Edina is a masonry suburb, and its brick and stone have been in the weather a long time. More than half of Edina's housing stock was built in the 1960s or earlier. The Country Club District was platted in 1924, and 507 of its 555 homes went up by 1944. Morningside, platted in 1905, is the oldest residential neighborhood in Edina. Around Southdale came the postwar wave of brick veneer. Metro Masonry is a masonry contractor for all of it, from house chimneys to full building restoration scopes.
Minnesota runs roughly 80 to 100 freeze and thaw cycles a year, and masonry pays for it. Water sits in an open joint, freezes overnight, and pushes the face off the brick. On Edina walls that starts at joints, sills, lintels, chimney crowns and front steps. The city sits immediately southwest of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, so the same weather works both sides of that line. We cut out failed mortar, replace broken units, and match color, texture and joint profile.
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The Country Club District covers a 14-block area. Minnehaha Creek sets its west edge, Sunnyside Road the north, Arden Avenue the east and West 50th Street the south. At West 50th Street and Browndale Avenue, the Edina Mill once ran on the creek and took its name from Edinburgh. Morningside holds more than 700 homes on 21 blocks. Both are brick and stone houses with masonry chimneys. Mortar from those years is softer than a modern mix, so we start by matching the mortar to the original.
Edina protects that stock through zoning. The Heritage Preservation Landmark overlay went on the district in 2003, and landmark status is a zoning classification. A COA is the city's heritage approval. It applies where a City permit covers the demolition and new construction of a principal dwelling or detached garage. A COA is also required for significant structural changes to street-facing facades. Repointing and chimney work are not named in that rule, so ask the city planning staff first. Matched brick and mortar keeps a repair quiet from the street.
Southdale opened in 1956 as the nation's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled mall. Much of the housing around it is the same age. Concord, Pamela Park, Lake Cornelia, Chowen Park and South Cornelia are ramblers and split levels. Lake Cornelia sits south of Crosstown 62 and east of Highway 100. Those houses carry brick veneer, planters, stoops and front steps. Veneer is a thin skin over frame, so water behind it has nowhere to go. Faces spall and sills crack. That is everyday brick and masonry repair.
Chimneys there are sixty to seventy winters old. Mid-century stacks often got a mortar wash instead of a poured crown, and a wash cracks early. Most Twin Cities chimneys are missing caps, so rain runs down the flue and rusts the damper. We rebuild the crown, set caps and repoint the top courses on one trip. Lots along Minnehaha Creek and Nine Mile Creek are where walls lean. Edina keeps a residential retaining wall checklist, so ask Building Inspections before we build block and stone retaining walls.
The 50th and France district runs nearly 175 businesses on both sides of the line, in Edina and in the masonry we handle on the Minneapolis side. The Edina share is 19 acres, about 500,000 square feet of commercial space and three public parking structures. Storefronts there fail the way the houses do, one story higher up. Open joints, cracked lintels, loose coping and split sealant all start with water. Grandview is the other older district, 48 acres next to Highway 100.
The Greater Southdale Area holds the bigger buildings, and the city's housing plan puts most of its apartment stock there. The medical center opened at Southdale in 1965. Edina counts close to 3,000 businesses and more than 44,000 jobs, with education and health services in front. Commercial masonry restoration on that stock means parapets, lintels, coping and sealant joints. We stage lifts around entrances and phase the work so tenants keep using the doors. Property managers get a written scope with wall sections ranked worst first.
Communities & areas we serve around Edina: Country Club District, Morningside, Arden Park, Sunnyslope, Creek Knoll, Concord, Pamela Park, Lake Cornelia, South Cornelia, Chowen Park, 50th and France, Grandview.
Edina ZIP codes served: 55424, 55435, 55436, 55439.
Restoration for factories, apartment buildings, churches, schools and storefronts: wall rebuilds, stone and brick repair, parapets and lintels, run by a crew that works occupied properties.
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Full and partial chimney rebuilds: deteriorated stacks torn down to sound masonry and rebuilt with new brick, cast crowns and stainless caps.
Learn More Crown repair, joint repointing, spalled brick replacement, stainless caps and chimney liner systems, the fixes that stop water before it forces a rebuild.
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Failed mortar ground out and repointed to match the original on chimneys, houses and full commercial elevations. The fix that saves the wall you already have.
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Spalled brick cut out and replaced, cracks stitched, bowed sections rebuilt, porch piers and steps restored, matched so the repair does not read as one.
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Block and stone retaining walls engineered for Minnesota frost, with proper base, drainage and reinforcement, plus rebuilds of walls that have started to lean.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Edina. Don't see yours? Call us — we're happy to help.
What chimney repair costs in Minnesota: caps, crowns, flashing, repointing, liners and partial rebuilds, with the ranges and what moves each number.
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Spalling brick explained for Twin Cities homeowners: what causes brick faces to pop off, why Minnesota winters accelerate it, repair costs, and when to act.
Read more →What tuckpointing costs in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities: per square foot ranges, chimney and whole house numbers, what moves the price, and when to do it.
Read more →A wall that worries you, a driveway past its best, or a backyard ready to become the good part of the house? Call or send the form and we will look at the site with you and hand you a straight written quote.
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