Masonry inspection
Fackrell Masonry and Construction inspects brick, stone and chimneys and puts what we find in writing. This is a paid inspection. It is for the times you need to know the condition of a building rather than a price on fixing it. You are buying a house and the home inspector punted the masonry to a specialist. You own a building and need to know what is wrong before you ask anyone for bids. You are on a board and have to budget for it. Or you are holding two estimates that do not agree.
Every estimate I give comes with a look at the job, free, the way it does with any contractor. This is the other thing. A paid inspection is for when the report itself is what you need, and it is a service I will travel for. You get the condition of the masonry in writing, with photographs. It is yours. Hand it to a lender, an insurer, a board, a buyer, a seller, or to three contractors.
The most common one is a real estate transaction. A home inspector writes "recommend evaluation by a masonry specialist" and moves on, and now somebody has a short window, a lender waiting, and a number to negotiate. A masonry report inside that window is worth a great deal more than it costs. The other regular one is an owner or a property manager sitting on a building with a lot of brick, who cannot sensibly ask for bids until somebody has said what is actually wrong with it.
What you are hiring is a mason's eye. Three generations of it, and over 50 years of the family looking at brick, stone, mortar and chimneys. I will tell you what I find, what I believe is behind it, and what it takes to put right. That is a different service from a structural engineer's stamp, and it costs a fraction of what an engineer costs. For most masonry questions it is also the answer you actually need.
And if it turns out you do need an engineer, you are still ahead. You will know it early, before you have paid anybody to repair the wrong thing. You will know why. And an engineer bills by the hour, so walking into their office with the conditions already documented and photographed means they are not starting from a blank page. That can take real money off their bill.
Ninety percent of what I get called out to look at, I know how to fix. Loose brick, mortar washing out of the joints, a cap that was never adequate, brick coming apart over a window. You get a straight answer on all of it. After this long I also know the rare case that needs somebody with a stamp, and telling you which one you have is part of what the inspection buys you.
What this covers
- A written report on the condition of the masonry, with photographs, that you can hand to anybody
- Every problem named, along with the likely causes, because the cause is what decides the repair
- What is urgent, what can wait a season, and what is only cosmetic
- Repair options and cost ranges you can budget against or take out to bid
- A look at the parts nobody can see from the ground, by lift or drone where the building calls for it
- A straight answer on whether a Professional Engineer would add anything, and documentation that shortens their work if one is needed
How to tell you need this
- You are buying a house and the home inspector wrote "recommend evaluation by a masonry specialist" and left it at that
- You own or manage a building with a lot of masonry and need to know its condition before you ask anybody for a bid
- You are holding two or three estimates that do not agree, with no way to tell which one describes your actual problem
- You sit on a board or manage property and need to know what masonry work is coming in the next one, three and five years so it can be budgeted
- An insurance claim was denied or paid short and you need an independent opinion on cause and scope, in writing
- You are designing or bidding a project and want the masonry scope written by a mason
- A vehicle, a fire or settlement did something to your building and somebody needs it documented
Questions people ask
Do you travel for inspections?
Yes. Masonry work I take on regionally, but an inspection is a different proposition. It is a day, a report and a drive, so if you have a building that needs looking at, ask. Send the address and what you are worried about through the quote form at https://fmandc.com/intake/ and I will tell you whether it makes sense.
How is this different from the free estimate?
An estimate is free and it comes with a look at the work you asked about. Every contractor does that, and you do not need this page for it. A paid inspection is a different product. It covers the whole structure, not just the one thing you called about. It comes to you in writing, with photographs. And it is yours, to use however you like, including to collect bids from other people. You are buying the assessment, not a proposal.
I am buying a house and the inspector says to get a masonry specialist. Can you help?
That is one of the most common reasons people call. A general home inspector is not a mason, so masonry usually comes back as a line telling you to go ask one. Meanwhile you have a short window, a lender waiting and a price to negotiate. You get a written assessment of the brick, stone and chimneys, what it is likely to take to put right, and cost ranges. Whether you use it to walk away, to negotiate, or to stop worrying, it is generally the cheapest money in the whole transaction.
Should I hire a mason or a structural engineer?
Start with the mason. A masonry inspection costs a fraction of what an engineer costs, and for most of what goes wrong with brick, stone and chimneys it is the right expertise anyway. Mortar failing, brick spalling, stone coming loose, a cap that was never adequate, a chimney taking water: those are masonry questions and you will get masonry answers. And if it does turn out to be structural, you have lost nothing. You found out early, you know why, and an engineer who bills by the hour is not starting from a blank page.
What can you tell me, and what needs somebody else?
I inspect as a professional mason. A mason's inspection covers the condition of the brick, block, stone, mortar, caps, flues and flashing. It covers the likely causes of what I am seeing, and what it takes to repair. It is the great majority of what goes wrong on a masonry building. Anything structural is an engineer's determination by law, and finding that out early and cheaply is part of what the inspection is for.
Another contractor told me my chimney has to be torn down. Should I get a second opinion?
It is worth one. It is a situation I see: a contractor starts a crack repair, gets into it, finds the problem is much larger, and tells the owner the whole chimney has to come down. What we found was the chimney separating from the house, which is a foundation question, not a chimney question. Sometimes the second opinion agrees with the first, but you should know which problem you are actually solving.
Can I use your report to get bids from other contractors?
Yes, and a lot of people buy one for exactly that. You paid for the assessment, so it is yours. Handing every bidder the same written scope is also the only way to get bids you can compare, instead of three prices for three different versions of the job.
Inspection and consultation projects
Real jobs, my own photos, and what the problem actually turned out to be.
When the honest answer was "call an engineer"
A cracked chimney inspected and referred to a Professional Engineer once we found it separating from the house rather than simply cracked.
Owyhee County Courthouse
A tall brick chimney on the Owyhee County Courthouse in Murphy, Idaho: eroded mortar and loose brick found up under the cap, documented off the roof and put right.
Often needed alongside
Chimney repair
Rebuilds, caps, crowns, flue liner work and repointing.
Chimney repair →Tuckpointing and repointing
Cutting out failed mortar and replacing it, matched as closely as the materials allow.
Tuckpointing and repointing →Masonry rebuilding
Impact damage put back the way it was: cars, forklifts, weather.
Masonry rebuilding →