Last week, I fielded no fewer than five phone calls from homeowner with the same grim news. They found it nearly impossible to get quotes from contractors to do fairly simple repairs. Each caller’s ...

Q. My brick front steps are 50 to 60 years old but are in fairly good shape. I recently found several beige-colored spots about the size of a quarter on the treads. Someone tried wetting them with ...

I’ve seen a lot of posts from people asking for repointing recommendations, but my question is how do you know when you really need to repoint your bricks? (And I suppose I have the same question for ...