In a message dated 7/9/2003 7:46:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

So, Mike, not to burden the list with too much preservation content, what does cause the glaze to spall of 1960's brick?     Just, like, vapor build up or something?  Or is this black magic.

Sign me, 
Actually It's A Dodge To Get Into the Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Fudge Every Couple Of Hours


I too am interested in Young Mike Edison's explanation for the alleged similar deterioration of glazing in various climates, largely because it was (and remains) my understanding that freeze/thaw causes much (if not virtually all) of the damage here in the NE, and that neither the freeze/thaw nor TC damage resembling results of freeze/thaw doesn't occur in milder climes.  On the other hand, our Mr. E is indeed a highly respected personage in this field.

We continue to work on the former Altman's bldg, where spalling of very thin sections of glaze (thinner than a potato chip) from the body of the brick is unaccompanied by any apparent damage to the body.   We had extensive testing done on new glazed brick, and found the results generally piss poor-- with the exception of brick manufactured by one small company only.  Our testing lab did hundreds (as I remember, nearly 500 cycles) of freeze-thaw tests on this brick, with no measurable damage whatsoever.   If Chrif wants, I'll save him some c.1910 glazed brick to stick in his freezer next to the ice cream and the 60's shit.

I really liked Rudy's idea about use of a hammer to get the water into the brick for the tests.  I am curious about whether Rudy was recommending large hammers to get large amounts of water in, or tackhammers (or better yet, jewelers' hammers) for small amounts.   How about if you put the brick in a water pipe, and used air hammer? Or is that water hammer, Armand?

Or Tom (The [cockroach] Hammer) DeLay?

Ralph