Brick & Mortar Matching

Did you know Chim Chim Churee is the only chimney company in all of northern Virginia that makes our owner custom mortar samples to precisely match your existing mortar? Chim Chim Churee is the number one brick and mortar matching specialist in the Northern Virginia area. We have specific processes we always follow to ensure the best possible match. Even if a mason does beautiful perfectly straight work, if the color of the brick or mortar color is not close enough the job will not look cohesive. We have specific processes for not only the brick but also the mortar as well. It also does not cost any more typically for the correct color brick or mortar but it makes a huge difference in the finished product.

For brick matching we will always take samples of your brick either prior to the job or at the time of demolition. We will bring bricks from your home and match them up in the same lighting at the brickyard. The biggest reason we do this is because in different lighting a brick can appear lighter or darker. Also if the picture is on a phone if the brightness is adjusted it can also change appearance. It is best to match the bricks in the same lighting to ensure when they are against each other on the same surface they match well. We also typically take sample brick and hold them on your wall prior to getting the brick. Attach pictures of brick being matched at brickyards as well as bricks being matched on the wall.

For mortar matching most people do not know this but mortar is made mixing sand and cement. We typically do about two and half parts sand for every one part mortar. The materials but be first thoroughly dry mixed and then water added. There are hundreds of different cement colors. You can the cement already dyed a specific color, however if you wish to vary the color the get more precise you can mix the cement with a different color sand to achieve a different blend of the same color either lighter or darker. Typically the lighter the cement color the more changing the sand color effects things. We make all our own mortar samples in house at our office for all different sands to get more precise colors. We make our samples and bring them on site to your home to match up against the existing more. It takes 28 full days for masonry to fully cure and achieve its true color. All mortar samples used are made 28 days prior to use. Attach pictures showing the mortar samples in the office and also at peoples homes.