Lintel Repair in Crete, IL — Stop Rusted Lintels Before the Brick Comes Down

Who repairs lintels in Crete, IL?

Emerald Masonry LLC repairs and replaces failing lintels for homes and storefronts in Crete, IL. If you see orange rust stains below a window, cracks stepping out from the corners of an opening, or brick sagging over a door, the steel lintel underneath is rusting and needs attention. Call (708) 288-1696 for a free on-site estimate — we are family-owned, licensed and insured, with 40+ years of masonry experience in Will County and the far south suburbs.

A lintel is one of those parts of a building nobody thinks about until brick starts moving. By the time you notice the symptoms, the steel has usually been quietly rusting for years. The good news: caught in time, lintel repair is a contained, predictable job. Wait too long and it becomes a wall rebuild.

What is a lintel — and what does lintel repair involve?

A lintel is the horizontal support that carries the brick or stone above an opening — every window, door, and garage opening in a masonry wall has one. On most homes and commercial buildings in Crete, the lintel is a piece of structural steel (a steel "angle") tucked behind the brick. On older homes you may also find stone or solid brick lintels.

The problem with steel is moisture. Decades of rain and freeze-thaw work water in behind the brick, and the steel begins to rust. Rusting steel expands — by as much as several times its original thickness — and that expansion pushes the brick apart from the inside. This is why a failing lintel cracks the wall above it long before the steel actually gives way.

Lintel repair and replacement is straightforward when done right:

• We carefully remove the courses of brick directly above the failed opening.
• We pull out the rusted or bent steel lintel.
• We install a new galvanized or painted steel lintel, sized and seated correctly with proper bearing on each end.
• We reset the brick using matched brick and color-matched mortar, and we tie in flashing where appropriate so water sheds out instead of pooling on the steel.

Done correctly, a repaired opening looks like the rest of the wall — not like a patch.

A lintel is the steel beam hidden over your window. When it rusts, it swells and breaks the brick above it from the inside. That is why rust stains and cracks show up before anything visibly falls.

Signs you need lintel repair

If you are in Crete and notice any of the following, it is worth a free look:

• Orange rust stains bleeding down the brick or mortar directly below a window or door — this is rust from the steel washing out through the wall.
• Stair-step cracks climbing diagonally up and out from the upper corners of a window or door opening.
• Sagging or bowed brick over an opening, or a window/door frame that suddenly sticks or won't square up.
• A visible gap opening between the top of the window frame and the brick above, or between the lintel and the brick it carries.
• Crumbling or pushed-out mortar in the joint right above an opening.

Any one of these points to a lintel that has started to fail. Several of them together means the steel is well into its rust cycle and should be addressed before the next winter.

The risk of waiting

A lintel does one job: hold the weight of the brick above the opening. As it rusts it loses strength while it expands, so you get the worst of both worlds — weaker steel pushing harder on cracked brick. Left alone, the brick above a window or door can shift, drop, and eventually collapse over the opening. That is a safety hazard and turns a single-opening repair into a full rebuild of the wall section above.

Open cracks also let water travel deeper into the wall, which accelerates the rust, freezes and expands in winter, and can reach interior framing. In Crete's climate — wet springs, hard freeze-thaw winters, and the moisture exposure that comes with our rural-edge lots — a small lintel problem rarely stays small for long. The cheapest version of this repair is the one you do early.

Our lintel repair process

1. Free on-site inspection. We look at every affected opening, check how far the rust and cracking have traveled, and confirm whether brick can be salvaged and reset or needs to be matched.
2. Clear written estimate. You get a defined scope and price before we start — no surprises mid-job.
3. Protect and remove. We protect the area, remove the brick above the opening, and take out the failed steel lintel.
4. Install new steel. We set a new galvanized or painted steel lintel with correct length and end bearing, plus flashing where the detail calls for it.
5. Reset and match. We rebuild the brick with matched brick and color-matched mortar so the repair blends into the wall.
6. Clean up. We leave the site clean and walk the finished work with you.

Materials we use

We use galvanized or painted structural steel lintels sized to the opening and load, matched brick sourced as close as possible to your existing color and texture, and color-matched mortar so joints don't stand out. Where the original detail allows, we add flashing above the lintel so water sheds out of the wall instead of sitting on the steel — that is what keeps the new lintel from rusting the way the old one did.

What affects the price

Every opening is different, so we quote on-site rather than guess. The main factors are:

• Number of openings affected — one window versus a whole elevation.
• Lintel length and load — a wide garage or storefront opening carries more brick than a small bedroom window.
• Brick matching — older Crete homes and storefronts may need brick sourced to match, which affects material.
• Access and height — second-story or hard-to-reach openings need staging.
• Hidden damage — how far cracking and water have already traveled into the surrounding wall.

We will never give you an exact figure over the phone, because we won't quote what we haven't seen. What we will give you is a free on-site estimate with an honest, written price.

If a contractor quotes your lintel sight-unseen, be careful. The price lives in what's behind the brick — and you only know that by looking.

Local Crete detail

Crete sits at the far south edge of Will County, where older homes, downtown storefronts, and rural-edge properties all see decades of moisture exposure. Many of these buildings were put up with steel lintels that have now had 40, 60, or more years to rust. Combine that age with our freeze-thaw winters and the wet, exposed conditions out toward the county line, and lintel failure is one of the most common masonry problems we see in the area. We know the housing stock here and we repair it to last.

Why Emerald Masonry

Emerald Masonry LLC is a family-owned, licensed and insured masonry contractor serving Chicago and the Chicagoland suburbs with 40+ years of experience in tuckpointing, chimney repair, brick repair and replacement, lintel and parapet repair, foundation and limestone/sill repair, caulking, sealing, and commercial, residential, and historic masonry restoration. Free on-site estimates — call (708) 288-1696.

We are non-union, do our own work, and stand behind it. When we replace a lintel, we fix the cause — the water and rust — not just the cracks you can see.

Related services

A failing lintel rarely travels alone. If yours has been leaking for a while, the surrounding masonry may need attention too:

• Lintel repair — full steel lintel repair and replacement.
• Limestone & sill repair — for the stone sills below the same windows, which often weather alongside the lintel.
• Brick repair — to fix the cracked and displaced brick around the opening.

Get a free lintel inspection in Crete, IL

If you've spotted rust stains, stair-step cracks, or sagging brick over a window or door in Crete, don't wait for it to spread. Emerald Masonry LLC will inspect it on-site, tell you exactly what's going on, and give you a clear written estimate at no cost.

Call (708) 288-1696 or request your free estimate today.