Free Estimates | Licensed, Insured & Bonded
Serving Baltimore City and Baltimore County, MD
Brick and repointing, chimney repair and rebuilding, concrete steps and flatwork, commercial masonry.
Charm City Masonry works on Baltimore brick: rowhouses, stoops, chimneys and garden walls, across Baltimore City and Baltimore County. We are the masonry contractors Baltimore MD property owners call when mortar falls out of a joint, a stoop rocks, or a chimney loses its shape. Decades of Baltimore masonry experience, and a free estimate first.
01
Brick almost never fails on its own. The mortar around it does, by design. Roughly 125,500 of Baltimore's 251,000 occupied housing units are attached rowhouses, the legacy of an 1800s fire ordinance banning wood-frame construction; by the Civil War the city fired about 30 million bricks a year.
Mortar is the sacrificial part of the wall, meant to erode so the brick faces do not have to. Nearly every masonry repair Baltimore rowhouses need starts there.
Our weather speeds that up: about 45 inches of precipitation across roughly 121 wet days a year, humidity from 59% to 71%, and 75 to 90 days below freezing. January averages 34°F with lows near 25°F, and a winter that thaws every afternoon does more damage to Baltimore masonry than one that stays frozen.
02
Four groups cover most of what we do: the masonry services Baltimore City and Baltimore County owners ask for most.
This is what most people mean when they want a brick mason Baltimore City or county side: repointing and tuckpointing failing joints (cutting old mortar back and packing in fresh), replacing spalled brick, and matching mortar to the wall's age. The brick masonry Baltimore was built with is soft and porous, especially pre-1850s salmon brick, and it takes modern repairs badly.
Your chimney is the most weather-exposed masonry on the house: rain hits it from four sides and no wall above sheds water, so it often fails first. We handle repointing, crowns, caps, flashing, fireplace masonry and rebuilds above the roofline. If you need chimney repair Baltimore City or county side, look for loose mortar, a cracked crown or a leaning stack.
Baltimore's white marble steps came from the Beaver Dam quarry in Baltimore County, closed since 1934, so there is no new stock. The job is resetting, pinning, patching with marble-dust mortar and cleaning gently, since acidic cleaners and road salt eat calcareous marble. We also pour and repair concrete steps, stoops, walkways, patios, driveways and retaining walls.
We repoint and restore multi-unit buildings, storefronts and commercial facades, and handle waterproofing, structural block, parking structures and property-manager or HOA contracts, scheduled around tenants.
03
Not everything gets its own page. These are the smaller pieces of masonry work Baltimore houses need, usually alongside a larger job.
04
Most people call with a description, not a diagnosis. Here is the translation, since most masonry repair Baltimore homeowners ask about looks like one of these.
| What you are seeing | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Mortar you can dig out with a screwdriver | Joints past service life; repoint before water gets in |
| Brick faces flaking or popping off | Spalling from water trapped behind hard mortar, Formstone or salt |
| White chalky staining | Efflorescence, salts moving through the wall with water |
| Stair-step cracks in the mortar | Settlement, or a rusting lintel expanding above an opening |
| A chimney leaning or losing mortar | The most exposed masonry on the house, often first to fail |
| A stoop pulling away, or steps rocking | The base settled, or water got underneath and froze |
| Rust stains under a window head | A corroding steel lintel jacking the brick above it |
Not sure what you are looking at? Send us a photo and we will tell you what it is. Call (410) 844-6510.
05
The strongest mortar is usually the wrong mortar. Historic mortar is lime, not cement, typically 1 part lime putty to 3 parts sand. Portland cement was not in common use until the early 20th century, and by the 1930s most masons mixed equal parts cement and lime. Pre-1900 Baltimore brick therefore sits in nearly pure lime mortar; later walls get harder.
Repoint a soft old wall with the Type N or Type S bagged mortar sold at every supply house and the joints will not move. Movement gets forced through the brick, water cannot evaporate out through the joint, salts crystallize inside it, and the face spalls off.
The signature is hard joints standing proud of eroded, crumbling brick. It is not reversible: spalled brick has to be replaced. A brick mason Baltimore homeowners can trust asks the wall's age before quoting a mix, which is where the masonry restoration Baltimore rowhouses need starts.
06
In the city we work mostly on rowhouses in Federal Hill, Canton, Fells Point, Hampden, Bolton Hill, Locust Point and Patterson Park, where the same failures repeat block after block.
The county brings its own problems. We do masonry repair in Dundalk, where near sea level humidity keeps walls damp, while owners looking for masonry contractors in Towson call about chimneys and retaining walls. Woodlawn masonry repair is 1940s and 1950s brick rows at repointing age, and Catonsville masonry and retaining walls come with terraced lots above the Patapsco gorge. Essex masonry repair means tidal water on two sides, Owings Mills brick and chimney repair is veneer over frame, and Randallstown masonry repair is mid-century ramblers whose mortar, crowns and stoops wear out at once.
Residential masonry Baltimore City and Baltimore County owners need is most of our week. If your street is not listed, call anyway: the masonry contractors Baltimore homeowners hire are close enough to come back.
We do not travel outside Baltimore City and Baltimore County. If you are up on Long Island and what you need is a sunroom rather than brickwork, Sunrooms Long Island NY is a company we know and rate.
07
Ask for the license, not the bond. The Maryland Home Improvement Commission licenses home improvement contractors, and only an MHIC-licensed contractor may contract with a homeowner. MHIC lists masonry and masonry pointing, concrete driveways and patios, chimney repairs and retaining walls as licensable work.
"Bonded" means something different here than people assume. Maryland does not require a surety bond for licensure. It has the MHIC Guaranty Fund instead, paid into by every licensed contractor. It reimburses homeowners for work done in an unworkmanlike, incorrect or incomplete manner, or abandoned: up to $30,000 per claimant (or what you paid, whichever is less), with claims filed within three years.
The part nobody advertises: it only covers licensed contractors. Hire unlicensed and you have no recourse. Most masonry companies Baltimore MD homeowners get bids from advertise "licensed, insured and bonded," and no listing names the best masonry contractor Baltimore has, so ask every bidder for a license number.
08
No surprises, no vanishing crew. Here is how a job runs, and what to expect from any masonry contractor Baltimore MD homeowners hire.
Any masonry company Baltimore City or County sends you should put all four in writing. See our about Charm City Masonry page.
09
Jerry and his team were knowledgeable, helpful, and highly responsive in communication. I needed some brick replaced at the back of my house, and the work was completed in one day. The guys on the job were courteous and accommodating to my requests while they worked in my home. The price for the job was very reasonable; you can’t put a price on people who are genuine and trustworthy. It was honestly easy, convenient, and a pleasure to work with Charm City Masonry. I highly recommend them.
Jerry and Peter were great to work with and helped revitalize our 100 year old marble steps after they were hit by an errant vehicle. They are the go to company for all of your marble step needs in Baltimore.
It was a pleasure working with Charm City Masonry. From the on start of the service until the end work was exceptional. The team was professional, punctual, and clearly skilled in their craft. The quality of their workmanship truly stands out; the finished result exceeded my expectations. They also kept the work area clean and showed great respect for my home throughout the job. I highly recommend this company to anyone in need of reliable and high-quality masonry work.
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Serving Baltimore City and Baltimore County, MD.
