Masonry problems move slowly, then all at once. Mortar joints erode over decades, then one bad freeze-thaw winter starts popping brick faces off and suddenly you're looking at a wall rebuild instead of a repointing job. The Canadian climate is genuinely hard on brick and stone, and the difference between a good mason and a cheap one is the difference between a 50 year repair and a repair that destroys the wall. Here's what you need to know before hiring.
The problems Canadian brick actually has
Freeze-thaw is the enemy. Water gets into mortar joints and brick pores, freezes, expands, and breaks things apart, and much of Canada gets dozens of freeze-thaw cycles every year. The common failures: eroded or cracked mortar joints, spalling (where the face of the brick flakes or pops off), step cracks following the joints near corners and openings, and chimney brick failing above the roofline where it gets the most weather exposure. Spalling above head height matters for safety too, since falling brick faces are no joke.
Repointing, and why the wrong mortar wrecks old brick
Repointing means grinding or raking out failed mortar and packing in new. Done right, it's the single best thing you can do for a masonry wall. Done wrong, it accelerates the damage. Here's the trap: houses built before roughly the 1930s used soft lime-based mortar, and old brick is softer than modern brick. Mortar is supposed to be the sacrificial element, softer than the brick, so it absorbs the movement and moisture and erodes first. When a cheap contractor repoints old brick with hard modern Portland cement mortar, the mortar becomes harder than the brick. Moisture and freeze-thaw stress then have nowhere to go but into the brick itself, and the brick faces spall off within a few winters. The wall would have been better off untouched.
A competent mason matches the mortar to the building: lime-rich mixes (Type O or a lime mortar) for heritage brick, standard Type N for most modern work. If a contractor quoting your century home doesn't ask about the age of the house or mention mortar type, keep looking.
Chimneys and stone veneer
Chimney tops take the worst weather on the house and usually fail first: cracked crowns let water in, the top few courses spall and loosen, and freeze-thaw does the rest. Rebuilding a chimney above the roofline typically runs $2,000 to $6,000 depending on height and access. Stone veneer (both natural and manufactured) has its own failure mode: bad installs without proper drainage planes and flashing trap water behind the stone, which rots sheathing and pops stones off in winter. If you're adding veneer, the waterproofing details behind the stone matter more than the stone itself.
What masonry work costs
Rough ranges: repointing runs $15 to $40 per square foot depending on access, joint depth, and whether it's a soft-mortar heritage job. Spot repairs and small crack fixes might be $500 to $1,500. Replacing scattered spalled bricks runs $30 to $75 per brick including sourcing a match. Full chimney rebuilds above the roof, $2,000 to $6,000. Scaffolding, height, and matching discontinued brick all add cost. Treat these as ballparks; every wall is different, which is exactly why you want eyes on it.
Hiring a mason
Get three quotes and compare what they're actually proposing, not just the price. Good signs: they probe the joints instead of just eyeballing from the driveway, they specify mortar type in the quote, they talk about grinding joints to proper depth (usually 2 to 2.5 times the joint width) rather than smearing new mortar over old, and they can show you photos of past work on houses like yours. For heritage homes, ask specifically about lime mortar experience. Ask how they'll handle brick matching, what happens if they find hidden damage, and whether the quote includes cleanup and disposal. A mason who says all mortar is the same is telling you who they are.