Brick porches
Brick walls and piers with stone or precast caps, matched to the brick on the house so the porch looks as if it was always there.
Porches and steps
Front Porches
Front porches rebuilt and repaired in brick, stone, flagstone or interlock, on proper footings, with steps that meet the door and a landing that drains away from the house. If your front porch is sinking, cracking or pulling away from the wall, we fix the cause, not only the surface.
5.0
15 Google reviews
20+
Years laying brick and stone
Insured
Liability and WSIB coverage
Free
On-site estimates across Southern Ontario
Warning signs
When a front porch needs more than a patch.
A front porch takes more abuse than any other masonry on a house. It carries every visitor, holds snow against its sides for months, gets salted all winter, and is usually built on backfill placed right against the foundation. When that fill settles, the porch settles with it.
- Sinking or tilting. One corner lower than the rest, or a landing that slopes toward the door. Usually settlement underneath.
- A gap at the house. The porch pulling away from the foundation wall, often with water getting in behind it.
- Cracked or crumbling concrete. Spalling on the steps and landing, often from salt and freeze and thaw.
- Loose brick and failed joints. Mortar washing out of the porch walls and caps, and bricks that rock.
- Broken sills and caps. Cracked stone or precast pieces that let water straight into the structure below.
Repair or rebuild
Front porch repair, or a full rebuild?
Not every tired porch needs to come down. If the structure underneath is sound and the problem is surface wear, loose brick or failed joints, a repair is the honest answer: reset or replace the damaged units, repoint the walls, fit new caps, or lay a new stone surface over the existing landing.
A rebuild makes sense when the porch has moved. If it has sunk, tilted or pulled away from the house, resurfacing it only hides the problem for a season. We take it down, deal with the fill or footing that failed, and build it back properly.
We tell you which one your porch needs on the walkthrough, and why. If a repair will do, a repair is what we quote.
Finishes
Brick, stone, flagstone or interlock porches.
Natural stone porches
Stone faced walls with thick stone treads. Heavy, handsome and very hard wearing.
Flagstone landings and steps
Flagstone set in mortar over a concrete landing and steps, for a natural stone surface right at the front door. More on our flagstone page.
Interlock landings
Interlock pavers on a compacted base, a lower cost landing and walkway that can be lifted and relaid later.
Steps and landings
Rise and run kept even so the steps are comfortable, with the top landing sized to meet the door and clear the storm door swing.
Caps, sills and pillars
Stone or precast caps on porch walls and pillars, pitched so water runs off instead of soaking in.
Built right
What goes into a front porch rebuild that stays put.
A new front porch starts below grade. Footings go down below the frost line, because Ontario frost lifts anything that sits above it, and the fill inside the porch walls is compacted in layers rather than dumped in. The landing is pitched away from the house so rain and meltwater run off instead of toward the foundation.
Where the porch meets the house we keep the joint flashed so it does not become the place water gets in. Step heights are kept even, because the one step that is taller than the rest is the one people trip on.
Depending on its height, whether it has a roof and your municipality, a porch rebuild can need a building permit. We check with your town before we quote, so there are no surprises halfway through.
Most front porch rebuilds run three to five working days once we start. The written quote carries a fixed price that covers the size of the landing, the number of steps, the finish, breaking out and hauling away the old porch, and the footing work under it.
From our Google reviews
Porch and step work, in clients' words.
My front porch was sank by 3 inches in one corner. And the the sills were all cracked and falling apart. They came in and fixed the sinking rebuilt all the brick and repointed the whole porch. Doing an amazing job we are beyond happy with the work. We would recommend to anyone looking for masonry work.
The word to describe this contractor is Outstanding! If I could rate him with a 6 star, I would. Moises and his crew were courteous, polite, knowledgeable and talented. I have recommended his work to several people and I will continue to do so. The transformation of my front steps and landing was amazing. Thank you for brightening my day Moises
I highly recommend Moses! He installed the stone on my front porch and steps, and I am extremely happy with the results. Moses is very professional, honest, reliable, and truly dedicated to delivering high-quality work. The craftsmanship was outstanding, the project was completed on time, and the quality exceeded my expectations. His pricing was also very fair and reasonable. It is rare to find someone who combines exceptional workmanship with honesty and integrity. In all my experience, I have never come across anyone in this industry who delivers this level of quality. If I ever need any stone work again, I will definitely hire Moses without hesitation. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for top-quality work at a fair price.
Where we work
Front porches across Southern Ontario.
We rebuild and repair porches right across Southern Ontario. Most of that work comes from three areas.
Barrie
Barrie's older streets, in Allandale and around the downtown, have plenty of brick porches that are now decades old, and that is where most of our porch repairs come from. Newer subdivisions bring the other common job: a poured concrete porch that has dropped as the backfill against the foundation compacted.
Masonry in BarrieNewmarket and Aurora
On heritage streets in Aurora's Northeast Old Aurora district and Newmarket's Lower Main Street South district, a porch is part of the house's face to the street, so changes can need heritage approval and materials that suit the house. On newer homes it is usually a settled landing or cracked steps.
Masonry in Newmarket and AuroraCollingwood
Collingwood porches spend the winter buried in lake effect snow and then get salted all spring, which is hard on concrete and mortar alike. We rebuild porches and steps on older homes and build stone entrances on newer ones, with caps and landings pitched to shed the meltwater.
Masonry in CollingwoodWe also build porches in
- Angus
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Coldwater
- Innisfil
- King
- Midhurst
- Midland
- New Tecumseth
- Orillia
- Schomberg
- Stayner
- Vaughan
- Wasaga Beach
Questions
Front porch questions.
It depends on the size of the landing, the number of steps, the finish you choose and what is under the old porch, so we do not quote a number before seeing it. The walkthrough is free, and the quote is a fixed written price with a start window.
If the porch has not moved and the damage is on the surface, it can often be repaired or covered with a new stone or flagstone surface set in mortar. If it has sunk, tilted or cracked right through, a new surface will crack again, and a rebuild is the better spend.
Almost always settlement. Porches are often built on backfill placed against the foundation, and when that fill compacts over the years the porch drops and tips away from the wall. Water getting in at the gap speeds it up. The fix is to deal with what is underneath, not to fill the gap.
Yes, when it is set in mortar over sound concrete. It gives a natural stone surface at the door that stands up to foot traffic and salt better than bare concrete. The concrete underneath has to be solid, because cracks in the slab come through the stone.
Sometimes. It depends on the height of the landing, whether the porch has a roof and the rules in your town, and heritage properties have extra rules. We check with the municipality before we quote and tell you whether a permit or drawings are needed.
A front porch rebuild usually runs three to five working days once we start. Larger porches, or ones that need new footings and concrete, take longer, and the quote tells you what to expect.
More services
Other masonry we build.
Free on-site estimates
Tell us what you are building.
Call or send a few details. We come out, measure, and put a fixed price and a start window in writing. Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.