Brick replacement
The faces are flaking off your bricks
A brick that sheds its outer skin leaves the soft inside open to water. Look at the joints around it. If they look hard and the faces are popping off, the mortar may be too strong for the brick. Ask why the faces went before you pay to swap any, and send us a photo.
Tell us what you see on the wall
We help you get the repair priced by separate local masonry contractors, and tell you what to ask them first.
Three things to say before you hear a price
Say them on the phone or at the wall. The answers show how a mason works.
Why did this brick fail?
Swapping brick without fixing the cause repeats the damage.
How will the new brick match mine?
Color is not the only match. Ask about hardness too.
What mortar goes in the joints around it?
A joint harder than the brick can crack the brick.
$100 off your first job
Book your first repair through us and take $100 off.
The $100 comes out of our fee; the mason's price stays the same.
Each customer gets one credit per property.
Book the first repair by December 31, 2026, to use it.
Say you hold the credit as you book; we confirm it before work starts.
The Soft Joint promise
- Asking us is free, and asking never ties you to anything.
- We never charge you for the introduction.
- Your $100 credit is honored exactly as our Terms say.
- If an introduction goes wrong, we help you sort it out.
The masonry work is between you and the mason you hire.
Masonry Contractors Syracuse, (315) 640-3590
What you see when this is the next call
Faces pop off and the joints look hard
A joint that grips the brick tighter than the brick can bear pushes water out through the face. Ask what mortar the wall has now.
Brick powders or sheds in flakes
The hard outer skin is gone and the soft core is exposed. Water then does more damage with each freeze.
A wall was blasted or cleaned hard
Abrasive cleaning strips the wearing surface of old brick. Ask whether anyone has cleaned this wall that way.
Salts and damp patches show on the face
White crust and dark patches mean moisture moving through. Ask where it enters before new brick goes in.
How a brick face comes off the wall
- The face
The hard outer skin of the brick. Once it is gone, the soft core takes water.
- The salt
Salts crystallizing under the face push it off in flakes.
- The joint
A joint too hard for the brick keeps vapor in the wall.
Straight answers about brick replacement
Why are my bricks flaking?
Common causes are mortar harder than the brick, water getting in, and past abrasive cleaning. Ask each mason which one they see on your wall, and why.
Do all the flaking bricks need replacing?
Not always. Ask the mason which units have lost enough face to be worth swapping, and which can stay while you fix the water.
Can I paint or coat the brick instead?
Ask hard questions before anyone applies a coating, since it can hide a wall that is still wet. This site does not arrange coating work.
Will new brick look the same as old brick?
It will be close, not identical. Ask to see samples against your wall in daylight before you agree.
How do I know the joints are too hard?
Scrape a hidden joint with a key. If it barely marks and the faces beside it are flaking, tell the mason and ask for the mortar type.
Does this job include repointing?
The new bricks are set in new mortar, but wider joint work is a separate line. Ask each quote to say where one stops and the other starts.
Is it really this sign?
The marked tile, Flaking brick faces, is the sign this page covers.
What your house's age changes
Older city brick
If your brick is old and soft, hard joints can make the faces spall. Ask what mortar the wall carries now before you swap any units.
Village cores
Village centers mix old brick with later repairs. Ask whether the flaking is in the old brick, the newer brick, or both.
Post-war houses
Newer brick may be harder. If yours flakes, ask about water at that spot, since the brick may not be the cause.
Basis: NPS Technical Preservation Services, Preservation Brief 2 U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, B25034 and B25035, Onondaga County
What the work includes
Taking out the failed units
The mason cuts out only the bricks that have lost their faces, and the mortar around them.
Choosing replacement brick
The new units should be close to the old in age, hardness and look.
Setting the new units
The new bricks go in with a mortar softer than the brick, and the courses stay level.
Blending the repair
Joints are shaped and the repair is tooled to sit with the wall around it.
What looks alike but is another job
Joints only
If the brick is whole and the mortar is the problem, that is repointing.
Veneer, pavers and patios
Other companies do that work. This site does not cover it.
First call to finished wall
Photograph the worst spots
Send photos of the flaking faces and the joints around them.
Hear why each mason thinks it flaked
A good answer names the mortar or the water, not only the brick.
Compare how many units are swapped
Quotes should say how many bricks and where, so you can compare them.
Book, then check the first bricks
Look at the first replacement units before the rest go in.
The paper trail for this repair
Where the new brick comes from
Ask for the source and how it compares with your old brick.
The mortar type for the new work
The type should be written down, and softer than the brick.
The cause the mason found
Ask for a line on why the faces failed and what is changed so it does not repeat.
Why a hard joint can cost you the brick
Water leaves a wall as vapor, and in old walls it was meant to leave through the soft mortar. If the joints are denser than the brick, the vapor leaves through the face instead, and salts come with it.
Those salts crystallize under the surface and press the face off in flakes. Ask the mason whether the joints around your flaking brick are harder than the brick, and what mortar the new work will use.
Basis: NPS Technical Preservation Services, Preservation Brief 2 NPS, Common Problems with Brick Masonry
Swap the bricks, then fix what flaked them
Replacement without finding the cause can repeat. If the cause stays in place, the new brick starts to flake as the old did, and you pay twice.
Ask each mason what they think caused the damage, and what they will change. The cause might be hard mortar, a leaking gutter, a blocked weep hole or an old cleaning job. A mason who names one is working on your wall.
Replacement brick is not a copy
A mason picks replacement units close to yours in age, hardness and look. Ask where the new brick comes from and how it compares with the brick on your wall.
Be wary of a promise of a perfect match. Walls weather, and new brick looks new for a while. A good mason tells you that at the start.
When cleaning did the damage
Park Service guidance says that abrasive cleaning, such as sandblasting, strips the hard skin off old brick and starts decay that freeze and thaw then speed up.
If your wall was cleaned that way, tell every mason. Ask what they would do to slow the damage, not only how many bricks they would replace.
Questions to settle before you pay for new brick
Ask how many bricks the mason expects to swap, and where each one is. Ask how they will tell a brick that has lost its face from one that only looks rough. Ask whether you can see the worst units up close before the quote is final.
Then ask what will be different afterward. If the cause was a hard joint or a wet spot, the answer should name the change. Write it beside the quote, and compare it with what the other masons tell you.
If you can, photograph the wall now. The picture lets you and the mason point at the same bricks later.
Why two quotes can differ
- Handwork drives the cost, since each damaged brick is cut out and reset by hand.
- The number of bricks changes the price, so ask each mason to count them.
- Finding brick close to your old brick can take time, and that time is in the quote.
- Height adds scaffolding or a lift, so ask whether it is a separate line.
- Fixing the cause of the water first can add a step, but it keeps the new bricks from failing too.
Find this repair in your town
Guides that go with it
Crumbling joints
Which mortar to ask for on old Syracuse brick
Mortar letters, soft against hard, and what to ask.
Any sign
Historic brick: district review and the state credit
Review boards, the state tax credit and brick repair.
Loose chimney top
Repair your chimney or rebuild it
Repair or rebuild: the questions that decide it.
Any sign
What your masonry contract has to say
What a New York home improvement contract must say.
Find out why the brick failed first.