>When I put in the mask (999) 999-9999 when it was still a string, the number (for example) 6052802087 would come out as (05) 02-87. I looked at examples of it working correctly and they were in numeric. Once I changed it to numeric, the mask worked correctly. I found that to be a little odd. I guess there was probably a better solution.

Sure there's. Set Format property to 'R' or make mask '@R (999) 999-9999' depending on where you're using it.