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Serving Ossining, NY and surrounding areas. (914) 223-8988
Ossining Masonry is a masonry contractor serving Yonkers, NY, with direct experience in brick repair, tuckpointing, and foundation work on the brick rowhouses, two-family homes, and multi-family buildings that make up most of this city. A large share of Yonkers properties were built before 1940, and decades of freeze-thaw cycles have left mortar joints, chimney stacks, and foundation walls that are past due for attention. We are fully insured and know how to work on the kind of older urban construction common throughout Yonkers.
Many Yonkers brick buildings - particularly the rowhouses and two-families in southwest Yonkers - were built entirely in brick and have been through 80 or more winters without significant maintenance. Our brick repair work matches replacement brick to the original in color and texture, so repairs blend in rather than look patched, and we assess the existing mortar composition on older buildings to make sure the new joint does not crack the surrounding brick.
Tuckpointing is the most effective preventive maintenance a Yonkers homeowner with a brick exterior can do. Open mortar joints on older Yonkers buildings let water behind the brick every rain, and once that moisture gets into the wall cavity and starts cycling through freeze-thaw, the damage compounds quickly. Catching and repointing those joints before the bricks themselves start to spall saves significantly on repair costs down the road.
Yonkers has a high proportion of homes with original brick chimneys, and chimneys take more direct weather exposure than any other part of a masonry building. Cracked crowns, deteriorated flashings, and open mortar joints on chimney stacks are common on pre-1940 Yonkers construction, and they allow water to enter the house from the top down through the winter.
Yonkers sits on hilly terrain with a significant amount of annual rainfall, and low-lying areas near the Hudson River waterfront can flood during heavy storms. Older Yonkers homes often have stone or early block foundations that were not engineered with modern drainage standards, leaving them vulnerable to hydrostatic pressure and wall cracking after sustained wet seasons.
Yonkers has a higher proportion of multi-family buildings than most Westchester communities, and on two- and three-family owner-occupied buildings, brick pointing is a shared maintenance cost with outsized consequences if it is ignored. A building where water gets behind the exterior brick affects every unit, not just the owner's floor.
Older masonry buildings in Yonkers - particularly those near the Hudson River waterfront and the historic streets around Untermyer Park - often have stone and decorative brick details that deserve proper restoration rather than a quick cement patch. Matching materials and techniques to the original construction protects both the structure and the property's character.
Yonkers is the fourth-largest city in New York State, with about 211,000 residents packed into roughly 18 square miles. That density matters for masonry work because the city's housing stock is overwhelmingly older - a large share of homes here were built before 1940, and many of the brick rowhouses and two-family buildings in southwest Yonkers date to the late 1800s and early 1900s. Brick and masonry construction is extremely common throughout the city, particularly in the older neighborhoods closer to downtown. These buildings used lime-based mortar that was standard at the time but was never designed to go 80 to 100 years without repointing. When mortar joints open up and water gets behind the brick, the damage compounds through every winter.
The city also has challenging terrain. Yonkers is hilly, with areas near the Hudson River waterfront sitting lower and subject to flooding in heavy storms, while properties further up the slope drain quickly - sometimes too quickly toward neighboring foundations. The city receives about 47 inches of rain per year, and older homes with aging drainage systems struggle with that volume after a sustained wet period. Freeze-thaw cycles run from December through February, and concrete driveways, front steps, and foundation walls all show the damage every spring. For properties near the river, the ambient moisture level year-round is higher than it is for properties further inland, which accelerates mortar deterioration and promotes efflorescence on brick surfaces.
Our crew works throughout Yonkers regularly and understands the local conditions that affect masonry work here. We are familiar with the permit process at the City of Yonkers Building Department for structural projects, and we know which types of masonry repairs in this city require sign-off before work can begin.
Yonkers sits directly north of the Bronx, with Metro-North service connecting commuters to Grand Central in roughly 30 minutes. The housing in this city ranges widely by neighborhood. Southwest Yonkers has some of the oldest and densest construction - brick rowhouses and multi-family buildings on narrow lots close together, where equipment access requires planning. The Crestwood and Dunwoodie neighborhoods in northwest Yonkers have more detached single-family homes on small lots. Homes up near the Bronxville border in northeast Yonkers tend to be larger, with more yard space. We have worked on all of these property types throughout the city, from the streets near MGM Empire City Casino in the southwest to the quiet blocks near the Bronxville line.
We also serve nearby communities. If you are near the southern edge of Yonkers, we cover New Rochelle to the east and White Plains to the north, both of which have similar older brick and masonry housing stock.
Reach us by phone or through the contact form. We respond within 1 business day to schedule your on-site visit - no commitment required to get an estimate.
We visit your Yonkers property, assess the masonry conditions in person, and walk through what we find with you. The written estimate spells out the exact scope and cost - no surprises when the invoice arrives.
Once you approve the estimate, we give you a confirmed start date. Most masonry work is on the exterior, so your day-to-day routine inside the home continues normally. On tight Yonkers lots, we plan equipment staging to minimize disruption to neighbors and street access.
When the work is complete, we walk it with you so you can see exactly what was done. You receive written documentation of the scope, which is useful for insurance purposes and for any future buyer of the property.
We serve all of Yonkers - from the brick rowhouses near the Hudson River to the detached homes up near the Bronxville border. Free written estimates, no pressure.
(914) 223-8988Yonkers is the fourth-largest city in New York State, with roughly 211,000 residents packed into just under 18 square miles. The city runs along the eastern bank of the Hudson River for several miles, with a waterfront that has been redeveloped in recent years into parks and new apartment buildings. Yonkers borders the Bronx to the south, making it one of the closest cities to Manhattan outside the five boroughs, and Metro-North service gets commuters to Grand Central in about 30 minutes. The city is divided into distinct neighborhoods with very different character: southwest Yonkers near the waterfront is densely built with older brick rowhouses and multi-family buildings; northwest Yonkers (Crestwood, Dunwoodie) is quieter with more detached single-family homes; northeast Yonkers near the Bronxville line has larger houses on bigger lots. The well-known landscape of Untermyer Park and Gardens sits on the Hudson River and is one of the most recognized landmarks in the city.
The housing stock in Yonkers is unusually dense and unusually old. A large proportion of single-family and multi-family homes were built before 1940, many with original brick exteriors and stone foundations. This makes Yonkers different from newer Westchester suburbs where most construction uses modern materials - here, the masonry work is ongoing because the buildings are old enough to require it. We work throughout the city on both residential and multi-family properties. Two nearby communities with similar housing stock that we also serve are Mount Vernon to the east and New Rochelle, which share Yonkers' pattern of older brick construction and freeze-thaw maintenance needs.
Restore your foundation's strength and stop structural damage from spreading further.
Learn MoreFix cracks, spalling, and mortar damage to keep your chimney safe and functional.
Learn MoreReplace deteriorated mortar joints to protect brickwork from water and weather.
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Learn MoreFrom brick rowhouses near the Hudson River to detached homes in Crestwood, our crew handles all masonry work across Yonkers. Call or submit online - we reply within 1 business day.