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June 4, 2009
varying color of brownstones
Hi,
Just curious...I noticed that the brownstones on my street vary a lot in brown color from dark to light and everything in between. One of them is a kind of orangey-brown. I think one might even just be painted brown. Some of them are beautiful and others not so much. When brownstones are refaced can an owner choose the brown hue? Does the hue relate to cost because some of the browns look nicer than others and I wonder if it is the color or the quality of the work.
Thanks.
Comments
Most brownstones are no longer stone at all - but have been refaced with new substances. Brownstone was often layed with the grain running up and down which made it ver susceptible to flaking. So yes, you are probably seeing the result of different repair jobs.
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at June 4, 2009 10:01 AM
And it's lots cheaper to have the facade patched & painted than restored.
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 10:04 AM
I'm having mine done as we speak. Many are painted and even those still of the original brownstone vary greatly in hue and quality of the stone. When you get yours refaced you can certainly vary the color.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:07 AM
Dibs - are you painting or redoing?
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 10:15 AM
Arkady...redoing. I'm going to post a whole bunch of before & after pics when its done. On the flat vertical brownstone surfaces we are removing the paint and patching whatever has deteriorated. That looks to be very few spots. It remains to be seen how the patches will blend but so far is looking good. It's best to keep as much of the intact stone as possible and not chip away and then resurface everything. Everything on the "garden level" and the stoop needs to be resurfaced as do dome of the lintels and sills above.
I'm painting the cornice and the entryway satin black. It looks nice.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:36 AM
Can't wait to see pix. I have 3 floors - top 2 were refurbished before I bought 25 yrs ago but have a bit of spalling. I'm getting estimates for stoop & garden level too. A house across the street is patched & looks like Michael Jackson halfway into his dermo treatment. I'm not sure whether to patch &/or paint or what.
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 10:44 AM
I'm using a guy that lives right around the corner and has done work in the neighborhood but I think my house is the first entire facad he has done. Where I've seen his work it is very good. What makes the difference are the clean, crisp lines of the detail. His price was quite a bit more reasonable than the likes of Malek. I believe he's doing an extra nice job on my place to be able to show it to other potential customers. he is taking a very long time to do it and says that it is imperative that everything that he has used as a base be thoroughly dried before additional layers are added, which makes sense. He let me specify to the paint shop the quality of the paint I desired. So far, so good.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:55 AM
Patching and/or painting is a a waste of money. Patching will never blend with the original and paint is going to start peeling after a few years. Save up and do it right by resurfacing the entire building at once.
Posted by: Colonel Steve Austin at June 4, 2009 11:36 AM
Dave
Would love to see pics and see what the final price was for work done. Have been on the fence for a while about re-doing facade or painting. Would like to get some who knows what they're doing and are reasonable. Too much to ask, perhaps.
K
Posted by: HurricaneKate at June 4, 2009 11:37 AM
Resurfacing is not the best thing when most of the original brownstone is in nice shape, Steve. You are wrong.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 12:39 PM
There's also a noteworthy difference between $6000 & $46000.
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 1:08 PM
Dave, who's talking about most of the original brownstone being in nice shape? Arklady said 2/3 of her building was refurbished 25 years ago and is now spalling in places. She's thinking about either, patching the spalling areas and resurfacing the remaining 1/3 vs. patching everything and paint the whole building.
Arklady,$6K is for patch and paint. Is the $46 for full resurface? Do you have lots of details like lintels, window moldings, brackets or sills?
Posted by: Colonel Steve Austin at June 4, 2009 1:35 PM
For a full resurface on a 3 storey the price will run from $15-46k. Brownstone Authority and Malek will be at the higher end of that. Only Brownstone Authority and a few others use Jahn Restoration Mortars from Cathedral Stone which are deemed to be the best and oftentimes the only thing allowable by a lot of historic landmarks. That said, the jobs done by the others are all more than acceptable.
I'll elaborate later when I post the full results but mine will come in at the lower end of $20-30k.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 2:04 PM
Hey Dave could you pass along this guys information??
Thanks
Posted by: mysideofstuy at June 4, 2009 2:11 PM
Hey Dave could you pass along this guys information??
Thanks
Posted by: mysideofstuy at June 4, 2009 2:12 PM
I will when he's done. I want to make sure he crosses all the t's and dots all the i's so to speak. For example, he has left some concrete on top of the neighbors slab and it remains to be seen how he cleans that or replaces it for them!!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 2:18 PM
Yes, you can choose the tint when refacing brownstone...
Posted by: raphael9 at June 4, 2009 2:26 PM
Colonel - When I bought it the house was in fairly decent shape & you had to look hard to see that the bottom third was different from the top 2/3 (paint vs. brownstone)except on the steps, one of which was particularly poorly done. The spalling is mainly around the door - not terribly elaborate detail anywhere. So I may well get patching/painting done where it's needed & leave the restored brownstone as is since it has held up over the years.
The people I think I'm going to hire are really knowledgeable & I trust their input if they say this method will look o.k.
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 2:39 PM
Arkady, the best paint job I've seen is on two adjacent house on McDonough just east of Lewis on the south side of the street...around the corner from Peaches. I think the contractor's sign is still on one of them.
Also, housebywe had their's painted and are quite pleased but I don't remember what it looks like.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 3:14 PM
Thanks, Dibs.
Posted by: Arkady at June 4, 2009 3:20 PM
Op here. Thanks very much for the information.
Posted by: myplace at June 4, 2009 8:02 PM
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