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"Brick Repair- Matching
Mortar"
In the last five years, everybody is getting into the field of brick repair. I
have seen this happening more and more.
Foundation repair companies have started
giving this service away as an incentive to help them gain a customers business.
Many masonry contractors have taken advantage of this growing field. Even the
local retail stores for home improvement have begun to carry special products
for brick repair. This change in the industry can leave people misguided.
A leading symptom in people’s homes that points them to foundation repair are
the cracks in the bricks and mortar around a home. These cracks can be
intimidating to a homeowner, and give leverage to a skilled salesperson. Many
salespeople in the foundation repair industry use this leverage to make their
sale by promising that they will fix these cracks in the brick and mortar. They
generally offer this as a free service to the customer. Now, I am no genius, but
I know that nothing is free. If they are giving this service away, they have to
be charging for it some place. In addition, this free service may be “free”
because they know that they are not delivering the quality that is available in
the market and they do not want it to have any technical ties to the money they
are charging for this service. It is a simple tactic. Over charge them here and
give this away over there for free. You should be cautious of these methods, and
make sure that you are getting the quality you deserve.
Mason contractors have performed masonry repairs for thousands of years. In
these ancient practices the primary goal was to simply reinforce the structure
and seal its surface. They were not concerned with restoring the beauty of the
work. This has remained the practice up until the past ten years. Ten years ago
Alamo Masonry saw the need for improving the industry of brick repair. They
determined that the then current practices were no longer functional and that it
could be done better. After careful study and analysis they wrote the guidelines
for a proper restoration which include a minimum depth of repairs and an exact
process for performing them, among many others. In conjunction with these
guidelines, Alamo Masonry also produced the first system for matching mortars in
color and texture, and wrote a master formula. In addition, they wrote over
10,000 other formulas for individual color matches.
Since this has been introduced into the market, many companies have emulated
Alamo Masonry in their marketing tactics, procedures, or even tried to pass
themselves off as Alamo Masonry. Some companies have made boastful claims that
they have been matching mortars for 20 years or more, and have only been in
business for 6-8 months. There have been a couple of companies claiming that
they created this technique. While most others have simply followed the market,
and seeing that this is what the consumer is expecting, claim “Yea, me too.”
Some of these companies have gotten better at matching the mortars, but as yet
they are still not comparable. You should be careful in the contractor you
choose, and don’t allow yourself to be “Olivered”. Research your contractors
through the Better Business Bureau or other accredited reporting agencies.
Now even local home improvement stores are carrying various products for brick
repair. All of these repair products are based on the antiquated methods of
brick repair, and are not even close to doing it right. These products are
generally sold to the do-it-yourselfers, and are quite enticing due to their
simplicity and low costs.
There are products available for the do-it-yourselfers which are reasonably
priced and will actually get the job done right. Currently Alamo Masonry offers
a variety of products for brick repairs. Some of these are the Brick Repair
Guide and Mortar matching. This guide tells you step-by-step how to do
the repairs, and the mortar matching service is easy and reliable. You send us a
sample of your mortar, and we digitally match it and return the formula to you.
These certified mortar matches are available through Alamo Masonry, and are
available to everyone. If you are not a do-it-yourselfer and are looking for a
quality contractor, look for one who offers you the “Alamo Certified Mortar
Match”. This will help to protect your investment and maintain the value of
your home.
Coming soon from Alamo Masonry are Brick Repair Kits and various videos to
assist you in performing masonry repairs. Look for these products as they become
available. Now
Available!
Copyright January 2008, James
Nech
Copyright © 2007 James R.
Nech/Alamo Masonry. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Alamo Masonry
Brick Repair operates full time in: Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Plano,
Carrollton, Lewisville, Grand Prairie, Flower Mound, North Richland Hills,
Arlington, Benbrook, Crowley, Burleson, Cleburne, Granbury, Johnson County, and
the surrounding DFW area.
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