Hammarberg, Eric wrote:
>
> I have always loved exposed aggregate sidewalks with pea gravel but 
> using it as the pastic workable mat'l that it is should be exploited 
> but seldom seen.
>
Eric,

One of my early projects, I think '86, was supervising a fairly large 
exposed aggregate sidewalk replication at an NPS site in Indiana. To me 
then it seemed extremely exotic. I agree that concrete is an under 
explored/exploited material.

As to restoration of existing antique & patinated concrete finishes I 
believe the difficulty is that there is not enough of a demand, and the 
money behind the demand, to pay for development of the techniques or for 
the sustaining of a craftsperson that would develop such techniques. As 
concrete in general is concerned most concrete workers are paid by the 
yard of placement and their entire being is focused on refinement of the 
efficiency of that process. A concrete finisher can make a whole lot 
more money finishing yards and yards of new concrete than they can 
diddling with fixing up existing concrete. Why bother to learn that? So 
I think it tends towards 'artistes' who would play with refinishing 
antique concrete, but they often don't seem to have any clue what 
concrete is or how to play with it. Concrete is a very bullish kind of 
material to play with.

Beginning of last summer a young architect in NJ contacted me and was 
asking questions re: refabrication of existing shot-stucco over brick 
wall substrate and had an idea that molds could be made of the existing 
to use to make concrete forms and replace the entire 'historic' garden 
walls with poured concrete. I was a bit perplexed how to say what. I 
think they found someone else to talk to which was ok by me.

We did some nice refinishing work on the Horace Greeley barn in 
Chappaqua which was an early 'concrete'. Now it is a private residence. 
The proud owners wanted to keep some of the distressed look. It seemed 
to me though that the original concrete used boulders for aggregate with 
a lime-based matrix. I don't know what the type of lime it was or if it 
made any distinction in the conservator's analysis... this was a bit 
before everyone started going lime crazy.

I would very much like to find any existing of Edison's concrete houses.

][<en

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