A crack in a New York brick wall tells you most of what you need to know, if you read it before reaching for mortar. Where it runs, how wide it is and whether it is still opening decide whether the wall needs its joints filled, new brick stitched across it, or a section taken down and built again. That reading is the start of any brickwork repair.
The Brick Development Association’s guide to repairing brickwork sorts cracks into three widths, fine up to about 1/16 inch, medium up to about 3/8 inch, and wide beyond that. It also separates cracks that zigzag through the joints and leave the bricks whole from cracks that run straight through bricks and joints alike. On an NYC wall, those two readings together point to the repair.
As a brick repair contractor in NYC, we check whether a crack is still moving before repairing it, with tell-tales across the crack and an engineer where the wall needs one. Where the condition allows, cracked brickwork is stitched, cut out on both sides and relaid across the crack. Bowing walls are tied back or rebuilt, and new brickwork is built to bond into the old. That is brick wall repair done in the right order, and it is what a brick repair company should offer an older building.
Not every crack in a New York brick wall is a problem, and not every problem shows as a crack.
These five are the ones that decide what the repair will be.
A crack stepping through the mortar, with the bricks left whole, means the joints are filled. On an NYC wall that is brick pointing NYC.
A crack straight through bricks and joints means the bricks have broken. On a New York wall, the BDA’s answer is cutting out and rebuilding.
A single damaged brick with whole neighbors is not wall repair at all. On an NYC building it is handled under brick replacement NYC.
The BDA says a bow up to about an inch per story needs no structural attention alone. More on an NYC wall is measured.
An arch whose bricks have slipped cannot be pointed into shape, as our brick pointing Brooklyn page explains. On an NYC wall it is rebuilt.
Four principles from the Brick Development Association’s guide to the alteration and repair of brickwork.
The BDA says to find out whether a wall is still moving, and why, before treating it, and prefers pin tell-tales for measuring. Filling works best where the brickwork on both sides of a crack has stopped. On an NYC wall, a crack filled while it is still opening simply opens again beside the repair.
Where bricks have broken along a crack, the guide calls for cutting out the defective brickwork on both sides and inserting new brickwork to stitch the crack together, with proper bonding. Mortar pushed into a crack through broken bricks on a New York wall holds nothing together.
The BDA puts the danger point for collapse where the lean over a wall’s full height exceeds one third of its thickness at the base, and says rebuilding is then almost certainly the only answer. Bulging often comes from the outer layer of brick losing its bond with the inner, which an NYC wall can do for decades before it shows.
Any brick installation into an existing wall has to achieve the right bond and coursing with the old work, and the guide allows block bonding where tying in at every course is not possible. On a New York building, new brickwork that is only butted against the old opens a crack of its own.
We look at where the crack runs and how wide it is, and set tell-tales across it where we need to know whether the NYC wall is still moving. Where the movement or the bowing calls for it, an engineer is brought in before the repair is decided.
Depending on the condition of the New York wall, cracked brickwork is stitched with new brick, a bowing wall is tied back to the floors, or a section is taken down and built again. Many jobs need more than one of these.
Rebuilt sections and new brickwork are laid to bond into the existing wall, not simply set against it. That is the difference between bricklaying services that hold on an NYC building and a patch that cracks along its own edge.
The most common mistake with a cracked New York wall is fixing the crack instead of the wall. Mortar goes into a crack that is still opening, or into one running through broken bricks, and a year later the line is back beside the repair. Fixing brickwork properly means asking first whether the crack is moving, whether the bricks or only the joints have failed, and whether the wall has started to bow. The answers decide the repair, and sometimes they show the old crack needs nothing more than filling.
We take on brick repair across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, and the same crack, bowing and brick installation work reaches older walls in Westchester County and Yonkers.
Joints, single bricks and cracked walls all start from the same survey, set out on brickwork contractor NYC.
Browse our gallery to explore the outstanding projects we’ve successfully completed, highlighting our expertise.
Wide ones, ones running straight through the bricks, and ones still moving. The Brick Development Association groups cracks as fine up to about 1/16 inch, medium up to about 3/8 inch, and wide beyond that. On an NYC wall, a crack through broken bricks or still opening needs brick wall crack repair, not just filling.
By measuring it over time. The Brick Development Association recommends tell-tales fixed across the crack, preferring pins to strips, so any movement between the two sides shows. On a New York wall the reading decides the repair, since filling works best once the brickwork on both sides has stopped moving.
Rebuilding across a crack with new brick. The Brick Development Association describes cutting out the defective brickwork on either side and inserting new brickwork to stitch the crack together, with proper bonding. On an NYC wall it is used where the bricks themselves have broken, which filling with mortar cannot fix.
More than about an inch in a story’s height starts to matter. The Brick Development Association says distortion up to that needs no attention on structural grounds alone, and puts the danger point where the lean over the full height passes one third of the wall’s thickness. Near that, a New York wall is rebuilt.
Often because the outer layer of brick has lost its bond with the layer behind it. The Brick Development Association names that as a common cause of bulging, and notes that overloading shows as a bow visible on both sides of the wall. On an NYC building, the cause decides whether tying back will hold.
Often, if the bow has not gone too far. The Brick Development Association describes tying a wall back to the floor or roof with metal rods or straps, or supporting it with a well-founded buttress. On a New York wall leaning past one third of its thickness, rebuilding is almost certainly the only answer.
Usually not. The Brick Development Association says that where it is beyond doubt a wall is no longer moving, it is better to leave the brickwork alone. On an NYC building, an old stable crack through the joints generally needs filling, and rebuilding sound brickwork around it only disturbs a wall that has settled.
By bonding it in, not butting it against the old. The Brick Development Association says new work has to achieve the correct bond and coursing with the existing wall, using block bonding where tying in at every course is not possible. On a New York building, that keeps new work from cracking at its edge.
