Commercial Masonry Restoration in Westmont, IL

Paul Lally's Masonry provides commercial masonry restoration in Westmont, IL: concrete block and brick repair on the showroom and service buildings along Ogden Avenue, rebuilt overhead-door jambs, storefront lintel and parapet repair on downtown Cass Avenue, tuckpointing and commercial sealant. We're family-owned, insured and have served Chicagoland since 1988. Call (708) 448-8866 for a free on-site estimate.

Look for a commercial masonry contractor in Westmont and you get directories and lead-generation pages, plus listings for firms in other suburbs. None of them describes the buildings Westmont actually has. There are two kinds, and they fail in different places.

In Westmont, the question isn't just "what's wrong with the wall." It's "which Westmont is your building in": Ogden Avenue or downtown.

Two building stocks: commercial masonry restoration in Westmont, by corridor

| | Ogden Avenue corridor | Downtown, Cass Avenue and the station blocks | |---|---|---| | Typical buildings | Showrooms, service and body-shop buildings, outlot restaurants, banks, small office | One- and two-storey brick storefronts, some with offices or apartments above | | Typical construction | Concrete block (often split-face or painted), brick veneer on the street face, flat roofs | Solid or cavity brick, steel lintels over storefront glass, front parapets | | Where it fails first | Overhead-door jambs, block at grade from salt and plow spray, control joints, block parapets under metal coping | Storefront lintels, parapet and coping, weather-side mortar joints, rear-wall openings | | What causes it | Impact, de-icing salt, wash water, missing or failed control joints, water inside hollow cores | Age, rusting steel, worn mortar, water entering at the top of the wall |

Knowing which column you're in tells you where to look before you spend anything.

Signs your Westmont building needs commercial masonry restoration

• Cracked, loose or broken block at overhead-door jambs and service-bay openings.
• Crumbling or spalled block and brick at the base of walls next to salted lots and drive lanes.
• Vertical cracks in long block walls, usually where a control joint should be.
• Control-joint and window sealant that's split, shrunk or missing.
• Peeling paint on block walls, worst at the top and near grade.
• Rust staining and cracks fanning up from the corners of storefront glass.
• Loose coping or brick fragments below a parapet.
• Interior leaks low on block walls after heavy rain.

The Ogden Avenue problem: service buildings take a beating

Showroom and service buildings work harder than most commercial buildings. Vehicles come and go all day, salt comes in on every tire all winter, and the walls next to service bays and wash areas stay wet longer than the rest of the building.

Overhead-door jambs

The block on each side of an overhead door carries the door track and takes bumps from vehicles and equipment. Once a unit cracks, water gets into the cores and freeze-thaw finishes the job. We cut out and rebuild damaged jambs with grouted cores where needed, and recommend guards or bollards where the hits keep coming.

Block at grade

Plow spray and tire splash soak the bottom courses with salt water. The salt crystallizes inside the block as it dries and breaks up the face. We replace the damaged units and talk through drainage and snow-storage changes so the new block lasts.

Water inside hollow block

Hollow concrete block holds water in its cores. Water that gets in at an open joint, a crack or the top of a parapet runs down inside and shows up low on the interior wall, often far from where it entered. Painting over it traps the water. The fix is closing the entry points: repointing, rebuilding control joints, resetting coping and flashing, then a breathable water repellent made for block where it makes sense.

The downtown problem: older brick, steel lintels and parapets

The older brick storefronts downtown are a different job. Their weak points are the steel angle lintel over the storefront glass, the front parapet and coping, and mortar joints that have worn back on the weather side. When the steel lintel rusts, it swells and lifts the brick above it, which is why the crack fans up from the corners of the opening. Replacing it means shoring the wall above, installing new galvanized or primed steel with flashing and end dams, and rebuilding in matched brick.

What we fix first

1. Overhead hazards: loose parapet brick and coping, and badly rusted lintels over entrances and walkways.
2. Active water entry: open joints, failed control joints and sealant, coping and flashing.
3. Damage that keeps growing: cracked jambs, spalled block at grade, worn mortar.
4. Appearance: staining, mismatched patches and old paint.

We put that order in writing, so you know what has to happen now and what can go in next year's budget.

Our commercial restoration process in Westmont

1. Walk every elevation, the roof and the parapets, and photograph each condition by location.
2. Trace any leaks to where water actually enters the wall.
3. Plan around your business: phase by elevation, keep bays, drive lanes and entrances working, protect walkways.
4. Make the repairs: jamb rebuilds, unit replacement, lintels with shoring and flashing, parapet and coping, repointing.
5. Sealant and coatings last, once the masonry around them is sound.
6. Walk the finished work with you. We stand behind our work, because our name is on every job.

Materials we use

Concrete block matched to the existing wall, including split-face; face brick matched for color and size; Type N or Type S mortar chosen for the wall and its exposure; grout and reinforcing for rebuilt jambs; galvanized or primed and painted steel lintels; through-wall flashing with end dams and weep vents; stone, precast or metal coping; commercial sealant with backer rod at control joints; and breathable water repellents for block and brick.

What drives the cost

We don't publish prices, because no two buildings are scoped alike. What changes the number:

• Height and access: ladder, lift or scaffold, and room to stage on a busy lot.
• How much repointing and how many block or brick units need replacing.
• Door jambs, lintels and openings: how many and how damaged.
• Parapet and coping: repoint, reset or rebuild.
• Coating removal on painted block.
• Phasing around service hours, customers and tenants.

Call (708) 448-8866 for a free on-site estimate and an itemized written scope by elevation.

Westmont local context

Westmont sits in DuPage County between Downers Grove, Clarendon Hills, Darien and Oakbrook Terrace, with Ogden Avenue running east-west through it and the BNSF line through downtown. The Ogden Avenue corridor carries heavy traffic and plenty of road salt, and much of the commercial building there went up from the 1960s onward. Downtown, around Cass Avenue and the station, the brick is older and the buildings are smaller and closer together.

Nearby, we handle commercial masonry restoration in Downers Grove, Lisle and Hinsdale. In Westmont itself we also do tuckpointing, brick repair and masonry waterproofing. Block-building owners should read our guide to warehouse and industrial building masonry repair.

Why Westmont building owners call Paul Lally's Masonry

Paul Lally's Masonry Inc. is a family-owned, insured masonry contractor serving Chicago and the Chicagoland suburbs since 1988. We handle tuckpointing, brick and block repair and replacement, lintel replacement, parapet repair, caulking, masonry restoration and waterproofing for commercial and residential properties. Built on Craftsmanship. Backed by Experience. Free on-site estimates. Call (708) 448-8866.

• Since 1988, on commercial and residential buildings across Chicagoland.
• Insured, with a certificate of insurance before work starts.
• Work planned around your business, by elevation and by bay.
• Written priorities, so you know what to do now and what can wait.
• Family-owned: we stand behind our work.

Related services: commercial masonry restoration, lintel repair and replacement, parapet wall repair, tuckpointing, caulking and joint sealant and masonry waterproofing.

Get your Westmont building assessed

Request a free on-site estimate or call (708) 448-8866. Built on Craftsmanship. Backed by Experience.