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Ornate Historic Stone Facade – Part II of II

This past week, we took a look at a historic stone masonry facade, this week we’re going to talk more about the details of restoration, maintenance and upkeep. Starting with that particular building, the process of restoration upkeep and ongoing preservation work on a historic facade like this must be done properly by a company that specializes in and is thoroughly trained in understanding the details of historic masonry restoration. Many people are out there in the DC area doing work of this type but very few have the knowledge, skills, and experience of the individuals at Infinity design solutions. Our company is a historic masonry specialist and everything else that follows in today’s article needs to be understood that should only be performed by trained individuals with extensive experience because doing restoration work without experience can cause irreparable damage.  We are often called to fix extensive damage caused by other contractors who do not know how to do this type of work properly.  In fact damage to Historic masonry by untrained contractors, by simply not understanding how to mix proper mortar, is so extensive and prolific that we feel it’s really important to just make a commentary on these details here in today’s blog.

The picture below shows work taking place, in operation, on the lower of the building’s water tables at the area of the masonry opening at the window. In this particular case safety precautions are taken, including a double tie-off system, and a rope and lanyard system.

use of ornate historic stone facade in windows

The building itself has to be protected in a few different ways and with all the caution and care that goes into this type of work, human safety also needs to be taken to account. Protection is set up below the area of work to protect passer-bys on the street from any objects that might accidentally fall including debris and even hand tools, but also the workers are protected so that when we are working in areas like this if an accident were to happen we won’t necessarily fall all the way to the ground.  Even when tied to a restraint type system like this, if a mistake happens, the fall itself, even when caught by a rope and harness can still cause injury.  Lanyards are designed specifically to release in a tethered and staggered approach so that the catching of a fall is not as immediately impactful.  Essentially the cessation of the fall is stopped in a graduated approach.

water table and ornate historic stone facade

In last week’s blog article, part one of this series, we looked at both the water table with the accentuated projection at the edge of the side of the building and we looked at the arched windows which are both grand in scale and intricately assembled to create a visually impactful architectural design.  The tuck pointing and or repointing process (two distinct processes with terminology both conflate and commonly misused in our local DC community) involves removing deteriorated mortar of the outer edge of the edge of the exterior wall. Generally deteriorated motor will be removed to a depth of 3/4 of an inch to 1.25 inches in depth, inward from the outer wall face.

ornate historic stone facade in trowel

Once deteriorated water has been removed in a process called raking, new mortar will be installed after the mortar joint (both the surrounding masonry units at the recessed raked joint and the remaining substrate mortar) has been significantly hydrated to avoid wicking water from the new mortar.  The new motor is then applied in lifts or relatively small sections with a pointing trowel.

Once the mortar has been fully applied to fill the recess or the void in the joint, the joint will be struck to smooth and shape.  In historic brickwork, in the repointing or pointing process, the new joint will generally have a flush strike, meaning that the new joint will almost match the face of the brick with a slight recess. In some cases a concave or bucket handle type shape will be applied but in most types of historic mortar, to remain accurate the joint will be less concave and more flush.

We can Help

Our company focuses on historic restoration more than modern building upkeep, maintenance and construction, but our company understands both types of construction very well and a full picture well-rounded approach is needed in any niche in the construction industry.  Although we focus on historic restoration, repointing, tuckpointing and historic brick repair, our company also has technical knowledge and competencies in the areas of modern and contemporary construction as well as we become one of the leaders in that area of the market today.  Understanding both historic and modern or contemporary construction is useful because both aspects help understand the challenges and potential solutions for challenges in building science and construction.

We can help with a variety of historic masonry restoration needs and upkeep, from modest tuckpointing and or repointing to complicated and extensive historic masonry restoration.  Infinity Design Solutions is a historic restoration specialist contractor specializing in both historic masonry restoration such as tuck pointing our repointing, and brick repair.  If you have questions about the architectural details or facade of your historic building in Washington DC, reach out and say hello and if we can help we’ll be glad to assist you.  You can email us or call us on the telephone at the following link: contact us here.

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