We traditionally reuse all sound bricks with anything significant or hard to 
match - or always!

Yes, the custom shops say they will match, but based on my experience it 
does not always work out.  We have different kilms, not the same clay bed, 
different fuels, environmental regulation on plants.

Subtle differences, like gloss at oblique angles can make the best match 
look bad.

Sometimes dumb luck provides a good job and the best efforts result in a 
near mismatch!!




Dr. Judith E. Selwyn
Preservation Technology Associates, Inc.
285 Reservoir Road
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

617 598-2255
fax 617 277-3389
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rudy R Christian" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: [BP] tragedy ... or crime


> Too bad you cain't legislate ethics eh?
>
> Broody
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Becker, Dan
> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 5:46 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [BP] tragedy ... or crime
>
> Not that I really know anything, but why couldn't they have been salvaged?
> When I did my own home rehab, I had to remove some significant areas of
> veneer. It took very little time with a mason's hammer to knock off the
> mortar from the brick faces; I can see where you would be doing a great
> service to the New York City social environment by providing opportunities
> for unskilled labor for unskilled laborers.
>
> Of course, I know there aren't any unskilled laborers in a union
> environment. But isn't there a workaround? Maybe donate the bricks to a
> non-profit jobs-creation program and then buy them back for a pittance? Or
> some other workaround. Seems a shame in this dawning era of sustainability
> to be wasting the embodied energy represented in the bricks, plus their
> beauty, plus the desirability of aesthetic outcome for the worthy of 
> weeping
> over palazzo.
>
> D.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking on behalf of Leland
> Torrence
> Sent: Tue 4/1/2008 4:53 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [BP] tragedy ... or crime
>
> Christopher,
>
> There are many boutique brick manufacturers that make custom bricks for
> orders under 200 units.  In the end, it adds little to the cost of work, 
> but
> it takes planning.  When a bucket of restoration mortars sometimes goes 
> for
> $200, a few matching bricks doesn't seem out of the question.  Not only 
> that
> but we have hand colored/faux stained bricks on site and large batches 
> with
> inert pigments, with very good matches.
>
> Best,
>
> Leland
>
>
>
> From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 4:32 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [BP] tragedy ... or crime
>
>
>
>
>
> Coop at 79th and Park, 1924, wonderful mottled orange and buff iron spot
> brick, early Italian renaissance, spectacular enough to make you weep.  A
> standout - for masonry aficionados - on Park.
>
>
>
> Recent repair work involves not only cutting out the brick encasing the
> corner columns, but also cutting out the brick covering the lateral 
> beams -
> like extracting wisdom teeth, tonsils, appendix and bris all at once.
>
>
>
> Replacement underway now involves new mottled orange brick, but it's about
> like putting a home depot "golden oak" door into an 1890s shingle style
> library.   My guess:  they asked for "closest available."    Which is sort
> of like asking for sex, or "closest available."
>
>
>
> My question:  would it have required really superhuman effort to get a 
> good
> match?  Superficial area of building (including windows) is 21,000 SF.
> Brick being replaced is, my eyeball, 1500 SF.
>
>
>
> This would certainly require custom-fired brick, close supervision,
> excellent mason, architectural conservator, and even then the disturbances
> are so large and regular, I bet the match would be disappointing - but
> certainly not horrifying.     I have no idea of the existing cost - but 
> what
> would the heroic measures above add to a $500,000 project?
>
>
>
> Christopher
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  _____
>
> Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch
> <http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom0
> 0030000000001>  the video on AOL Home.
>
> -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
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>
>
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>
>
>
>
> --
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> 

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