News and Insights on the Masonry Repair and Maintenance of Institutional, Commercial, and Condominium Buildings in
Eastern Massachusetts
Volume 10 No. 3
August 2018
In this issue of
Masonry Solutions, our
Case Study article describes our maintenance project
at a 3-storycollege dormitory building owned by Wentworth Institute of Technology in Bosotn. In our
Masonry 101 article, we describe the process of "shoring" to temporarily support a building during renovation.
We also invite you to visit our newly updated web site at
www.abbotbuilding.com featuring descriptions of our projects on commercial, institutional, and condominium/apartment buildings as well as our Small Projects Division.
We trust that you will benefit from the information provided in this publication. If you have any comments or questions, or would like an estimate on a masonry repair project, we can be reached at 617-445-0274 or at our web site listed above.
Sincerely,
Michael Norman, President
Abbot Building Restoration Company, Inc.
Case Study
Abbot Performs Maintenance on Wentworth Institute College Dormitory Building
Abbot recently completed a maintenance project on the left elevation of a 3-story brick and stone college dormitory building owned by Wentworth Institute of Technology at 60 Louis Prang Street in Boston, MA. Abbot was awarded the project based on its previous experience with Wentworth on a larger dormitory project in the same city block in 2016.
60 Louis Prang Street, Boston, MA (left elevation)
Wentworth contacted Abbot to perform an investigation and develop a repair plan. Abbot found that the brick joints were severely eroded and the wall had some deteriorated brick to replace. Additionally, the wood window trim was severely deteriorated and needed repairs.
Abbot erected scaffolding alongside the building, then cut and pointed all of the brick joints, and replaced multiple damaged bricks and rotted wood trim. To complete the project, Abbot replaced two cracked stone window sills with new matching pre-cast stone sills, and recaulked and painted the new wood of all of the windows.
Masonry 101
Shoring
Shoring is the process of temporarily supporting a building or structure with shores (or props) when there is the potential for collapse during repairs or alterations.
Shoring materials can range from wood beams as used by Abbot in a recent project to metal braces as shown above.
Typically, the top of the beam is arranged at an angle so that part of the wall load is transferred onto it, while the lower end of the beam is framed onto a base to transfer the load to the ground with minimum deformation.
Wedges may also be used
to bring the shore snugly into contact with the wall.
