Lintel Repair & Replacement in Naperville, IL — Stop the Rust Before the Brick Comes Down

Who replaces lintels in Naperville, IL?

Paul Lally's Masonry handles lintel repair and replacement throughout Naperville, IL. If you're seeing rust stains, cracked brick, or sagging courses over a window or door, we remove the failed steel or stone lintel, set a new galvanized one, and reset the brick above the opening — and we've done exactly this kind of work across Chicagoland since 1988. Call (708) 448-8866 for a free on-site estimate.

A failing lintel is not the kind of problem that fixes itself or waits patiently. It gets worse every freeze-thaw cycle. The sooner it's looked at, the smaller — and cheaper — the fix.

What a lintel is, and what repair or replacement involves

A lintel is the horizontal support that carries the weight of the brick, block, or stone above an opening — a window, a door, a garage bay. On most Naperville homes it's a steel angle (often called an "L-lintel"), and on older or higher-end brick homes it may be a cut stone lintel. Whatever spans the top of the opening is what keeps the wall above from collapsing into the hole.

When that support rusts, cracks, or loses its footing, the brick above it has nothing holding it up. That's when you get the sagging, cracking, and shifting most homeowners first notice.

Repair can be an option when the lintel itself is sound but the surrounding brick and mortar have let water in — we can address the joints, caulking, and any brick that's begun to loosen. Replacement is the fix when the steel has rusted through, bent, or expanded enough to lift the courses above it. In that case we:

• Carefully remove the brick directly above the opening
• Take out the old, failed lintel
• Set a new galvanized, primed steel lintel (or matched stone where appropriate)
• Reset the original brick — or matched replacement brick where pieces have spalled
• Repoint and seal so the repair blends back into the wall

The goal isn't just a new piece of steel. It's a solid, watertight opening that looks like the wall was never touched.

Signs your lintel is failing

In Naperville, these are the warning signs we're called out for most often:

• Orange or rust-colored stains running down the brick just below a window — that's the steel lintel rusting behind the face brick
• Step cracks climbing diagonally out of the top corners of a window or door
• Sagging, bulging, or cracked brick directly over the opening
• Gaps opening up where the brick meets the window or door frame
• Loose or missing mortar in the joints right above the lintel

One or two of these isn't cause for panic — but it is cause for a look. Rust and cracking are progressive, and they tell you water is already getting where it shouldn't.

The risk of waiting

Here's the part homeowners don't always realize: a rusting steel lintel doesn't just weaken — it expands. As steel corrodes it grows, and that swelling force pushes the brick courses above it up and out. Left long enough, the brick over the opening loosens, cracks, and can eventually shed or collapse — right over a window, a doorway, or a walkway where people pass.

Catching it early means resetting a few courses of brick. Ignoring it can mean rebuilding a large section of wall, at real cost and risk. Waiting almost never saves money on masonry.

Our process

We start with a free on-site assessment — we look at each affected opening, check the joints and caulking, and tell you honestly whether it's a repair or a replacement. From there:

1. We protect the work area and carefully remove only the brick that has to come out
2. We remove the failed lintel and inspect the pocket and surrounding brick
3. We install a new galvanized, primed steel lintel sized to the span
4. We reset the brick — original where sound, matched where damaged — and rebuild the joints
5. We repoint, tuck, and seal so water stays out and the repair disappears into the wall

Clean, tidy, and done right the first time. That's the standard we've held since 1988.

Materials we use

For lintel work we use galvanized, primed steel lintels that resist the corrosion that took out the old one, quality mortar color-matched to your existing joints, and matched replacement brick where original pieces have spalled or broken. On stone-lintel homes we work in cut or cast stone appropriate to the opening. Using the right materials is the difference between a repair that lasts and one you're calling about again in a few years.

What drives the cost of lintel replacement in Naperville

We don't quote lintel work off a price list, because no two jobs are the same. What actually moves the number:

• Number of openings — one window versus several across the house
• Access and height — a first-floor window is straightforward; second-story or hard-to-reach openings need staging
• Extent of brick disturbance — how much brick has to come out and be reset above the lintel
• Steel vs. stone — a standard galvanized steel angle differs from a cut stone lintel
• Surrounding damage — freeze-thaw cracking or spalling that has spread into the nearby brick

The only fair way to price it is to look at it. Paul Lally's Masonry gives you a free on-site estimate with no obligation — call (708) 448-8866 and we'll come out.

Lintel work in Naperville, IL

Naperville sits across DuPage and Will Counties, and its housing tells two stories for masonry. The older brick homes near downtown often have steel lintels that are decades old and finally rusting through. The large newer subdivisions are full of brick veneer over steel lintels — walls where a single hidden steel angle carries the brick above every window, and where water at the joints eventually finds that steel.

Both share the same enemy: Chicagoland's freeze-thaw cycle. Water works into the joints, freezes, expands, and opens a path to the steel — then the rust takes over. We see it on 1970s ranches and on ten-year-old two-stories alike, all across Naperville. Knowing how these walls are built is half of fixing them cleanly.

A local, experienced masonry contractor you can trust

Paul Lally's Masonry is family-owned and has been serving Naperville and the greater Chicagoland area since 1988. We're licensed, bonded, and insured, and every estimate is free. When you call, you get a real masonry contractor who will tell you straight whether your lintel needs repair or replacement.

Built on Craftsmanship. Backed by Experience.

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

Related masonry services

Lintel problems rarely travel alone. If you're dealing with a failing opening, you may also want:

• Lintel replacement — our full lintel repair and replacement service
• Limestone & sill repair — for cracked, spalling, or shifted stone sills and limestone details
• Brick repair — for spalled, cracked, or loose brick around and beyond the opening

Get a free lintel estimate in Naperville

If you see rust stains, cracks, or sagging brick over a window or door in Naperville, don't wait for it to get worse. Reach out through our contact page or call (708) 448-8866 for a free on-site estimate from Paul Lally's Masonry.