Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

Repointing brick for a 3 story brownstone back wall that’s 400sqft. Is $8/per sqft a good estimated cost?

Repointing brickwork is usually required at least once or twice per century. Wear, weather and structural stresses cause the mortar between bricks to deteriorate over the decades, until you’re left ...

Last week, I fielded no fewer than five phone calls from homeowners with the same grim news. They found it nearly impossible to get quotes from contractors to do fairly simple repairs. Each caller’s ...