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News and Insights on the Masonry Repair and Maintenance of Institutional, Commercial, and Condominium Buildings in
Eastern Massachusetts
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Volume 11 No. 1
March/April 2019
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Welcome to the premiere issue of
Masonry Solutions for 2019. In our last issue of 2018, we described Phase 1 of our comprehensive masonry repair project involving multiple residential apartment buildings in Boston's Fenway area.
In this issue, we bring you Phase 2 of the same project.
We also invite you to visit
our newly updated web site at
www.abbotbuilding.com featuring our new theme for 2019 --
REPAIRING BOSTON BRICK BY BRICK -- that underscores Abbot's vast portfolio of completed high profile masonry projects over the longest period of time in the Greater Boston area.
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.
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Case Study
Abbot Performs Masonry Repair on Row of Apartment Buildings in Boston's Fenway Area (Phase 2)
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143-149 Hemenway Street, Boston, MA |
A
bbot recently completed Phase 2 of a comprehensive masonry repair project at a row of residential apartment buildings located at 143-149 Hemenway Street adjacent to Wentworth Institute and Northeastern University in Boston's Fenway section. The project was divided into two phases to allow installation of handicapped ramps for access to multiple building entranceways. To accommodate the owner's schedule, Abbot suspended the Phase 1 of project in April 2018 until the site work was completed, and initiated Phase 2 in June 2019.
Consistent with Phase 1, the scope of the Phase 2 work consisted of cutting and pointing all of the brick joints, replacing deteriorated pre-cast stone window headers and sills, and caulking all of the windows.
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Masonry 101
"Courses" in Masonry Construction
In architecture, buildings are built from layers of masonry known as courses. Courses are continuous layers running horizontally of the same unit bonded with mortar. The vertical equivalent of a course is known as a wythe. The unit of the course can be a variety of materials such as stone, shingles, tiles, concrete masonry units (CMU), or brick. A course is only one unit high and consists of uniform material
A standard 8-inch CMU block is the equivalent of three standard brick courses. This is intentional so brick walls can be built on top of a CMU course. An arrangement of several courses is known as a bond pattern, or bonding pattern. In masonry, the corners of the structure are built first with the space in between being filled in later.
In masonry, the three most popular course types are stretcher courses, header courses, and soldier courses.
- Stretcher courses are courses of bricks or stones that lie with the longest side parallel to the face of the work. A stretcher is a unit laid horizontally so the unit's longest end is parallel to the wall face.
- Header courses are made up of units laid on the widest edge, leaving their longest end so that it is parallel to face outside the wall. Three-quarter bats are used for the corners. A header course requires twice as many bricks as a stretcher course making it more time consuming and expensive to build
- Soldier courses consist of bricks laid vertically with their long narrow sides presented. Bricks that are set with the narrow side exposed are called soldiers. The soldiers stand on their shortest end, leaving the narrowest edge to face the outside of the wall. Soldier courses are commonly used for window lintels as well as the tops of walls.
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Abbot Building Restoration Co., Inc.
28 Allerton Street, Boston, MA 02119
Tel: 617-445-0274 ยท Fax: 617-445-0277
www.abbotbuilding.com
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