Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

Kelly has over 10 years of experience writing about home design and improvement for many prominent publications. She also spent several years working at a tech startup for an interior design game ...

Q: When a blowing rain lashes my brick-veneer home, water streams down over the inside of my foundation in the basement. I thought brick was waterproof. What's happening? Is there a way to minimize or ...

Last week, I fielded no fewer than five phone calls from homeowners with the same grim news. They found it nearly impossible to get quotes from contractors to do fairly simple repairs. Each caller’s ...

Q. I need to repair the mortar joints on my older brick home that was built in the late 1800s. I’ve seen some horrible workmanship where the mortar doesn’t match at all, and I want to avoid this. How ...

This brick was installed 129 years ago. This might very well be the original mortar. It’s survived many a harsh New Hampshire winter. (Tim Carter) Perspective by Tim Carter Q: I need to repair the ...

When the mortar between bricks starts to fail, more significant problems will begin to emerge. Water will have an easier passage into the structure of your home, leading to unwanted damp issues.

Becca Lewis is home maintenance writer who aims to foster confidence in and inspire DIY enthusiasts at all skill levels. Becca attended Southern Connecticut State University, where she studied ...

ChemPatch RS is a versatile single component cementitious repair mortar for a wide variety of horizontal, vertical and overhead repairs to concrete substrates. ChemPatch RS is specially formulated to ...