Help with Cornice / Mansard Roof


We have a mansard roof with a cornice on it in Chicago. This is a 6-flat building on a very narrow lot in the city. Pictures are here: http://east-village.posterous.com/east-village-building

The issue we are having is with rain water running off of the roof, down the front of the building, pooling at the ground, and seeping into our meter room under the front steps. We cannot install a drain because we would have to do so on the neighbor’s property and tear up all of their sidewalks.

So can we add some type of gutter to the cornice? Or should it have had a gutter at some point? The building was built around 1870, but over the past few years we have had to repair masonry and various other issues in the front due to the water.

THANKS!

Categories: Restoration
By bradbeiter | 04/28/2011 12:09 PM | Comment

Mysterious Effloressance


Hello:

I attached a photo of my brick building in Chicago. I seem to be having an issue with efflorescence in a single spot on the brick next to my window. No where else on the building are we seeing this issue. I wonder if you might be able to offer some insight into the issue. I am thinking that the caulk on the window next to this area might be letting water creep into the brick. In one of the photos you can see the caulk might not be applied correctly. But I also wondered if efflorescence tends to creep upwards like we are seeing here?

The tuck pointing was done about 3 years ago and we just started to see this issue in the last 6 months.

This spot is about 4 feet off of the ground level, and the building is 4 stories tall. I see no evidence that the issue is coming from water above or below this spot.

Please help!

Categories: Masonry
By bradbeiter | 10/05/2010 10:45 AM | Comment