The Problem
A real estate agent representing the sellers of a 1906 Shingle Style home in East Lake Bluff contacted us directly. The home was going to market in six weeks and the agent had previewed the property. The exposed brick foundation on the north and west faces showed open joints throughout and two sections where frost action had pushed individual bricks outward by 1/4 to 3/8 inch. The agent knew from prior transactions that foundation masonry in this condition would appear in the inspection report and potentially trigger a lender requirement for repair before closing. The sellers agreed to complete the work before listing to eliminate that contingency risk. The project needed to move within two weeks.
Our Solution
We mobilized within four days of the initial call. The exposed foundation on this 1906 Shingle Style home is a common brick construction with a shallow exposed course above grade on the north and west elevations, roughly 18 inches of visible masonry above the surrounding grade. The foundation brick is soft and porous, consistent with early twentieth century construction, and required NHL 3.5 mortar to stay within the original material strength parameters.
All open joints were raked to 3/4-inch depth by hand. On a foundation this age, power raking increases the risk of loosening adjacent brick that may be marginally bonded. The two displaced brick sections were removed, substrate mortar cleaned back, and the brick reset in full mortar beds with the faces aligned to the surrounding wall plane. Each reset brick was temporarily braced until the mortar reached initial set.
The full perimeter repointing used NHL 3.5 matched to a gray-brown sand that approximated the original foundation mortar color. Joint profile was a simple flush tool consistent with foundation construction from this period. The mortar wash at the sill plate junction on the north elevation, which had deteriorated to open gaps in several locations, was rebuilt using a stiff lime mortar formed to a positive slope away from the wood framing.
We completed the work in two days and provided the sellers with a written condition report and photographic documentation, formatted to include in the listing disclosure and the agent’s pre-inspection package.
The Result
The foundation presented as sound and recently repointed when buyers toured the property. The inspection report noted new mortar work on the foundation and flagged no active defects. The transaction closed without a masonry contingency. The agent has used us for three subsequent pre-listing referrals on comparable historic properties in the East Lake Bluff corridor since this project.
