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 ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Do you know what “repointing” bricks means? By definition, it consists of “removing a portion of the deteriorated mortar and redoing the joints with new mortar.” Doing that basically ...

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 ...

The other day, I had a guy ask me, “How do I repair the missing mortar from the steps of my house?” Over the course of time, especially in the absence of gutters, the rain falling directly off the ...

You may not know this, but I received a bachelor of science degree in geology many moons ago. I was fascinated by the topic, and it helped me build houses and buildings that would not fail.