historic foundation restoration 617-633-1896
Thompson Crowley Masonry Inc.
All of the first period homes had one thing in common. The use of brick, stone and lime mortar. Lime mortar was used throughout Europe and brought to America for construction in the 1600's has not been used in foundation construction since the advent of concrete block and poured foundations. When our grandfather came to America in the 1960's he was already trained in England as a mason and the uses of lime as mortar and plaster. The North Shore of Boston with its thousands of early homes in Salem, Danvers, Beverly, Ipswich and Newbury area our Grandfathers training was quickly met with masonry success.
Growing up in the 1970's we were shown first hand by our grandfather and father how to work with hydrated, lime, sand and masonry cement. Coating and repairing historic foundation walls was some of our first task as young apprentice masons. After years of lumping materials and making masonry cement we were shown how to chisel and clean out failing mortar joints. How to set stone in foundation walls so they did not rely on mortar to hold it in place. "A properly set foundation stone will rest on its own, if you rely on cement to hold it in place a crack will eventually appear " Cracks in foundations leads to leaks and structural concerns.
Having the benefit of first hand professional masonry training and foundation training we were fortunate to learn brick laying, stone setting in regards to foundation load pressure and back pressure. Building and repairing stone foundations requires knowledge of mortar, water pressure, lime mortar, hard and soft bricks and load pressure. The weight of the house and bearing points is vital in stone foundation repairs.
For three generations our family has been working on stone and brick historic foundations in Massachusetts. We've worked on countless historic homes and buildings. We work with property owners, builders, Architects and Historical Societies.
We are not a large company we are a small family owned business that still operates today as it it did fifty plus years ago with a mason and a mason's tenderer, bricks, stone and masonry cement. We repair your foundation exactly how it was built with sand, lime, NHL lime putty, masonry cement, bricks and stones.
Complete re-pointing and sealant for accurate restoration. No magic materials or systems just honest masonry.
We've had the privilege to work on countless first period homes in Massachusetts homes from the 1600's and early 1700's particularly in Boston, Newton , Wellesley and the Danvers, Salem, Concord and Ipswich area.
See three hundred plus different foundations on our facebook site.
