Masonry & Tuckpointing in Arlington Heights, Illinois
Three in four Arlington Heights homes went up between 1950 and 1989, and fewer than one in twenty dates from before 1940. That changes what fails, what a repair should look like, and who can tell you what is inside your wall.
A 1974 town with a small old core
The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey one-year estimate counts 32,515 housing units in Arlington Heights with a median year built of 1974. Only 1,535 units, 4.7 percent, date from 1939 or earlier. The 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s account for 3,991, 7,317, 6,838 and 6,622 units: about 76 percent of all homes.
The typical Arlington Heights house is more than fifty years old. If it is masonry, it is a half-century-old wall that has been through fifty winters, with whatever was built into it. That is a different job from a heritage restoration, and it should not be quoted as one.
These tables report age, tenure, building type and heating fuel. They do not report what the outside of a house is made of, and we found no source that does for the village as a whole, so nothing here assumes your house is brick.
About 35 percent of units (11,414 of 33,005 in the 2020-2024 estimates) sit in buildings of five or more units. For those, the wall is a board's decision: ask every bidder for a written report on every elevation, the chimneys and the roof-edge masonry, with the worst elevation priced first.
What the village's own survey found in the oldest blocks
In fall 2004 graduate students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's historic preservation program surveyed the blocks around downtown for the village, from Oakton on the north to Rockwell on the south and from Cleveland on the west to Hickory and Dryden on the east. They recorded more than 500 buildings, up to a cut-off around 1970, and rated 38 exceptional, 191 notable, 242 contributing and 46 unranked.
Two findings matter to a mason. The biggest single slice of the old core is 1910 to 1930, with 218 structures; only 86 date from 1950 to 1970. And the most common residential styles were Craftsman at 33 percent, National Folk at 14 percent and Folk Victorian at 8 percent, the last two described in the report's own guide as frame construction. On an old house like that, the masonry may be the chimney, the foundation, the steps and the porch piers, and that is where the work is.
Brick is documented street by street. The report describes Ridge Avenue between Campbell and Sigwalt as nearly two dozen postwar brick houses and proposed it as a conservation district; we could not confirm that it became one. Stonegate and Scarsdale were platted shortly before the Depression, and the early Tudor Revival houses of Stonegate were floated as a possible National Register district.
The house with no mortar at all
The survey also recorded a Lustron, a mass-produced house of porcelain-enamelled steel built from 1947 to 1954. Seven were built in Arlington Heights and at least three were standing in 2004. It prompts the right first question for any masonry bid: is this wall actually masonry?
No paperwork on the old ones
The 2004 team could find no village building permits from before 1949 and concluded that they no longer exist. For an older house there may be no document that says what the walls are, and nobody wrote down the mortar.
What they used instead is open to any owner: Sanborn fire-insurance maps, which show construction materials (the 2004 report lists editions from 1894, 1905, 1924 and 1939 at the University of Illinois Chicago library), and the maps, photographs and city directories at the Arlington Heights Historical Society and the Memorial Library's local history room. A mason's version is a sample of unweathered mortar; the National Park Service says analysis of one can suggest an appropriate mix. Ask what they found before they give you a number.
Mortar: match the wall, not the bag
The National Park Service's Preservation Brief 2 is written for historic masonry, but its central rule holds for any wall: repointing mortar should be softer or more permeable than the masonry units. A harder joint forces moisture and stress into the brick faces, and the brief says the cracking and spalling that follows cannot be repaired easily. It also notes that buildings from the first half of the twentieth century may have been built with portland cement mortar, so lime is not automatic. What is in your wall decides.
Old mortar should come out to a depth of at least 2 to 2.5 times the joint width. A saw may help on wide, uniform joints, but the sides should be finished by hand, because a grinder in the wrong hands cuts the brick's edges. And repointing does not cure a leaking gutter, settlement or rising damp; the cause comes first.
Winter, salt and water
The National Weather Service's 1991-2020 normals for Chicago O'Hare list 37.86 inches of precipitation, 38.4 inches of snow and 121.3 days a year with a low at or below 32 degrees. That is O'Hare, not Arlington Heights, so read it as a regional picture. Water enters a joint or a cracked face, freezes and expands, and the Park Service brief adds that salt crystallising inside a masonry unit can spall its surface. The village pre-wets its street salt with brine, calcium chloride and sugar beet juice; on your own brick steps, shovel first and salt sparingly.
Water also comes from below. The village's stormwater page lists eight basement-backup problem areas in its combined-sewer area and seven locations of repeated overland flooding in separately sewered areas, and FEMA has cost-shared a flood-reduction project for residential areas along Chicago and Race avenues. A wet basement wall is not automatically a mortar problem; a bid to tuckpoint a damp wall without asking about gutters, downspouts, grade and sewer backup is treating a symptom.
Chimneys in a 1974 town
About 78 percent of occupied homes here (24,687 of 31,466) heat with utility gas, so in many houses the chimney may serve a furnace or water heater rather than, or as well as, a fireplace. First establish what you have: the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) inspection procedure for a masonry fireplace has separate checks for factory-built steel fireplace units and for listed chimney liners, so the type decides what gets inspected.
From the top down
- Crown. CSIA, quoted by Fire Engineering, says most crowns are common mortar, which does not withstand years of weather; the recommended crown is portland-cement-based and overhangs every side by at least 2 inches. NFPA 211 requires a bond break where the top flue tile passes through it.
- Cap. It keeps water and birds out and sparks in, and it must not choke the flue.
- Flashing. L-shaped base flashing under the shingles, with counter flashing sealed into the masonry joints. Water marks in the attic just below it are the tell.
- Brick and joints. Common brick and mortar act like sponges, and freeze-thaw adds damage. Use a vapor-permeable repellent only, never paint, which traps moisture.
- Flue liner. Cracks or gaps let creosote collect and gases escape. A Level 2 inspection includes a video scan.
When the appliance changed but the chimney did not
If the furnace or water heater was replaced after the house was built, the chimney may serve something it was not designed for. Oak Ridge National Laboratory states that condensing (Category IV) gas furnaces cannot be vented directly into traditional clay-tile-lined masonry chimneys; an airtight, corrosion-resistant liner with condensate disposal can run through the old chimney instead. CSIA recommends a Level 2 inspection when an appliance is replaced with a dissimilar one. Ask who checked the liner for the new appliance.
When to inspect, and what a sound scope is
NFPA 211, as CSIA quotes it, calls for inspection at least once a year, gas-heated homes included; CSIA recommends a Level 2 inspection when a property is sold, before relining and after a chimney fire or storm. A sound repair scope starts with a written inspection with photographs and the video scan, rebuilds the top as a system (crown, cap, flashing), repoints failed joints, and relines only where the scan shows it is needed. CSIA's own line is that water does more damage to masonry chimneys than fire.
What the village can and cannot stop
National Register listing is an honour, not a rule
The village's 2004 report lists three National Register properties: the Müller House (500 North Vail Avenue, built 1882), the Banta House (514 North Vail, 1908) and the Wheeler-Magnus Round Barn. The 2004 report is blunt that listing does not protect a property from demolition or alteration.
Local landmark rules: still being decided
In 2004 the report found no real protection for any historic structure because the village had no local landmark ordinance, and recommended one. In 2026 the question is still open: the Village Board's 2026-2027 priorities include engaging stakeholders on the historic preservation of residential areas, and a ten-member Historic Preservation Task Force (trustees, residents, architects, a builder and a library and museum representative) is developing options. We could not find a published list of local landmarks. Do not assume your house is protected, and do not assume it is not; one call to Planning & Community Development settles it.
The Design Commission
The Design Commission is five residents; the village calls it an advisory body on external design, with final authority on projects that do not need Board approval. The single-family guidelines say no approval is given for exterior modification of a building subject to a building permit until it conforms to them. The village's pages do not say routine like-for-like masonry repair goes to the commission, and do not rule it out; if your job changes how the house looks, ask. The clearest evidence of how the system works is a teardown: on October 10, 2023 the commission denied demolition of a North Dunton Avenue house the 2004 survey had rated exceptional, citing its significant historical value, and the Village Board denied the developer's appeal on February 5, 2024.
Permits and contractors
Permits go through the Civic Access Portal. The village's checklist page lists re-roofing, demolition and brick paving but no checklist for masonry, tuckpointing or chimney work, which is not the same as none being needed; ask Building & Life Safety before work starts. Emergency repairs need a permit applied for within 24 hours after work begins. Contractors named on a permit must hold a valid contractor license, and the department posts a list of registered contractors (April 2026 edition); which trades must register is not stated. The village adopted the 2018 ICC codes in 2020 with local amendments; for a chimney rebuild or relining, ask which apply.
Questions worth asking before you sign
- What is my wall made of, and how did you find out?
- Which mortar, and why is it softer than my brick? How will the old joint come out?
- What is letting the water in, and who is fixing it?
- For a chimney: will I get a written report with photographs, and was the liner scanned for my appliance?
- Does the job need a village permit, who applies for it, and does anything change the look of the house?
If a bidder cannot answer these plainly, you are comparing prices for different jobs.
Signs your masonry needs a look
- Mortar that crumbles or falls out as sand, cracks along joints, or loose bricks, the usual reasons to repoint according to the Park Service
- A damp or stained wall: first find whether the water comes from a gutter, the grade or the roof
- Brick faces that flake or pop off (spalling), or white powdery salt deposits
- At a chimney: staining where it tapers above the roof, water marks below the flashing in the attic, a cracked or crumbling crown
- Rust stains or a crack along a line above or below a window or door: ask what is behind it before anyone caulks it
Arlington Heights and the surrounding area
Arlington Heights is one of several Northwest suburbs with their own guide. Compare masonry in Mount Prospect, masonry in Palatine or masonry in Wheeling, or browse every area we serve across Chicagoland.
Questions Arlington Heights owners ask
How old are the homes in Arlington Heights?
Mostly 1950s through 1980s. The Census Bureau's 2024 one-year estimate gives a median year built of 1974 across 32,515 housing units; 4.7 percent date from 1939 or earlier and about 76 percent from 1950 through 1989. These are survey estimates, and they describe age, not materials, so the useful question is what is actually in your wall.
Are Arlington Heights homes brick?
Some are, but no source we found documents exterior wall material for the village as a whole. The only documented brick is street-level: the village's 2004 survey described one block of Ridge Avenue as nearly two dozen postwar brick houses, and about a fifth of the residential buildings in the oldest blocks are in styles its guide calls frame construction. Look at your own wall; if it is veneer, siding or steel, a repointing quote is the wrong quote.
Do I need a permit or village approval to tuckpoint or repair a chimney in Arlington Heights?
We could not confirm either way. The village's permit-checklist page has no masonry, tuckpointing or chimney checklist, which does not mean none is needed. Emergency repairs need a permit applied for within 24 hours after work begins, and a job that changes the look of the house may meet design review. Ask the Building and Life Safety Department before work starts, and ask who applies, since owner and contractor both appear on the permit.
Is my Arlington Heights house protected as historic?
We found no local landmark ordinance, but the question is open: a ten-member task force is developing options for the Village Board. National Register listing is honorary and does not protect a property from demolition or alteration. The Design Commission and Village Board did deny a teardown of an exceptional-rated old house in 2023 and 2024, so ask Planning and Community Development what applies to your address.
How do I find out what my wall and mortar are made of?
For a house built before 1949, do not expect a village record: the 2004 survey team could find no village building permits from before 1949. Sanborn fire-insurance maps and the Historical Society and library collections help; the reliable method is a mason who looks and, where there is doubt, has a sample of unweathered mortar analysed. Ask for the findings in writing.
What mortar does a 1960s or 1970s brick house need?
One that matches what is in the wall and is softer or more permeable than the brick; that is the National Park Service's repointing rule. A harder joint pushes moisture and stress into the brick faces and causes spalling that cannot easily be repaired. The brief also notes that buildings of the first half of the twentieth century may have been built with portland cement mortar, so test and match instead of assuming.
How often should a chimney be inspected?
At least once a year. The Chimney Safety Institute of America quotes NFPA 211: chimneys, fireplaces and vents should be inspected annually for soundness, freedom from deposits and correct clearances, gas-heated homes included, and about 78 percent of occupied homes here heat with gas. A deeper Level 2 inspection with a video scan is recommended at a sale, before relining, when an appliance changes and after a chimney fire or weather event.
What does a sound chimney repair include?
A written inspection with photographs first, then the top rebuilt as a system: a portland-cement-based crown overhanging at least 2 inches on every side with a bond break at the flue, a cap that does not restrict it, and base and counter flashing sealed into the joints. Failed joints are repointed and spalled brick replaced; the liner is repaired only where a video scan shows it is needed. Use a vapor-permeable repellent if any, never paint.
My furnace or water heater was replaced. Does my chimney need attention?
It may. Oak Ridge National Laboratory says condensing, Category IV gas furnaces cannot vent directly into a traditional clay-tile-lined masonry chimney, though an airtight, corrosion-resistant liner with condensate disposal can run through it, and the Chimney Safety Institute of America recommends a Level 2 inspection when an appliance is replaced with a different type. Ask the installer how it vents and whether the liner was checked; if no one can say, have the flue inspected.
Is MasonryPros.us a masonry contractor?
No. MasonryPros.us is a free matching service run by Media Express LLC, a digital agency based in Chicago. It does not do masonry work and has no office in Arlington Heights. You describe your job once, and local contractors who handle that kind of work get in touch. Nothing obliges you to hire anyone.