Progress on the Brick Store
A little over a year ago I wrote two posts about the past year's progress on the huge project I have undertaken to restore a mid-19th century brick store that I own. Here are the links to those posts:
https://restoman.livejournal.com/268717.html and https://restoman.livejournal.com/268861.html
This is what we accomplished this past year:
1.
In August, Bob started painting the side storefront that we rebuilt last year. You can see some color samples on the bricks to the left of the storefront. I tried out 4 shades of red before finding one that I liked for the building. Also tried two different greens for the shutters, and two different whites for the window sashes.
2.
Jim loads new bricks into a bucket in my truck.
3.
...And then Matt (a friend of Ricky's) and Josh pull the bucket of bricks up to the first roof. From there the bricks were carried up a short ladder to the upper roof to use in rebuilding a missing chimney.
4.
We began rebuilding the chimney by setting up scaffold frames under where the missing chimney had been.
5.
Here, Josh is on top of the scaffold, repointing the mortar joints at the base of the chimney. With Josh working from the scaffolding, and me working from the upper roof, the two of us rebuilt the chimney to a height of about 32 inches. I was the only one with any experience doing brick work who could work up high. Jim can do brickwork, his father was a mason, but he is afraid of heights. Josh was a good worker and didn't mind working on scaffolding, but I had to teach him how to lay bricks and mortar.
6.
Josh works on the chimney while Jim repoints mortar joints at ground level.
7.
Josh, on the roof, next to the nearly-complete chimney.
8.
We cut a piece of Bluestone to the size of the chimney. A.J. and Josh set the stone on top, laid in a bed of mortar. This chimney, the first of four to be rebuilt, will not be functional. I rebuilt it strictly to restore the appropriate 19th century look to the building. It was unlined anyway, so the building code would not allow it to be used for venting a fireplace, furnace, or even a water heater. The stone on top will prevent the weather from damaging the chimney inside and prevent birds and squirrels from nesting there.
9.
Jim painting on the step ladder.
10.
With the scaffolding already there, it made sense to use it to paint that section of wall. Josh works from the extension ladder, AJ works from the scaffold, and Jim works from the step ladder. Each of them was working as high as they felt comfortable doing.
11.
It was late in September, and I knew we had limited time to paint, so I got as many people as possible to work on painting. It moved along pretty quickly, but the rough surface of the wall meant that everything had to be painted by hand. The bricks were quite porous and soaked up the latex paint like little sponges.
12.
After each section was painted, we moved the scaffolding down to the next section, and began the process over again: repoint the missing and loose mortar, scrape any old paint off the wall, then paint.
13.
Josh & Dave painting.
14.
15.
Rick and Lisa begin painting the front.
16.
With the side of the building pretty much done, work moves on to the front of the building.
17.
Rick moves planks around on the scaffold.
18.
Lisa hangs out a window to paint.
19.
Josh & Lisa painting.
20.
Rick and Lisa painting. I did much of the yellow painting on the brick cornice. I was surprised that I was still able to climb around on scaffolding, but it did not come easily. After painting from the scaffolding for 3 days, I found myself walking with a cane for the next week! ~No specific injury, just wear and tear on muscles and bones that haven't been used like that for years.
21.
Josh painting on scaffold. I ordered 4 pairs of Cedar shutters from Shuttercraft in Connecticut, plus the hinges and shutter dogs (those "S" shaped iron things that hold the shutters against the walls.) We tried out 2 different shades of green on the shutters. The dark green won.
22.
We made a space in the second floor of the store for Ricky to prime and paint shutters before we hung them.
23.
The first sets of shutters are installed, hung on traditional shutter hinges.
24.
25.
While the shutters were being installed by Ricky and myself, Roy took out the window sashes, replacing glass and putty as needed and repainting them before putting each back in place.
26.
Rick installs the hinges for another pair of shutters. This was November 1st. The weather was getting too cold for more painting.
27.
By November 10th the last of the touch up painting was complete, all the shutters that we had were hung, and all the window sashes reglazed, puttied and painted.
28.
There are actually 6 colors on the building, but they are catagorised to keep the building from looking busy. The cornice and trim are yellow, the bricks: red, the shutters: deep green, all the iron hardware: black, the window sashes: grayish-white, the limestone window sills and lintels: limestone gray, and the metal edge of the roof: red-brown.
The storefront on the first floor of this face will need to be rebuilt, three more chimneys built, and more shutters bought, painted and installed, but that will be covered in next year's post.
:-)
https://restoman.livejournal.com/268717.html and https://restoman.livejournal.com/268861.html
This is what we accomplished this past year:
1.
In August, Bob started painting the side storefront that we rebuilt last year. You can see some color samples on the bricks to the left of the storefront. I tried out 4 shades of red before finding one that I liked for the building. Also tried two different greens for the shutters, and two different whites for the window sashes.
2.
Jim loads new bricks into a bucket in my truck.
3.
...And then Matt (a friend of Ricky's) and Josh pull the bucket of bricks up to the first roof. From there the bricks were carried up a short ladder to the upper roof to use in rebuilding a missing chimney.
4.
We began rebuilding the chimney by setting up scaffold frames under where the missing chimney had been.
5.
Here, Josh is on top of the scaffold, repointing the mortar joints at the base of the chimney. With Josh working from the scaffolding, and me working from the upper roof, the two of us rebuilt the chimney to a height of about 32 inches. I was the only one with any experience doing brick work who could work up high. Jim can do brickwork, his father was a mason, but he is afraid of heights. Josh was a good worker and didn't mind working on scaffolding, but I had to teach him how to lay bricks and mortar.
6.
Josh works on the chimney while Jim repoints mortar joints at ground level.
7.
Josh, on the roof, next to the nearly-complete chimney.
8.
We cut a piece of Bluestone to the size of the chimney. A.J. and Josh set the stone on top, laid in a bed of mortar. This chimney, the first of four to be rebuilt, will not be functional. I rebuilt it strictly to restore the appropriate 19th century look to the building. It was unlined anyway, so the building code would not allow it to be used for venting a fireplace, furnace, or even a water heater. The stone on top will prevent the weather from damaging the chimney inside and prevent birds and squirrels from nesting there.
9.
Jim painting on the step ladder.
10.
With the scaffolding already there, it made sense to use it to paint that section of wall. Josh works from the extension ladder, AJ works from the scaffold, and Jim works from the step ladder. Each of them was working as high as they felt comfortable doing.
11.
It was late in September, and I knew we had limited time to paint, so I got as many people as possible to work on painting. It moved along pretty quickly, but the rough surface of the wall meant that everything had to be painted by hand. The bricks were quite porous and soaked up the latex paint like little sponges.
12.
After each section was painted, we moved the scaffolding down to the next section, and began the process over again: repoint the missing and loose mortar, scrape any old paint off the wall, then paint.
13.
Josh & Dave painting.
14.
15.
Rick and Lisa begin painting the front.
16.
With the side of the building pretty much done, work moves on to the front of the building.
17.
Rick moves planks around on the scaffold.
18.
Lisa hangs out a window to paint.
19.
Josh & Lisa painting.
20.
Rick and Lisa painting. I did much of the yellow painting on the brick cornice. I was surprised that I was still able to climb around on scaffolding, but it did not come easily. After painting from the scaffolding for 3 days, I found myself walking with a cane for the next week! ~No specific injury, just wear and tear on muscles and bones that haven't been used like that for years.
21.
Josh painting on scaffold. I ordered 4 pairs of Cedar shutters from Shuttercraft in Connecticut, plus the hinges and shutter dogs (those "S" shaped iron things that hold the shutters against the walls.) We tried out 2 different shades of green on the shutters. The dark green won.
22.
We made a space in the second floor of the store for Ricky to prime and paint shutters before we hung them.
23.
The first sets of shutters are installed, hung on traditional shutter hinges.
24.
25.
While the shutters were being installed by Ricky and myself, Roy took out the window sashes, replacing glass and putty as needed and repainting them before putting each back in place.
26.
Rick installs the hinges for another pair of shutters. This was November 1st. The weather was getting too cold for more painting.
27.
By November 10th the last of the touch up painting was complete, all the shutters that we had were hung, and all the window sashes reglazed, puttied and painted.
28.
There are actually 6 colors on the building, but they are catagorised to keep the building from looking busy. The cornice and trim are yellow, the bricks: red, the shutters: deep green, all the iron hardware: black, the window sashes: grayish-white, the limestone window sills and lintels: limestone gray, and the metal edge of the roof: red-brown.
The storefront on the first floor of this face will need to be rebuilt, three more chimneys built, and more shutters bought, painted and installed, but that will be covered in next year's post.
:-)