How do you maintain brick and masonry?
Updated August 2026
Brick itself lasts 100-plus years, so masonry upkeep is really mortar upkeep: a yearly look at the joints and repointing any that are crumbling, soft, or cracked before water gets in behind the face. Keep the weep holes clear so trapped water can escape, and resist the urge to seal, because a film-forming sealer traps moisture and does more harm than good. Neglected joints are what let water freeze, expand, and pop the brick faces off, and putting mortar back runs $10 to $25 per square foot.
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Scan mortar joints for cracks, gaps, and crumbling | Yearly | 20 min · DIY |
| Rake a key into joints; if mortar falls out, they need repointing | Yearly | 15 min · DIY |
| Check for spalling: flaking or popped brick faces | Yearly | 15 min · DIY |
| Confirm weep holes at the wall base are open | Yearly | 10 min · DIY |
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Look for fresh freeze-thaw cracks and loosened brick | Early spring | 20 min · DIY |
| Note white efflorescence, a sign of water moving through | Early spring | 10 min · DIY |
| Task | Interval | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Repoint soft or missing mortar joints | When it crumbles | $10–25 / sq ft pro |
| Apply breathable sealer only on porous, exposed brick | Every 7–10 years, if at all | $1–2 / sq ft |
What neglect costs
The failure chain is always the same and always starts at the mortar. A soft joint lets water into the wall, winter freezes it, the ice expands, and the pressure spalls the brick faces off in flakes and pops. Once brick is spalling you are past a cheap repoint and into replacing brick and, in bad cases, the wall behind it. Repointing a section costs $10 to $25 per square foot; rebuilding a spalled, water-damaged wall runs many times that. Clear gutters and keep the roof shedding water away from the brick, and most of this never starts.
Leave these to a pro
Repointing is genuine trade work: grinding old mortar to an even depth without chipping the brick and matching the new mortar's color, hardness, and joint profile all take practice, and mismatched mortar can crack the brick it is meant to protect. Budget $10 to $25 per square foot, more for tall or historic walls needing lime mortar and scaffolding. Structural cracks, a bowing wall, or a leaning chimney call for a mason or engineer, not caulk. The DIY side is limited to clearing weep holes and spotting problems early on your yearly walk.
This whole checklist ships as reminders in OnOtto: every task above, on the right schedule for your home, snooze-proof.
Load this checklist as remindersFrequently asked questions
Should I seal my brick?
Usually not, and the wrong sealer causes real damage. Brick is designed to breathe, absorbing a little rain and drying out again, so a glossy film-forming sealer traps that moisture inside, where it freezes and spalls the face. If you seal at all, use only a breathable, vapor-permeable siloxane or silane penetrating water repellent on porous or weather-blasted brick, reapplied every 7 to 10 years. Sound brick with good mortar needs no sealer; keeping the joints tight does the real work.
What is spalling and can I stop it?
Spalling is when the face of a brick flakes, crumbles, or pops off, driven by water that soaked in and then froze and expanded. You cannot un-spall a brick, so the fix is replacing the damaged units and, more importantly, stopping the water: repoint failing mortar, clear weep holes, and route gutters and grade away from the wall. Catch soft mortar on your yearly check and you keep water out before freeze-thaw ever gets a foothold and the spalling starts.
What is the white powder on my brick?
That chalky white bloom is efflorescence: mineral salts left behind as water moves through the masonry and evaporates at the surface. The powder itself is harmless and brushes or washes off, but it is a message worth reading, because it means water is getting into the wall. A little after construction or a wet spell is normal. Recurring, heavy efflorescence points to a leak, failing mortar, or missing flashing, so trace the water source rather than just scrubbing the stain.
How much does repointing cost?
Repointing runs roughly $10 to $25 per square foot, with the spread driven by access, joint condition, and mortar type. A small patch of a few loose joints might be a $400 to $800 minimum service call, while an entire chimney or a two-story wall reaches into the thousands, especially if scaffolding or historic lime mortar is involved. It is far cheaper than the alternative: letting joints fail until brick spalls and the wall itself needs rebuilding. Price a couple of masons and check references on color-matching.