It was the best of times it was the worst of times; the building boom of the
Northeast never stooped really from  1850-1930 the demand for stone gobbled
up  al the available local stone....The best were the tight grain  blue grays
out of places like Belleville New Jersey.....the weaker ones were coarse
grain  red browns from Pensa to Maine
...the demand was so great that little care was taken  about the bedding
planes  when quarried after all  only the stonemason and the contractor could
read these planes and they all knew any problems with it would be  in 100
yrs. Later and if I can be so brief without much of a defense here we are
...peeling away layers turning to dust.

Ok .stop the water  first........call Mike Edison second and send him a
sample  to make a custom patch mix ..or find the quarry your brownstone came
from  and  cut new stone ...most salts willl  come off in hot water low psi
200 deg  F rince....lastly you can consolidate the historic original  but
thats affected by UV and might not be worth it...Good luck  see you in 10
days Michael

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>