Boston's rowhouses, brownstones and triple-deckers have been standing since before the trolley lines — on mortar that's now older than anyone alive. We point the joints, mend the stone and keep the flues drawing, starting with a going-over that is completely free.
Most chimney problems in this city are masonry problems wearing a costume. Our techs are mason-trained first, which changes what they notice — and what they fix.
Century-old walls want lime-based mortar, not hardware-store Portland. Failed joints come out clean and go back in a blend the original masons would recognize.
Leaning tops, blown-out corbels, stacks the last hurricane loosened — taken down to sound courses and relaid true, detail for detail.
One stack, three flues, three households — swept floor by floor in a single visit, with the soot leaving in a sealed vacuum instead of the stairwell.
The completely-free look at the whole works, and a camera down the tile when a sale or a stubborn draft wants evidence on screen.
The top of the stack takes the whole nor'easter. Crowns rebuilt with proper pitch, wash coats floated to shed water, stainless caps fitted against rain and squirrels.
Water follows the path old buildings give it. We find where it slips past the flashing or soaks the wall, cut new counterflashing into the joints, and finish with repellents that let brick breathe.
Unlined 19th-century flues and cracked clay tile put combustion where plaster and framing live. A continuous stainless run per flue puts the exhaust back on its own road.
The masonry that isn't the chimney still frames the house. Brownstone stoops releveled and patched, brick walks relaid, garden walls pointed and capped — same crew, same standards.
Brick this old is honest — it announces every problem while the problem is still affordable. Here's its vocabulary.
Same sequence whether it's one flue or a whole facade: look, level with you, price it, build it right.
Weekdays 7 to 8, a person who knows the trade answers. Describe the building and take a slot that fits your week.
Completely free, top of the stack to the hearth floor — finished with the findings explained face to face.
Each repair priced on its own line, safety items ranked first. The figures hold while you think it over.
Work built to the trade's standard, the site swept, debris gone — and the workmanship guaranteed in writing.
Every winter collects its toll from unpointed joints and open crowns. Book the free going-over now, get the arithmetic in hand, and let the storm find nothing loose.
(617) 262-5306A sampling from the job files — pointing, sweeps, crowns and rebuilds from Charlestown down to Roslindale.
The office sits on Kemble St in Roxbury — ten minutes from most of the housing stock we work on — and the trucks cover the city proper plus the close-in towns.
A block we didn't print? Call (617) 262-5306 — if it's brick and it's Boston, it's ours.
Meaning the inspection costs nothing, obliges you to nothing, and hides no coupon arithmetic. A mason-trained tech goes over the firebox, flue, crown, cap and the masonry itself, then explains what he found in plain speech before leaving. The only priced item on this page is paperwork: the documented version with photographs — for closings, insurers or the condo file — runs $149 and is written only when ordered.
Usually — if the cause gets caught. Brownstone sheds when water sits behind the face, and the culprit is often an old repair done in hard Portland mortar that traps moisture inside soft stone. The fix is cutting the wrong mortar out, repointing in a compatible lime blend, patching faces with matched restoration mortar, and correcting the water handling above. The longer it sheets, the deeper the eventual rebuild.
Each floor owns a flue, and the three age differently — the top unit's runs hottest and shortest, the ground floor's coolest and dirtiest. We sweep and check each one individually, and when relining is needed every flue gets its own correctly sized stainless run. One visit, whole building, three households spared the ladder.
Once a season for a hearth in regular use, plus a look before the first fire whenever a flue sat idle since spring. The heating flues deserve an annual check too — oil and gas trouble is quiet trouble, arriving as fumes instead of smoke.
Purchase-and-sale timelines go first in the book. The free going-over lands within a couple of days, the camera goes down the flue when the deal wants pictures, and the $149 documented version follows the next business day once ordered — arranged so attorney, lender and buyer each find their answer without another phone call.
Fully, and glad to prove it — ask when booking and the certificate arrives ahead of the truck. The crew is vetted before day one, and staging, rooftop and party-wall work all happen under that coverage, never around it.
It does not. Runners go down, the opening is masked and sealed, and a filtered vacuum works from first rod to last brush. Figure an hour per flue — and the soot exits the building inside the machine, not across the rugs.
The days run 7 to 8 on purpose — early enough to call before your shift, late enough to call after supper. Weekends the crew is off the clock like everyone else; leave a message and Monday's 7 a.m. calls start with yours.
No web forms, no phone tree. Whoever picks up can talk mortar, flues and schedules without transferring you anywhere.
The flaking stoop, the wandering smoke, the closing date, the letter from the condo board — lay it out once and hang up knowing whether it needs a visit and roughly what the cure runs.
(617) 262-5306 Tap to Ring NowMonday – Friday, 7 AM – 8 PM
Weekend messages open Monday's book