This brick crack repair just doesn’t look right

A homeowner contacted us regarding a brick crack repair on the front of his home that he had hired a chimney company to perform. Though the repair wasn’t as sloppy as other brick crack repairs that I have seen, it still was pretty obvious and was the first thing I noticed when I pulled into the driveway to consult with him.

“This repair just doesn’t look right…” he complained to me.  “Can you  make this area look any better… you know… make the repair disappear?” was then the question that I received.

I examined the repaired area of bricks and the cracks he was pointing to.

“I think we can improve the appearance.” I said “but I want to explain our process and how we go about a cracked brick repair and why.  The first thing I noticed when I pulled into your driveway was this repair area was obvious. Our objective in every exterior, brick repair is always towards the final goal of curb appeal. In a nut shell, let me illustrate to you what I mean.” I went on to clarify.

“You see one of the primary purposes of architecture and design is to present a pleasant viewing experience when your property is approached and viewed. An unsightly repair such as this, (I pointed to the brick repair in the photo above) is incompatible with the surrounding materials, so it sticks out. To the viewer’s eyes this creates conflict and detracts from the overall effects of the homes design. So, something doesn’t look right in the viewer’s mind and even though they may not consciously realize it, this area of conflict can dominate their impressions.”

“Now this may seem trivial to some but to others it’s important, especially if you have potential buyers viewing the property.  The architectural design, the meticulous landscaping and balanced colors on a home should dominate the visual impact and not an area of repair.” I concluded. My client shook his head in understanding.

“So having said that, it’s important that the repairs and the blending of colors be performed to affect the appearance of the repair area from approx. 20’ or more distance away from the repair wall. This way we do not get caught up with the minutia of closer color matching, that may be required let’s say, in a foyer area but instead concentrate on the visual impact of the repair as we step back to the sidewalk or driveway which would be the most common view.” I added. “Does that makes sense to you?” I inquired.

This is why it is important to have a repair blend in. The repair that is the subject of the main photo in this article doesn’t achieve the goal of blending in and frankly, sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s probably better not to have a repair performed if this outcome is expected as it detracts from the overall beauty and likely the value of the property.

I know that sometimes it’s not easy to get a perfect match as we do not live in a perfect world. Even with our experience at Olde World Masons, Inc, some jobs can be quite challenging.  In most cases though with a little forethought, a repair can be blended well enough that it does not affect the visual impact on a home.
A crack repair that blends well, does cost more because of the time required to perform the repair. In addition, it takes experience to blend colors under varying lighting conditions. Keep this in mind the next time you need to have a brick crack repair performed on your home or business.