Our Work
Cutting out and resetting chimney bricks in Markham
Taking out a failed brick without harming its neighbors
The Brick Industry Association describes breaking the damaged unit so it comes out more easily, then cutting and chiseling out the mortar around it without harming the neighboring brickwork. The goal is a clean opening with sound bricks on every side.
Our crew works by hand around the opening and checks the bricks next to it as they are exposed. If a neighbor turns out to be cracked or loose, we stop and show you before adding it to the job. Nothing is added to the count without your approval.
Bricks at the roofline
Where a chimney passes through the roof, flashing seals the joint between brick and roofing. When that flashing fails, water soaks into the lower courses and can spall bricks that sit just above the shingles. The damage often shows as a band of flaking faces a course or two above the roofing.
Replacing those bricks means working with the flashing in place or refitting it afterward. We plan the two together, so the new bricks and the flashing finish as one watertight detail instead of two separate repairs that meet badly.
Brick over a framed chimney
Some chimneys are a single layer of brick built around a framed structure, with an air space behind the brick. When a unit is removed from that kind of wall, debris can drop into the space and block drainage, which brick industry guidance warns against.
We check how the chimney on your Markham home is built before the first brick comes out. On a veneer chimney, openings are cleaned from the face, debris is caught before it falls, and our specialists note any sign that water has reached the framing behind.
Cleaning the brick without damaging it
Brick next to a repair often needs cleaning, but the method matters. The Brick Industry Association warns that excessive water pressure can damage brick surfaces, erode mortar joints and remove finishes, and that abrasive or high-pressure cleaning can etch the joints. Those methods can do more harm to old brick than the dirt they remove.
We clean around the new bricks gently, brushing off mortar and dust and using water at low pressure where it is needed. The goal is clean brick with its fired face intact, since that face is what keeps the next rain out.
