5 Ways to Improve the Curb Appeal of your Home

 

If you’re in real estate, you already know about curb appeal.  If not, you may not be aware.  Simply put, curb appeal is the ‘first impression’ visitors get of your house.  These first impressions can be very important when selling your home.  Having good curb appeal is also just a good idea for you and your house.

1)      Pick up clutter.  Nothing say’s “I don’t care” like trash laying outside your home.  Picking up trash is not only good for the environment, it can make your neighbors happy and can help your curb appeal.

2)      Painting your house.  Making your home more appealing by painting is another option.  Look at other homes in your neighborhood, you don’t want to stick out especially if you plan on selling your home.  Sometimes all you may need is to paint a specific section of your home such as your door to give that ‘pop’ of color.

3)      Tuck-pointing your home.  Tuck pointing your house can make it stand out and look new.  A freshly done brick tuck point job can transform your home and help with stability of your house.   

4)      Replace hardware.  Door knobs, mailboxes, house numbers and various other hardware can really help improve the look of your home.  Consider also replacing your mailbox with a brick mailbox; not only are these sturdier than most mailboxes, but this can really help the look of your residence.

5)      Consider a new roof.  When was the last time you had your roof replaced?  If your roof is leaking, chances are not recently.  People look at the whole picture, including your roof when considering whether or not it has good curb appeal.  A new roof is not only good for you, but probably a good investment in your property.

5 Reasons to Tuck-Point Your Home

5 Reasons to Tuckpoint your House

• Tuck pointing Explained: Tuckpointing (also spelled tuck-pointing or pointing) is the process of filling and matching mortar or putty between brick joints to repair bricks or stonework.

• When to Tuckpoint: You notice your bricks deteriorate or brick joints crumble due to moisture or a water leaks.  This is especially the case for Chimneys.

• Why it’s important to tuckpoint: Aesthetic reasons and practical reasons.

•  Aesthetic reasons include: selling your home.  A recently tuck-pointed home looks better to a house buyer.

•  A practical reason would include:  Leaking or moisture caused by brick damage.  Masonry bricks, fireplaces or chimneys that need repair due to moisture or water damage.  Water damage can lead to more damage to the home.  Tuckpointing can actually stop further damage to your house.  A chimney with water damage can become unstable and weak. 

We know a good mason to tuck-point your home if you’re in need.

 Call us today at 314-255-8940 

How do I know if my home needs new gutters?

 The weather we've been having....do you have ice cycles hanging from your gutters? Or did the large snow amount pull your gutters away from their edge or totally fall off?

Gutters are very important to a home because they deliver the water collected from the roof  to a safe or positive place away from your home. If you can visually see that you have ice cycles hanging from the gutters then that means that water runoff, melting snow, and ice may not be delivered to the gutters properly. Your gutters may be old enough that its attachment method is compromised allowing the gutter to fall away from the edge of the shingles. Your gutters my be rusted on the inside and not very visible but leaking through the gutter itself. Or it is possible the seams on your gutters may have their caulking seal deteriorated. Another problem may be that your gutters are simply clogged up. All of these problems will need inspected and fixed by a qualified contractor such as Moe's Masonry.

A qualified contractor will schedule an appointment with you (normally a sunny and warmer day) to inspect your gutters and provide you with an estimate. You should always ask the contractor for a seamless gutter which will inhibit leakage through seams. The gutter contractor should be able to guide you to a website for you to be able to pick out your color or even provide you with a color guide. Upon the inspection your contractor may also find rotten fascia boards that need replaced. Normally we will recommend to replace those and wrap with metal giving the customer a maintenance free gutter and fascia. NOTE: If you notice interior ceilings having brown water marks that this is most likely caused by gutter problems and should be addressed immediately.

Thank you for visiting Moe's Masonry Blog and come back soon for more tips on all of your Masonry and Gutter needs.

Why is there water in my basement?

Hi and welcome back to Moe's Blog. Today we want to address the issues of why water may be in your basement or evident inside your home. We will look at the most common problems and ways to detect them.

To start off we need to look at the very top of your home...the roof and its drainage system. Roofing and its periodic inspection is very crucial to a home's maintenance. The roof and its cover is very important as they may deteriorate in time, even without you knowing. For instance if you have a shingle roof that is getting old or improperly installed the edges of your shingles may not protect the edges of the home below. Worn or improperly installed shingles may not deliver water to the gutter system designed to deliver the water runoff  away from the home.

Now lets look at the next part, the water runoff delivery system otherwise known as your gutters and downspouts may have problems. If water is present in your home on the interior or the basement then you will need to perform visual inspections ans unfortunately this will need to happen during a rain or performing a hose test. What you may discover by these inspections is that the water is not being delivered from the shingles to the gutter system and leaking down the walls of your home or simply leaking from the back of your gutters on the overhang. These are potential problems of why you may have interior leaking in your home. Some other important things to remember are: that if your gutters have water spilling over the front or the back, then they may simply be clogged and need cleaning, a rather inexpensive remedy for water problems; or incorrect fascia board or cover (aluminum).

As we are working our way down from the top of your home we will look at the next easily noted problems of water leaking into your home or basement. This will be what is called ground water runoff. We look for positive ground water runoff. Negative runoff can be noted by water pooling around the sidewalks and/or foundation of your home. If noticed, most likely these pools are running to the base of your foundation causing hydrostatic pressure against your foundation and putting weight pressure on the basement walls causing them to crack or bulge and compromising the structure of your home. These issues are very important and should be addressed by a professional contractor.

Another important cause of water leaking, is gutter downspouts that deliver into piping systems that travels down the exterior of your basement walls. These are called drainage piping systems and may also be improperly installed or deteriorating causing the water to leak into your basement. This type of a problem is one that we as contractors do not like to see for our customers as it can be costly for the repairs.


We hope we have given you valuable information from Moe's Masonry concerning why your basement may be leaking or other apparent water damage in your home. Thank You for your interest in our blogs  and please join us next time for our informational blog on basement sealing and waterproofing.
Thank You: From Moe's Masonry.

photo credit: cursedthing via photopin cc

How do I know if my home bricks need tuckpointing?

Hi and Welcome back! Our informational blog today will help you to pinpoint problems with your brickwork on your home and know what needs to happen to fix them. What happens if we don't keep up with brick maintenance is that moisture and air may enter into the interior walls causing structural stability and damage and eventually interior plaster and drywall deterioration.

First of all is the brick inspection. We will look for missing mortar in between the bricks, popping out mortar joints, sagging brick and window sills, brick walls that are bowing, deteriorating  mortar joints.

For Missing Mortar in between the brick you will just need to perform an in depth inspection of all of your brick work on your home. By our tuckpointing inspections we often find it is helpful to take pictures and then magnify them on a computer screen letting us to take the time to note all problem areas.

Noticing Popping Mortar Joints will also happen in this visual inspection. You will look for one mortar joint not having congruent surfacing with another. These popping joints will eventually completely fall out.

The way we inspect brick walls for bowing or sagging is to approach the walls up close, look straight up the walls and then you may visually see a bow. Another indicator is small cracks forming around the windows or doors and traveling a few bricks length. These are called stress cracks. Stress cracks are caused by installing windows in brick. The lintel structure above the window that bears the weight of the bricks over the window or door may become deteriorated in time no longer properly supporting  the weight of the bricks. Stress crack are also caused by settling in the foundation walls which is normally caused by incorrect water runoff.

Bowing Brick walls are often caused by improper laying of brick, insufficient tuckpointing that allows interior of walls to deteriorate, and broken or missing cable ties (stars).

Inspection of mortar joints can easily be performed by running your finger along the mortar joint. If a sandy substance falls off of mortar then the mortar is old and in need of replacement.

We hope this information is helpful to you and you may always contact us for an inspection of your home. Please come back and enjoy our next blog on Brick damage caused by water and where the water may come from.

Give us a call at 314-255-8940 for all your tuckpointing and masonry needs.

Welcome to Moes Masonry Blog

Hello and thank you for visiting our blog about Moe's Masonry. We are a masonry company located in the St. Louis area and we service both residential and commercial customers.  We have created this blog to help to explain and explore the art of masonry work and to help you understand what our mission here is at Moe’s Masonry. Every week we will post a new topic on the different types of masonry work, as well as how it can seriously impact your home. We will also be periodically posting different helpful tips to help you around the house with any masonry needs you may have. 

Check back with our blog to see our tips and explanations on Masonry and other topics relating to construction and your home or business. 

Thanks again for your time and interest in Moe’s Masonry. 

You can contact us any time with any questions or concerns at 314-255-8940.  You may reach us by visiting our "contact us" page located on our website.