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Red Flags / Facades and Brick

RED FLAG · FACADE

A Stepped Crack and a Rust Stain Above a Window

AI-generated example image: a red brick wall with a window. The steel angle over the window is rusted, rust runs down beside the frame, and a stair-step crack climbs through the mortar from the corner of the window.

Over most windows in a brick building, a steel angle called a lintel carries the brick across the opening. When water reaches that steel it rusts, and because rust takes up several times the space of the steel it replaces, the lintel swells, lifts the brick above it, and cracks the mortar in a stair-step line up from the corner of the window.

Look up at your windows. Rust running down from the top of the frame is the first sign. A crack that steps up through the mortar from the corner is the second. Brick over the opening that no longer sits in line is the same problem, further along.

The fix takes out the brick over the opening, cleans or replaces the steel, adds flashing to keep water off it, and rebuilds the brick. It is a bigger job the longer the lintel keeps pushing.

If you see this on your building, send a photo and the address to info@ccrs-services.com.

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We fix this: Facade and Masonry Restoration

MORE RED FLAGS

Keep Walking the Property

AI-generated example image: a red brick wall where the mortar between the bricks has worn back and crumbled into sand, with open gaps between some bricks and sand on the stone ledge below.

Mortar Joints Worn Back from the Face of the Brick

Recessed, sandy mortar joints let water into a brick wall. A simple key test, where to look, and why tuckpointing early beats rebuilding a section of wall.

What it means AI-generated example image: a concrete sidewalk where one slab has lifted at a joint, leaving a raised lip with a chipped edge and a crack across the corner.

A Sidewalk Slab That Has Lifted

Freeze and thaw can push one sidewalk slab up and leave a trip edge at the joint. What to look for, and when grinding or replacing the section fixes it.

What it means AI-generated example image: the concrete ceiling of a parking garage with a long crack, brown and orange rust stains spreading out from it, and a line of white crust along part of the crack.

Rust Stains on a Garage Ceiling

A crack in a garage ceiling with brown or orange staining around it usually means the steel inside the concrete is rusting. What causes it and why the early repair is the smaller one.

What it means

See All Red Flags

CONTACT

Tell Us What Is Failing. We Will Come Look.

Send a few photos, the address, and what you are seeing. We will assess it and come back to you with a straight answer, including whether it is worth fixing at all.

info@ccrs-services.com