Burnaby Masonry Co. provides expert brick repair & repointing in Vancouver, BC. Crumbling mortar joints raked out and repointed, cracked and spalled brick replaced to match. Call us for a free quote — we're based in Burnaby and serve Vancouver regularly.
Brick Repair & Repointing in Vancouver: what to know
Vancouver's heritage-heavy East Side is where we do some of our most careful repointing work. Strathcona and Mount Pleasant homes from the early 1900s were built with soft lime mortar — replacing it with hard Portland mix causes brick faces to spall within a few winters.
Brick repair and repointing fixes the part of your wall that actually fails first: the mortar. When the joints between bricks crumble, water gets behind the wall and the damage spreads fast. We rake out the old, failing mortar, replace any cracked or spalled brick to match, and repoint with the right mortar mix so the wall sheds water again. It's the single most cost-effective thing you can do to add decades to a brick wall, chimney, or foundation in Burnaby.
What's included in our brick repair & repointing service
- Inspection of every joint to find where the mortar has failed
- Raking out old, loose, or cracked mortar to the proper depth
- Mortar matched to your wall's colour, texture, and joint profile
- Soft lime mortar on older homes so we don't crack original brick
- Replacement of cracked, spalled, or missing brick to match
- Repointing chimneys, foundations, garden walls, and facades
- Cleaning the finished wall and protecting landscaping below
- A walk-through when we're done so you can see the work up close
When Vancouver homeowners call us for brick repair & repointing
Crumbling or recessed mortar joints
If you can scratch the mortar out with a key or see it powdering at the base of the wall, the joints have failed and water is getting in.
Cracked or flaking brick (spalling)
Brick faces popping off usually means trapped moisture and freeze-thaw. The brick and the joints around it both need attention.
A damp or musty interior wall
Failed exterior joints are a common source of moisture inside the home, especially on older Vancouver and New West houses.
Visible gaps or daylight through joints
Any gap is an open door for water. Caught early, repointing is simple. Left alone, it turns into a rebuild.
Vancouver properties: what we see
Vancouver has the widest range of masonry in BC. The East Side — Strathcona, Grandview-Woodland, Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive — is dense with pre-1940 wood-frame homes built with soft lime-mortar brick chimneys, and the original brick on many of them has never been touched since it was laid. The West Side runs toward post-war concrete block and newer stone veneer on high-end renovations. Kitsilano has a large number of heritage character homes where sympathetic repair is the brief. Point Grey and Shaughnessy have custom homes where the standard for stone and brick work is higher than almost anywhere else in the region.
We work throughout Vancouver — including Strathcona, Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive — and we know how the terrain, housing stock, and climate vary across the city. Every quote reflects what we actually see on site.
How we do brick repair & repointing in Vancouver
- 1
Assess the mortar and brick
We check joint depth, mortar hardness, and brick condition, then tell you straight whether you need a small repair or a larger section done.
- 2
Match the mortar
We mix to match the colour, sand, and strength of the original. On pre-1940 homes that means lime-based mortar, not hard modern Portland mix.
- 3
Rake and repoint
Old mortar comes out to the correct depth, joints get cleaned, and fresh mortar is packed in and tooled to match the original profile.
- 4
Replace damaged brick
Cracked or spalled brick is cut out and replaced with a match, blended so the repair disappears into the wall.
- 5
Clean and protect
We clean the face, clear the site, and let you inspect the finished joints before we pack up.
Why choose Burnaby Masonry for brick repair & repointing in Vancouver
We match, we don't smear
A lot of repointing jobs look worse than the problem because the mortar doesn't match. We get colour and joint profile right.
Right mortar for the age of the home
Using hard mortar on soft old brick cracks the brick. We pick the mix based on what your wall is built from.
Local crews who know Burnaby brick
We work on these walls every week, from East Van character homes to Burnaby post-war bungalows.
Honest about scope
If a patch will do, we'll say so. If it needs more, we'll show you why before any work starts.
