Dunn County
Masonry Contractor in Menomonie, WI
Brick repair, tuckpointing and chimney work for Menomonie's older brick and sandstone, and for the rental houses around campus. Free written estimates.
Based in Eau Claire. Menomonie is the west end of our service area.
Menomonie made its own brick. The Dunn County Pressed Brick Company started here in 1872 and became the Menomonie Pressed Brick Company in 1886. The last local yard, the Menomonie Brick Company, kept going into the 1960s.
The result is easy to see downtown. The Menomonie Downtown Historic District, on the National Register since 1986, has 33 contributing buildings from 1883 to 1925, mostly two stories and mostly red brick. The exception is the one everybody knows: the Mabel Tainter Memorial of 1889, built of Dunnville sandstone quarried along the Red Cedar River a few miles south of town.
Old brick and soft sandstone last when they are repaired with the right materials and fall apart quickly when they aren't. Eau Claire Masonry & Stucco is a masonry contractor in Eau Claire, and that is the standard we bring west with us.
Brick Repair in Menomonie: Matching Brick Nobody Makes Anymore
Cutting out a spalled or cracked brick is simple. Finding one that disappears into a wall laid a hundred years ago is the real work. Brick from a yard that closed generations ago can't be ordered, and older brick often isn't the same size as today's, so a new one can throw off the coursing even when the color is right.
The options, in the order we try them:
- Salvage. Reclaimed brick from the same era, sorted for color. The best match when it can be found.
- Borrow from the house. Brick taken from a spot nobody sees, such as inside a garage wall or under a porch, and swapped there for new.
- New brick, blended. The closest current brick in size and texture, mixed through the repair so it does not read as a patch.
More on spalling, cracks and cleaning old walls is on our brick repair and restoration page.
Tuckpointing Sandstone and Soft Brick in Menomonie
Sandstone weathers by giving up grains from its surface. It does that far faster when a hard mortar forces moisture out through the stone instead of through the joint. The National Park Service's repointing guidance is the rule for stone sills, foundations and walls as much as for brick: the new mortar should be softer and more permeable than the masonry around it.
In practice that means raking joints by hand where a grinder would scar the stone, and a lime-rich mortar with sand chosen to match the old joint. The same goes for soft local brick. Our tuckpointing and repointing page covers mortar types, and stone basement walls are under masonry foundation repair.
Masonry Repair for Menomonie Rental Houses
UW-Stout enrolls nearly 7,000 students, the city's median age is about 26, and by Census Bureau estimates only around four in ten housing units here are detached single-family houses. A lot of Menomonie is rented. If you own one of those houses, three pieces of masonry are worth a look every spring.
- Steps and stoops. A loose brick or a rocking tread is the masonry problem most likely to hurt someone. Relaying a stoop is brick repair, usually a short job.
- The chimney above the roof. Tenants don't look up. Open joints and a cracked crown go unnoticed until there is a stain on a bedroom ceiling. See chimney repair for crowns, flashing and leaks.
- A chimney nothing uses. If the furnace and water heater now vent through a side wall, the old stack is only a hole in the roof to maintain. Taking an unused chimney down below the roofline ends that for good.
Ask for the estimate as a ranked list: what is a safety problem now, what will leak within a year or two, and what is only cosmetic.
Send Photos First. It Saves a Trip Down I-94.
We're based in Eau Claire, and Menomonie is the longest regular drive we make. Estimates are still free. To make the trip count, we ask for photos first and try to line up Menomonie visits on the same day, so you may wait a little longer for a site visit than someone in Eau Claire would.
If you are well west or north of Menomonie, call anyway. If the job is too far for us to do properly, we'll say so and try to point you to someone closer.
Menomonie Masonry Questions
From homeowners and landlords in and around the city.
Do you travel to Menomonie for masonry work?
Yes. Menomonie is the western end of our regular area, a straight run on I-94 from Eau Claire, and estimates are free here too. Past Menomonie it depends on the job, so call and ask.
Can you match old Menomonie brick?
Close, in most cases, though never from the original source: the local brickyards are long closed. Salvaged brick of the same era is the first choice. Expect a repair to look slightly new for a few seasons, until weather dulls the brick and the mortar.
I own rental houses near UW-Stout. Can you look at several in one visit?
Yes, and from Eau Claire that is the sensible way to do it. Send the addresses and a few photos of each beforehand. We look at them in one trip and write a separate estimate for each property, with safety items listed first.
Can masonry work be done while tenants are living in the house?
Almost always. Exterior work on chimneys, walls and steps needs access to the yard and can close an entrance for a day while mortar sets. Interior fireplace or basement work makes dust and noise, so tenants need notice. Summer between leases is the easiest time for a bigger job, and it is also the best weather for mortar.
Do I need a permit for chimney or brick repair in Menomonie?
We could not find a published city list that says either way for masonry repairs, so we do not guess. Inside the city the answer comes from Menomonie's building inspection office. In the surrounding Dunn County towns it comes from the town. We check for your address before a rebuild or any structural repair.
Get a Free Masonry Estimate in Menomonie
Tell us the address, what you're seeing and whether the house is rented. A few photos of the brick, the chimney or the steps let us come prepared and make one trip count.
The other old-brick city we work in is north of Eau Claire. Its soft brick and lime mortar are covered on our page about tuckpointing and chimney repair in Chippewa Falls.
- Photos first, so the visit is spent on the masonry and not on finding it
- A written scope and price for each property
- Safety items separated from what can wait
Get a Free Estimate
Tell us what's going on with the masonry or stucco. Prefer to talk? Call or text (715) 597-4359.
Thanks, we have your request.
We'll be in touch about your estimate. If it's easier, text photos of the job to (715) 597-4359.
Old Brick or a Rental That Needs Masonry Work in Menomonie?
Text photos and the address. We'll tell you what we see and when we are next out your way.