Saving your stonework when others fall short.
Saving your stonework when others fall short.
The Exposed Chin of the Architecture In my thirty years of pulling apart failing structures, I’ve learned that a commercial parapet is the most punished piece of masonry on any building. It’s the exposed chin of the architecture, taking hits from wind, rain, and snow on three sides while the rest of the wall stays […]
The Anatomy of a Hidden Foundation Failure The homeowner thought it was just a hairline crack. But when I put my scope inside the cavity, I saw the structural steel was rusted to dust. That is the reality of forensic masonry: what you see on the surface is rarely the whole story. I have spent […]
How to Stop Emergency Roof Leaks in Office Buildings Caused by Damp Masonry How to Stop Emergency Roof Leaks in Office Buildings Caused by Damp Masonry When a facility manager receives a call at 3:00 AM regarding an Emergency Roof Leak for Office Building operations, the immediate reaction is often one of panic. It isn’t […]
The Forensic Scene: What Lies Behind the Parging The homeowner pointed to a thin, vertical fracture in the corner of their 1920s basement, convinced it was a simple settlement issue. I did not take their word for it. I pulled out my digital borescope and threaded it through a weep hole I drilled near the […]
The Forensic Scene: A Slow-Motion Structural Collapse The homeowner pointed to a jagged hairline crack running through the mortar joints in her basement corner. “Just a settlement crack,” she told me, hoping for a cheap fix. I pulled out my fiber-optic scope and threaded it into a weep hole of the exterior brick veneer installation. […]
The Lie of the Hairline Crack The homeowner stood there, hands on hips, pointing at a vertical fissure no wider than a penny. He thought it was just a hairline crack, a cosmetic nuisance caused by the house settling into its bones. But when I put my scope inside that cavity, the reality was a […]
The Ghost of the Spalled Soldier Course I remember a job site in a historic district where a homeowner had spent a small fortune on a 1910 federal-style restoration. They hired a guy with a pressure washer and a bucket of hardware-store ‘waterproofer’ to seal the exterior. Two years later, I was called in because […]
The Forensic Scene: When a Hairline Crack Isn’t Just a Crack I was standing in a lightless basement in a river-front neighborhood, the kind where the soil stays saturated until mid-July. The homeowner, a DIY enthusiast who thought a bucket of hardware-store sealant could defy physics, pointed to a thin, vertical fissure near the corner. […]
The Forensic Scene: When a Hairline Crack Becomes a Structural Grave The homeowner thought it was just a hairline crack, a minor blemish on a century-old facade. But when I put my scope inside that fissure, I saw the structural steel was rusted to dust. The culprit wasn’t age, and it wasn’t the weather. It […]
The Deception of a Fresh Coat I have spent forty years in the dirt and dust, and nothing makes my blood boil quite like seeing a historic brick facade smothered in a thick layer of latex paint. To the untrained eye, it looks like a clean, modern update. To a third-generation mason, it looks like […]
