Tag Archives: Ithaca

Tuckpointing: Brick chimney at 409 E. Buffalo

Even when masonry is not the focus of buildings architecture, the necessity of a chimney provides an opportunity for high quality details to be carried out. In this case Tuckpointing was well executed on the brick chimney. While this expression of the masonry craft is a little tarnished, details are still well preserved on under the eaves, where protection from the elements is greatest. Take note that on the face of the chimney with the greatest exposures; the tuckpointing is nearly completely gone, leaving behind only the unifying red colorwash. This gives a muted appearance and an undoubtable suggestion that perhaps the best approach to “fixing” this artwork is to simply paint it red, as was once done in the past to the section above the roof line. Such practices can accelerate decay by causing excess moisture to be trapped in the masonry units (i.e. Brick) and lead to spalling and of course peeling paint.

Also not if you zoom in closely, there a small amount of tuckpointing on the stone Foundation

Cemetery Preservation

Last summer in 2015 Randy Ruth worked with Historic Ithaca to through its Work Preserve program, and collaborated with Friends of Ithaca Cemetery to bring two pairs of youth volunteers to help repair nearly 40 various monuments. Ithaca Journal ran an article about the restoration campaign.

You can read about it here…

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2015/08/11/ithaca-city-cemetery-preservation/31480119/

You can see a list of all the documented repairs with before and after photos here…

http://www.historicithaca.org/work-preserve-summer-2015-cemetery-project/

Tuckpointing: Stone Foundation at 420 Seneca St.

This is a great example of tuckpointing, in that it was done to what might be relegated today as an unworthy section of the house. Looking at the entire area of exposed stone it’s amazing that the time and effort would have been put into such a small area. With only a few square feet exposed directly to the street to be seen by pedestrians and much of the surface area exposed to the neighboring house, it exemplifies the perfection sought out by builders and the expectations owners had of craftsmanship.

What’s also great about this example is the cross section that can be seen on the exposed and worn corner, showing the beaded joint profile.

 Memorial Day Obelisk Repair

This past Memorial Day at Ithaca City Cemetery a great turn out of volunteers appeared to help clean and preform some maintenance. I can’t confirm the total number but from what I gathered it was near two dozen people who came and went, over the three hour morning volunteer period. Most of the time I spent was working on resetting a small obelisk about 3 ½ feet tall. The limestone base was in three pieces with the marble socket completely detached. The base stone was mortared together with a neat roman cement and the infilled with a pigmented roman cement to match the host base stone, to provide stability to the marble socket. The repaired base stone was leveled in gravel and sand. The marble socket was set with a Natural Hydraulic Lime 3.5 mixed with marble aggregate, on top of the base and then the obelisk set in the same mix. The color of the patch looked good after completion but I checked it a week later and it is indistinguishable from the host stone.

Check back soon for more photos to see how the patch has cured to match and the application of D/2 Biological Solution has cleaned up the marble.

Obelisk as found
Obelisk as found
Obelisk as found memorial day 2015
Obelisk as found memorial day 2015
Obelisk repair memorial day 2015
Obelisk repair memorial day 2015
Obelisk repair
Obelisk repair
Repair with Roman Cement and Natural Hydraulic Lime 3.5
Repair with Roman Cement and Natural Hydraulic Lime 3.5
Repair with Roman Cement and Natural Hydraulic Lime 3.5
Repair with Roman Cement and Natural Hydraulic Lime 3.5