Mecca for Masons

On Saturday morning, we headed out to Crawford Material Company for some supplies for a "little" project that Steve has decided to take on. More on the project later.

For now, I want to talk about how awesome this place was. They had absolutely any supply you would need for masonry work. They had recycled Chicago common brick (we needed 120 bricks). They had every kind of cement known to man, the powders to color mortar, rebar, any kind of patio surface you can imagine, as well as chimney supplies galore. I was seriously in awe. It was all so incredibly organized and professional.

I, of course, had to take some photos and they told me with a friendly smile, "Knock yourself out."


Being in places like this, where the professionals shop, it's kind of like getting behind the curtain in a play or something. I find it totally fascinating. Does anyone else feel this way about these types of places?

Rows of caulk in every possible color. Every tool you need for the job -all in one place- indescribable.

Now for our project...

Steve is going to be repairing the parapet wall. The parapet wall is what you have when you have a flat roof. It's a ledge that goes around the edges of the roofline. Ours is fairly well-deteriorated and Steve is going to grind out the bad joints and rebuilding all the loose bricks AND the chimneys.

I can't believe he is up for this with all the other things on his list (building a medicine cabinet and kitchen shelving among them). He also has to help me sand and stain all the trim for the second floor.

We bought Type N mortar for tuckpointing, 120 Common bricks, Portland cement for rebuilding the chimney crown, grinding wheels for grinding out the joints, Vulcan 116 caulking for the cement joints, a masons brush for wetting down the bricks, and rebar for reinforcing the chimney crowns and preventing them from cracking.

You might wonder how we knew what to buy or how Steve knows how to make these repairs?
Well, let's just say God bless the internet and the Masonry Advisory Council's website.

(Steve promises to photograph and help me document the process from start to finish for the blog.)