Our first job of the season was a great restoration project in Riverdale! We were called in to help a contractor with some major deterioration problems in the basement of a century house on Logan Ave. What we found was a brick foundation that had been fully painted on the interior, making it very difficult for the bricks and mortar to perform one of their many important jobs – to vent moisture away from the wall. As the weather warms up and things begin to thaw, there is the ever increasing prescence of moisture, both in the air and in the ground and this began to be apparent in the badly deteriorated and waterlogged bricks and mortar that made up this foundation wall. Though the wall was structurally sound it was struggling to keep up with the transfer of moisture from the outside. After analyzing the mortar we decided to repair it with a Natural Hydrolic Lime mortar which would allow for maximum moisture transfer while also providing the necessary compressive strength. We used a low-dust cutting system inside the home to remove the paint and mortar from between the bricks and re-pointed the wall with our new lime mortar. We also repaired the concrete piers with a similar technique, though with an increased focus on weight bearing capacity.
The end result is a wall that looks great, and more importantly, will perform well for the next 100 years. Herein lies the beauty of masonry structures built with the right materials and with the right knowledge. With simple maintenance and upkeep, specifically of lime based mortas, we can depend on these materials to last well into the future.
Our next project is in High Park, be sure to check back for the details and some photos after it’s completed.