Avenue Road Masonry

Avenue Road Masonry is a very professional, honest and friendly company. We used the company to do several jobs over the course of several days. The results are wonderful.

We live in an Edwardian semi-detached and, in conjunction with our neighbour, had a shared non-functional chimney repaired. Fourteen courses of bricks were removed, several bricks were replaced in the chimney that remained, and venting and a new cap were installed. The chimney, which looked like one more storm would keel it over, is now extremely sturdy and handsome. It is a beautiful feature of our 3rd floor deck.

Another mutual house project was the repair of the base of a shared porch pillar. Bricks in some of the bottom courses were badly crumbled. These, as well as a few below grade, were replaced and the 4 above grade courses were parged all around the pillar (even under the porch!) to protect the pillar for years to come.

Lastly, our own front porch pillar was in a horrible state as it is in a location which is lashed by inclement weather in winter and spring. It required 22 bricks replaced, complete 360 degree tuck-pointing and a bottom parging which again went under the porch. It looks like a million bucks.

Greg and Dan (the masons) worked with care. They are skilful and meticulous. We were concerned that the repairs would stick out like a sore thumb against our old bricks. Bricks removed from the chimney were used for the front pillars as well as old bricks from the company’s yard. For each of the three projects, mortar was stained differently to match the old remaining mortar. Tuck pointing was very neat and the parging very smooth with sharp corners. Greg and Dan were always punctual, stayed later than usual to finish steps in the projects, always tidied up well and were easy and pleasant to speak with.

The owner and project manager of Avenue Road Masonry are also to be commended. Chris, the owner, was our initial contact. He addressed all of our concerns (and technical questions) about the various projects in a direct and knowledgable manner and emailed photos of pillar parging which we, at first, were not entirely keen about. His quote was fair. We had interviewed 2 other companies but felt most comfortable with his approach and price. Rob, the project manager, viewed the work in progress several times and touched base with us to make sure we were happy with developments. He kept us abreast daily about weather conditions and work stoppage (as it was spring, there were a couple of inclement days with no work). He took good care of us.

Needless to say, we are delighted with the completed projects and our very positive experience with Avenue Road Masonry from start to finish. It is a good feeling not only to have work on one’s home done well but also to have that work done by people who one likes. Thanks Avenue Road Masonry for a terrific experience.