortar crumbling to sand
When you can rub mortar out of a joint with your thumb, it has stopped holding the bricks tight. Left alone, water works into the gaps and the soft spots spread to the joints next to them, so a small patch turns into a bigger repair.
Joints sunk behind the brick
If the mortar sits well back from the face of the brick, weather has been wearing it down for years. The deeper it goes, the more the brick edges are left exposed and the more old mortar we have to clear out to reach solid material.
Thin cracks in the mortar
Hairline cracks through a joint, or between a brick and its mortar, let water in even when the wall looks fine from the street. Caught early that's usually a joint repair, but water sitting in a wall keeps working on it.
Chipped or flaking brick faces
When the face of a brick starts to flake, something is pushing on it, and water or a poorly matched old repair is often behind it. A flaked brick doesn't grow back, so it's worth finding the cause before more of them go.
How we handle brick repair
I start by walking the wall and checking the joints one by one, because the crumbling patch you noticed is rarely the only one and rarely the whole wall. We repoint the joints that are actually giving out and leave the sound old mortar where it is, since good original joints are worth keeping and it keeps the labor where it belongs. On the failing joints, our crew carefully clears the old mortar out down to solid material so the brick edges stay whole, mixes new mortar to match the old in color, packs it in firm and shapes it to match the joints around it. Then we brush the brick faces clean so you're left with a wall that looks like one wall, not a patchwork.
Brickwork often sits right beside other masonry around a house. If your brick steps or edging run into the drive, we can look at driveway pavers on the same visit, and when a brick planter or garden wall is holding back soil, that's retaining wall construction and has to be built for the load it carries.
Spot repointing
This suits most walls we see, where a few areas have worn through and the rest of the mortar is still sound. You pay for the joints that need work and keep the original ones that don't.
Repointing a full wall face
When most of the joints on one face of a wall are crumbling or cracked, redoing that face in one go gives an even look. It also saves you calling us back for patch after patch.
Brick replacement
If a brick has flaked or broken, we cut it out and set a close match in fresh mortar. It suits walls where a handful of bricks are damaged and the rest are in good shape.
Get a free on-site estimate for your brick repair
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I'll come look at your brickwork and give you a free estimate on site, with no pressure to book.
(951) 579-7076- Based in
- Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
- Hours
- Mon–Sun: 6 AM–11 PM
What happens after you call about brick repair in Lake Elsinore?
Here's how a brick repair job runs from your first call to the final look, and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
Call or send the form
You call (951) 579-7076 or send the form, and we get back to you to set up a visit. Tell us roughly where the wall is and what you've noticed.
I look at the wall
I come out, look at the joints up close and ask what you've noticed, because when and where it started tells me a lot. You get the estimate right there, priced on the joints that are actually failing, so you're not paying to redo good mortar.
Sort out permits and inspections
Once you're ready, we sort out what the local office asks for. In Lake Elsinore, work that needs a permit is inspected by the city's building official and stays exposed until it's approved, so we plan the crew's days around that visit.
Repoint and walk through
Our lead mason runs the crew on site while the joints are cleared and refilled. When it's finished, I walk the wall with you before we call it done.
Why Lake Elsinore homeowners call E&M Lake Elsinore Concrete & Masonry for brick repair
The cause found before the fix
I'm the one who comes out, and I'd rather work out why your mortar is failing than just fill the crack you can see. Fresh mortar over a problem that's still there only fails again.
Running this business since 2013
I started this business in Lake Elsinore in 2013, after school summers on a masonry crew mixing mortar and hauling block. You get someone who has been around brick a long time and enjoys a tricky problem.
Licensed and insured for this work
We're fully licensed and insured. That protects you and your house while a crew is working against your walls.
No bigger job than you need
I'd rather fix the one thing that's actually failing than sell you a bigger job than you need. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
What matters most on a brick repair is finding the joints that are really failing and leaving the rest alone. Send us a message or call (951) 579-7076 when you're ready for us to take a look.
Brick repair and the work around it in Lake Elsinore
Lake Elsinore's building official issues permits, and the city asks anyone who plans to alter or repair a building or structure to apply for one first. We don't assume a brick repair is too small to need one, so we find out which office covers your address, the city or the county, and take care of the permit paperwork when the job needs it. We're based in Lake Elsinore and work across the cities and communities around it, and we sort out the same question on brick jobs in Wildomar and Menifee.
Expansive soil, the clay kind that swells when wet and shrinks as it dries, is known to exist in Lake Elsinore, though no map shows which parts of the city have it, and a city environmental report treats the Elsinore fault zone as active within the area it studied. Those are findings about the area, not about your house, but they're one more reason I look at the whole wall and what's around it before deciding the joints are the whole story.
Questions about brick repair in Lake Elsinore
How do I know if my brick mortar needs repointing?
Brick industry guidance calls for repointing when mortar has worn back more than 1/4 inch from the brick face, or when it crumbles, has holes or shows hairline cracks. Cracks between a brick and its mortar count too. A quick look along the wall before you call helps the estimate go faster.
How much does brick repair cost in Lake Elsinore?
There's no set price, because the cost comes down to how many joints are failing, how deep they've worn and how hard the wall is to reach. Replacing damaged bricks, matching an unusual mortar color or needing a permit adds to it, while a short run of joints at ground level keeps it down. I'll give you a figure on site once I've seen the wall.
Does a small brick repair job need a licensed contractor in California?
Yes, if the work is subject to a permit of any kind, California requires a licensed contractor even when the job is under $1,000. That holds when the person doing the work hires helpers too. The state contractor board's C-29 masonry license is the one written for contractors who lay brick and other baked clay products, stone and fire brick.
What is the best way to choose mortar for repointing old brick?
Brick industry guidance says repointing mortar should be similar to the original in strength or weaker, never stronger. A stronger mortar ends up carrying the load along the thin edge of the brick, which can make the face of the brick spall off in flakes, and the guidance calls that damage irreparable. That's why matching the old mortar matters more than reaching for the hardest mix.
How long does repointed mortar last on a brick house?
Mortar joints typically last more than 25 years, while the bricks themselves can last more than 100. So on an older house you'll usually face mortar repair well before the bricks need replacing, which is why repointing, not new brick, is the usual fix.
What causes white powder on a brick wall?
That white powder is efflorescence, and when it shows up shortly after a wall is built it's usually new building bloom from normal drying. If it keeps coming back after that, water is likely getting into the wall and staying there. I'd want to find where the water is getting in before repointing, because new joints won't stop a leak that starts somewhere else.
Other masonry work that often comes with brick repair
Driveway pavers
Worth a look when your brick steps or edging meet the drive and the pavers beside them have sunk, shifted or come loose over the years.
Retaining wall construction
The right call when a wall is holding back a slope or raised bed, because it has to carry soil pressure that a simple garden wall never sees.
Brick repair service areas around Lake Elsinore
E&M Lake Elsinore Concrete & Masonry is based in Lake Elsinore, California, and the 12 areas listed here, including Murrieta and Temecula, each have their own page. They aren't the only places we work, so call if your city isn't on the list.
Lake Elsinore, CA
Get your crumbling mortar looked at
Send a few photos of the cracked joints and tell us where the wall is, and I can come out already knowing what to look for.