One of North Texas's first master-planned communities put thousands of chimneys up in a single generation. Fifty years on, the City by the Lake's original brick is due its first real renewal — street by street, and we know the streets.
The Colony arrived nearly all at once — carved out on Lewisville Lake's east shore in the early 1970s as one of the region's first true master-planned communities, street after street rising in a single sustained push. The name honors the settlers who colonized this shore long before; the brick honors the '70s and '80s that built it.
That origin story is now a maintenance story: the metroplex's most concentrated cohort of first-generation chimneys, all crossing forty-five to fifty years on the same clock. When one crown on a street cracks through, its same-age neighbors are rarely far behind — which makes The Colony the city where we read whole streets, not just single rooftops.
The original-equipment toolkit: documented sweeps for flues carrying five decades of seasons, crown repair recasting slabs cracked past sealing, tuckpointing ground out and matched into '70s brick, and chase covers for the newer waves at Austin Ranch and The Tribute.
The original core between Main Street and the lake holds the founders — the '70s–'80s grids that ARE The Colony, first-generation masonry at full renewal age. The '90s additions ring outward with their own first-renewal timeline a decade behind.
Then the new chapters: Austin Ranch brought the density boom, The Tribute lines the shoreline with golf-course estates, and the Grandscape era keeps adding rooftops — chase-built, veneer-wrapped, on the metal-cover clock instead of the mortar one.
Logistics: The Colony sits minutes across the Rayburn corridor from our Plano shop — fast tier, same-day often, same-week always, seven days.
Original equipment showing its age? Call (214) 225-8874 — we're minutes across the Rayburn.
A Typical The Colony Project
A 1979 single-story in the original grids, same owners since new: the crown had cracked clean across, the original cap was more rust than steel, and the camera found the clay liner's joints opening at the top two tiles. One scheduled renewal closed the whole file — crown recast with proper drip edges, stainless cap fitted, liner joints documented for the repair plan — and two same-age neighbors booked the same route day once they saw the ladder. That's The Colony: original brick, original owners, whole streets on one clock.
The Colony's sky delivers the same menu as its neighbors — spring hail, freeze-thaw winters, seasonal soil swings — but a same-age city absorbs it differently: fifty-year mortar takes each cycle harder than thirty-year mortar, and every storm that crosses the original grids crosses a thousand chimneys at the same point in their lives. The lake adds its quiet moisture tax along the shoreline streets.
The rule holds for every era at once: NFPA 211 calls for annual inspection of every chimney, with homeowner guidance from the Chimney Safety Institute of America. On original 1970s equipment, that annual look is what separates decades more of service from a rebuild estimate.
The original grids — '70s–'80s founders at full renewal age, the heart of the city and of our route. The '90s rings — a decade behind on the same road. Austin Ranch and The Tribute — chase-era systems, veneer and metal covers, shoreline weather included. The Grandscape-era additions — the newest clocks, just starting.
Photos before prices, renewal done once instead of patched forever, and whole streets scheduled together when neighbors share a clock. The before-and-after gallery shows fifty-year brick brought back; the reviews come from owners who remember when it was new.
Fast — The Colony sits just across the Sam Rayburn Tollway corridor from our Plano shop, squarely in the quick tier. Same-day appointments happen often, same-week is routine, seven days a week, 8AM to 8PM with your window confirmed the day before.
Original-equipment problems, at scale. The Colony built out as one of North Texas's first master-planned communities in the '70s and '80s, which means thousands of same-age masonry chimneys are crossing forty-five years together: crowns cracked through, mortar joints gone soft, clay flue tiles at the end of their liners' lives, builder caps long rusted. The newer waves — Austin Ranch, Tribute — add the chase era's separate checklist.
Because the whole city arrived nearly at once. The Colony was developed as a planned community on Lewisville Lake's east shore starting in the early 1970s — street after street built in one sustained push. Fifty years later that history shows up on rooftops: the metroplex's most concentrated cohort of first-generation brick, all reaching renewal age on the same clock. When one house on a street needs crown work, its neighbors usually aren't far behind.
The original core — the '70s–'80s grids between Main Street and the lake — holds the founders, the oldest concentrated masonry in the city. The '90s additions ring outward from there, and the newest chapters rise at Austin Ranch and The Tribute along the shoreline south and west.
Modestly and predictably. The City by the Lake earns its nickname — shoreline streets cycle a touch more moisture through brick and metal, nudging rust and freeze-thaw along slightly faster than the same construction inland. Nothing that changes the plan; it just makes the annual look a little more worth keeping, especially on original-equipment tops.
Expect it to need its first real renewal, and expect that to be worth doing right. Fifty-year crowns are usually cracked past sealing and get recast; original mortar joints take properly ground-out repointing, not smear-over; clay tile liners get camera-checked for gaps; and the cap almost always deserves stainless retirement. Done once and documented, the original brick is good for decades more — that's the whole point of original-owner care.
The same seasonal swell-and-shrink that works every North Texas foundation, with extra visibility here because the housing stock is so uniform: '70s–'80s slabs drift from their masonry stacks a hairline at a time at the roofline seam, street after street showing the same tell. Stable hairlines are ordinary aging; widening gaps get measured, photographed, and planned.
Regularly — the corridor takes hail most springs, and the pattern here matches the region: roofs replaced on insurance while fifty-year chimney tops stayed off the claim. Dented caps and freshly chipped crowns on original masonry compound fast. Roof newer than the chimney top is the tell worth acting on.
Late summer through September beats the metroplex rush, warm months cure crown and mortar work best, and original-equipment homes that have never had a camera inspection should book one before the next burn season regardless of the calendar. Fifty years is a proud run — and exactly when the first real look pays for itself.
The Rayburn routes pair The Colony with Lewisville across the lake arm and Frisco up the tollway — both page-deep already — with Little Elm next in line around the shore. Every one of the 98 DFW cities we serve is listed now.
Free online quotes · Fifty-year renewals done once · Whole-street scheduling · Open 7 days
(214) 225-8874📍 1008 Ridgefield Dr, Plano TX 75075 | 🕗 Open 7 days · 8AM-8PM
