Hi - I am researching houses in Arlington VA for a documenting historic
structures class at UVA.  I came across some 1926 Spanish mission style
houses (photos attached)(with neat elements like Byzantine columns with
Roman ionic columns).  A very nice older lady is letting me photograph
and research her house.  She is having a great deal of trouble both with
the flat roof leaking and BAD repair jobs by people who obviously didn't
know what they were doing.  She said the concrete, which was smoothed
over cinder blocks, was made with crushed oyster shells.  Two separate
"repair" jobs were done in which someone filled cracks in with a rubber
cement product and just plain old cement.  These repairs really ruin the
original look of the house.  I don't know that there is much hope seeing
as a house like this was not meant for Virginia climate, freeze thaw. If
anyone has repair suggestions, or knows someone in the DC area who could
take a look, I appreciate your help.-- The owners of another such house
down the street gave up on the roof and put a pitched roof on the house
- it is truly bizarre looking.  - LARA KOZAK [log in to unmask]