Masonry contractor in Perry, GA - repairs that start with the cause

Around downtown Perry, a lot of the brick on older houses was laid with soft mortar, and somewhere along the way somebody usually patched it with something harder. That hard patch looks fine for a while, but it pushes the movement and the water into the brick itself, so the faces start to crack and flake right beside the newer joints. On these walls I'd rather take the slow way. We cut out joints by hand where a grinder would chip the brick edges, and we mix mortar that's softer than the brick so the joint gives first and the brick doesn't.

Farther out, most of what we see is newer brick on a slab. When those houses crack, the cause is usually water, a downspout emptying against the foundation or a yard that drains toward the house, working on the clay underneath, so we deal with where the water goes as part of the repair.

Inside city limits, building permits come from the City of Perry's Building Permits and Inspections Division, which reviews the plans and then inspects the work against them as it goes. The city requires a permit for additions, renovations, remodels and accessory structures over 199 square feet, so a brick addition or a big remodel waits on that review before our crew can start. When a job needs a permit, we handle the application and the inspections, and if your home sits in a historic or downtown district, we'll help you through the review steps before work begins. We're fully licensed and insured. The price comes down to the size of the job, what you build with, how easy the spot is to reach, and how far the damage runs once it's open, and on older brick that last part sometimes isn't clear until the first section comes out. Your estimate puts the materials and the steps in writing, so you can see what you're paying for.

We're based in Macon and work across Middle Georgia, from Warner Robins out to Milledgeville, and Perry is an easy run down I-75 for a crew and a trailer of block. The schedule turns on three things: the city's review if there is one, when the crew comes free, and on older houses, how long it takes to find brick that matches. Old brick varies in color and size more than most people expect, and I'd rather wait for the right brick than leave you with a patch that shows.

Perry feels like two places on our jobs. Near Historic Downtown Perry, where people still go to eat, shop and get together, the houses are older and the brick has seen a lot of patching over the years. Out from the center, the neighborhoods are newer and the lots bigger, and the calls lean toward new driveways, walks, walls and backyard kitchens, much like the mix we see in Byron and Fort Valley.

So the first thing I ask about a Perry house is where it sits and when it was built. That usually tells me whether we'll be working gently around soft old brick or chasing water around a newer slab, and it changes what I look for on the first visit.