Kenwood Greystone
A greystone that had been repointed in cement mortar in the 1980s, which is the single most common way to destroy a limestone facade slowly.
$486,000Contracted and paid
21 weeksOn site
On timeAgainst the contracted date
2025Chicago, IL
-
Survey to close-out, in the owners' own sequence.
The brief
A whole-home renovation on a greystone the owners had bought eighteen months earlier, with a facade that had been repointed in cement mortar some time in the 1980s.
What the survey found
Bed joints had failed on three elevations where the cement pointing trapped water behind the stone. Inside, the original millwork was repairable in every room but two, and the floor structure could carry the stone counters the owners wanted.
What we did about it
Raked out by hand rather than by grinder, repointed in matched lime, and a sample panel approved before the scaffold went up. Millwork stripped and reinstated; two doors matched from salvage rather than replaced in MDF.
“They brought a mortar sample to the second meeting and explained why the last contractor had made it worse. That is when we stopped getting quotes.”
Twenty-one weeks, in five entries.
A whole-home job produces a long file. These are the five decisions that set the price; the owners got the rest of it a Friday at a time.
-
Day 1
Survey
A structural engineer came to the survey, not to the crisis. Bed joints on three elevations had failed where cement pointing trapped water behind the stone.
-
Week 3
Scope
Repointing in matched lime mortar priced as its own line, with a sample panel to be approved before the scaffold went up.
-
Week 6
Masonry
Sample panel approved. Raking out by hand, not by grinder, which is slower and is the reason the stone still has its arris.
-
Week 13
Interior
Original millwork stripped, repaired and reinstated. Two doors were beyond saving and were matched from salvaged stock rather than replaced in MDF.
-
Week 21
Close-out
Delivered on the contracted date. The owners have since referred two neighbours, which is how most of our Chicago work arrives.
Greystone facades fail quietly for thirty years.
If yours was repointed in cement at some point since 1970, the bed joints are already going. We will tell you how far it has gone before you spend anything on the inside.