Invisible Tuckpointing

Where do I begin???

I contacted five masonry contractors for estimates/quotes re: tuckpointing on the outside walls of my 1907 home in the west end of Toronto. Four of the five gave me the usual blah blah about grinding out all of the old mortar, and replacing it. A couple of them wanted to completely replace the crumbling brick columns on my front porch; of those, a few said they could colour match the old bricks, but not all of them said so. So Mario Cantin from Invisible Tuckpointing was one of those whom I had I contacted. He showed up exactly on time, and gave me more details about the science behind tuck-pointing and old house restoration than I initially could absorb. His passion for the job was clearly evident in our initial conversation.

During our first meeting, I had casually mentioned that I had always dreamed of restoring the front porch of this Edwardian workers cottage to its former glory. He was willing to take that on, at a very reasonable price.

The end result is that he selectively removed and replaced loose mortar between the bricks on my house, and left the original in place where attention was not required. He colour matched the new mortar with the existing house. He rebuilt the brick columns on my front porch without having to demolish and replace them, as others had suggested. AND, he did the porch..This involved sanding the original wood pillars, sanding the roofing, the porch partition between my house and my semi-detached neighbour, and the porch floor. Re-painting, etc. Fixing up the loose balustrades on my front porch. It was a major labour of love.

I realized through this process that Mario (and his wife Sandy) are passionate about restoring old houses to their historic architectural roots. Their work was meticulous, and detailed. Mario prides himself on being true to the history of architectural restoration. And he has the skills to do it. We are elated by their work. He is a true artist and cared passionately about restoring an old Edwardian cottage to its original condition.

There are many other positives to say about Mario, some of which are mentioned in the various Home Stars reviews. Cleaned up every afternoon, prompt, courteous, kind.

I have absolutely no reservation in recommending Mario/Invisible Tuckpointing to your attention, if you want to restore your home to original.
Bill

Mario and Sandy are dedicated professionals who have developed a specialized skill set that relies in part on techniques developed over a century ago. Their work is better described as a form of art than a trade. They recently rehabilitated our 1890s brick home exterior. Many neighbours have commented on the quality of the transformation. Most importantly Mario and Sandy are people of integrity. Highly recommended!

Mario and Sandy are a great pair. They pay attention to detail and are very considerate and tidy. We are wowed with how naturally the work ties in to our heritage house and have had many compliments from our neighbours.
We are very happy with the work so far and are looking forward to seeing the full transformation next year!

Mario is a masonry therapist. He has a light touch, asks it all the right questions, listens to its story, respects it when it cries, and allows it to live more fully than before. He is loyal, respectful, and committed to old masonry thriving again, showing its true personality after years of trauma.

We are very happy with the work Mario & Sandy did repairing the areas of damaged brick and mortar around the foundation, along the roof line and at a few other spots on the walls of our 1907 Annex home this spring. They did a superb job blending in the new work with the original brickwork. We love that our historic home has lasted so well over the years and we are so pleased to have found Mario with his depth of knowledge about historic masonry to do the restoration work necessary.

I should add, Mario demonstrated good up-to-date safety practices for working-at-heights and Mario and Sandy were pleasant to have around while they did the work and left the work-site very clean after each workday. We also felt lucky they were so comfortable with and tolerant of both our dog and the neighbour's dog (when they had to access the neighbour's yard for some of the work). I would strongly recommend them to anyone who values good craftsmanship and a safe work-site.

The bricks on my chimneys were loose. This caused concerns of loose bricks falling down from roof. I came to know Mario and his work because he restored our family home in the old cabbage town. That was extensive work and he did a great job to make the house look beautiful again. That's why I hired him to repair my chimneys.

They Chimneys are about 7 feet above the roof shingles, and the roof is about 35-40 feet above the ground. Very difficult to access and to work around. It took him 2 days to properly set up the working platform. and over 3 days to do the repair.

Before began his job, Mario explains to me the steps that he would take to do the job, including setups, safety, and some technical aspects of the ancient chimneys.

As he was removing the loose bricks, he noticed more bricks need to be removed, hence rebuild even more. He did it without extra cost to me. very good gesture.

Overall, this is a job well-planned and well-done. I would recommend him to anyone with brick works.

Hello everyone,

Over the course of the Summer, I spent 3 months educating myself on the masonry trade in Toronto as well as requesting multiple quotes for tuckpointing on my 100+ year old home. I quickly discovered that there was a rather large gap in pricing, quality and service between the companies that perform tuckpointing services. My home possessed varying shades of coloured mortar that was significantly degraded particularly on one side of the house. Mario from Invisible Tuckpointing was the only person to step forward and state that he would match the coloured mortar of the house. Moreover, the duration of the job stretched for 2 weeks vs. the 4 days that I was quoted by all the remaining companies. In the end, I am absolutely delighted that I chose Invisible Tuckpointing for the following reasons:

1. Perfect colour matching between old and new mortar. The work is truly "invisble" to the eye
2. Sandy has "Michelangelo hands" and provided perfect tuckpointing
3. Mortar grinding was precise and Mario's cleanup was timely and neat
4. All activities were safely performed with strong sensitivities to my neighbours and the plethora of vehicles that made the job very challenging
5. Mario was meticulous and examined every square inch of the house while providing key advice
6. Went above and beyond by using acid to soften the look of rough bricks and a plethora of tints to match mortar and brick colour imperfections. In fact, Mario changed the new mortar colour up to 12 times to match the old mortar
7. Very professional and worked long hours and weekends to complete the job

In my opinion, Mario is truly an artist and his skills are unparalleled. He brings a value proposition to the table which goes far beyond just tuckpointing. For example, Mario spent a significant amount of time remedying damaged and broken bricks or mortar imperfections while making everything look perfect. It truly felt like Mario treated my home as his home, and this showed through his unbelievable attention to detail which you will rarely find in any trade.

Mario and Sandy did a superb job on my home, yet I find the one negative review on Homestars to be truly puzzling and an outlier considering my most recent experience. In fact, the brick and mortar on my home looks harmonious and brings a smile to my face every time I look at it. The job was so well done, that Mario was inundated with estimate requests from my neighbours and I still have people knocking on my door requesting Mario's contact details. I would not hesitate to recommend Invisible Tuckpointing to all my friends and family. Thank you Mario and Sandy for the wonderful job.

Peter

I am very happy with the work that Invisible Tuckpointing did on our brick home. We had a problem with different coloured mortars that had been poorly applied in a large number of areas. Our home is over 100-years-old and I was concerned about hiring a mason who would make the brick and mortar look new. I like the character and age of my Edwardian home and wanted the repointing to reflect that. Mario and Sandy gave me exactly that and more: beautiful, careful, high quality workmanship that restored and enhanced the look of my home. The mortar now looks unified and tidy and suits the age of the brick. Mario selected a mortar color that was very close to what the original mortar color would have been. He also managed to impressively fix a number of problem areas on the bricks themselves. Before we selected Invisible Tuckpointing, we looked at the homes several tuckpointing companies had done, and the quality of Mario’s work was far beyond what anyone else was doing. Invisible did cost more than the other companies we received quotes from but, in this case, you get what you pay for and it was well worth it. They were reliable, professional, and took great pride in their excellent work. I would highly recommend them.

As an engineer who often inspects buildings (many with awful looking masonry repairs) and a respect for maintaining century old construction, I was very hesitant to hire just any mason to undertake repairs to my 100+ year old solid brick home. After researching many masons who specialize in historic and heritage construction, Mario (the owner) of Invisible Tuckpointing was very quick to meet, review my walls, and provide a fee proposal. Residential work appeared to be too small-scale for most other masons who specialize in historic and heritage construction; most of whom did not even return requests for quotes. Invisible Tuckpointing's quote included repairing all settlement cracks and failed mortar joints.
Mario's attention to detail and perfectionism is unmatched for a contractor, since in my professional experience, most contractors simply "don't care". As an owner-operated business, Mario displayed more concern for the finished product than I.
During the course of the work, under my own initiative, a request to expand the scope of work was made. Mario provided a fair and reasonable quote for the additional work. This work involved replacing bricks that had been significantly damaged when the previous owner had a patio door opening created, where one did not originally exist. The bricks to either side of the door had been poorly cut and were parged over. Horrendous!
Since my bricks (a rare cast concrete as opposed to a more common fired clay) were of an unusual size and a unique texture, it was difficult to source replacement units. Mario found a brick imported form Europe, which had similar dimensions. The final product, while not an "exact" colour and texture match, looks great. It surpassed my expectations, which are realistic based on my profession. Invisible Tuckpointing even rebuilt some bricks at the door jamb that could not be replaced.
Refer to attached photos for the "before", "during" and "after" of the door opening restoration.
We are very pleased with the outcome and intend to hire Invisible Tuckpoiting back to complete another masonry job later in the season.

I searched for a couple of years to find a brick professional I felt comfortable with and was an "Old Style Craftsman" who took deep pride in his/her profession. My home is one of the oldest in the City and the brickwork had become seriously damaged after 150 years of battling the elements and previous sandblasting efforts. The brick was powdering in numerous spots. After being disappointed a few times by 'non-shows', Mario at Invisible Tuck Pointing was recommended to me by a couple of Cabbagetown residents who had used his services on both larger and smaller jobs. Mario gave me several addresses to check on his previous work, and some of the addresses his competitors had worked on. I visited them all, and negotiated a contract with Mario.
Mario and his partner showed up exactly as promised, but actually finished the job almost a week sooner than they had promised and it was done professionally and with minimum disruption to myself or my co-joined neighbours. Mario worked meticulously, putting in incredibly long hours to beat the onset of winter weather, but still took the time to show me the exact formulas and techniques he was using, which he had researched in a 110 year-old English bricklayer's manual. He also gave me advice on other repairs which I intended doing which were honestly given, with no thought of him benefiting from the other (non-brick) refurbishments still to be required. He also volunteered to come back after the doors and windows were replaced, to do any touch-ups that may be required to the brickwork thereafter.
In my opinion my house looks better after Mario finished than it probably looked when it was new, and I am extremely satisfied with the result and it has prompted me to move forward on other repairs needed to match the great 'new' brickwork. I would have NO HESITATION in recommending Mario in spite of what one complainer wrote below (who I suspect was just trying to renegotiate the price after the fact!)