Re-Brownstoning Landmark Bldg
Time to re-brownstone our landmarked four-story Greek Revival townhouse. We are complete novices and are looking for any advice, warnings, and specific recommendations. I couldn’t find a lot of relevant posts on the Forum, so recommendations for specific threads are most welcome. But from the posts I did find, and from friends’ recommendations, we have…
Time to re-brownstone our landmarked four-story Greek Revival townhouse. We are complete novices and are looking for any advice, warnings, and specific recommendations. I couldn’t find a lot of relevant posts on the Forum, so recommendations for specific threads are most welcome. But from the posts I did find, and from friends’ recommendations, we have some potential contractors. Any experience with these?
Z Abedin
Edson USA
D&H Contracting
M&H Construction (or is that Contracting, a different company?)
Swiss Guild (no phone number for them)
One Capital Construction (Ted Wrzolek)
Costas (the numbers I have are not working)
Thank you in advance!
Antonio Costas’ Phone number is: 9732078539
Thanks again to all who posted so thoughtfully, especially Vinca & jfss. Like Ahnold, I’ll be back with more questions, I’m sure.
GC: It’s purely speculation at this point, but I’m going to venture that the leaks and “brick dust” are indications of failing mortar, and maybe failing brick. The dust? At least some of it’s probably efflorescence. To begin to get a handle on your scope of work, you need bids from several companies. The good ones will educate you as they walk through the site. Their written bids will be even more revealing. Edson’s work is great; so is Wolf’s—that’s my opinion from personal experience with both. I suspect Wolf will be a better match for your job, but you won’t know that until you speak with them and others. Run in the opposite direction from contractors who tell you they can start work without a permit because your conditions constitute an “emergency.” JFSS makes several valuable points. You definitely want a contractor who’s licensed and insured. You definitely want to check their references and see their work in person. You also want to see true copies of their Workers Comp insurance, and to be named as additionally insured in a minimum amount of $1,000,000 per occurrence.
It was a while ago but Edson refaced my brownstone, stripped the window frames prior to repainting, replaced sashes, stripped front doors and replicated and replaced missing pieces on the cornice and doors. They’re licensed, insured and take care of permits. The quality of their work is top notch, they have a fully staffed office and their prices reflect all that.
Costas also did a lot of masonry work for me and was very good at a reasonable price. He is in Spain from mid December until around the end of March and even when he’s here, the most difficult thing is to reach him. Once you get him, he will do a good job.
Everlast also worked on my house (not refacing). He’s generally a hack (we refer to him as Neverlast). You’ll see some pretty decent refacing jobs with the Everlast name because he is the middleman for a good refacing mason with poor English language skills.
Check references and be careful. I have heard of (and experienced first hand) contractors who try to pass off other’s work as their own. Be sure to talk with the owner to verify who really did the work.
Vinca, based on the exterior jobs done on my neighbor’s houses (most of which look pretty bad — uneven color and cracking after even a year or two), my house is stucco on brick. At some point (maybe 15 years ago) some paint was slapped on it. Also, despite recently replacing the windows, we are experiencing some leaking with brick dust during heavy rain. Does that alter your feedback?
BC: It’s hard to tell from your posts whether your building is/was stucco over brick, stucco over lathe or, being Greek Revival, originally clapboard. Maybe what you’re describing as stucco is really Thoroseal, camouflaging the need for repointing. Some of the companies in your OP may not be well-suited to the kind of work ultimately needed. In a landmarked district, once a repair exceeds what the LPC deems “ordinary,” they will actually specify the parameters of your repairs. The previously-supplied LPC links detail the parameters and permit process, as does this FAQ: http://bit.ly/6m4L7y
Here’s another link (maybe duplicative), from a company I’ve never used, but which has a wealth of information on its website: http://bit.ly/4Nn4ej
From what you’re writing now, my recommendation for one bid from an honest, high-quality company is Wolf Restorations: 516-374-1294.
Vinca, thank you so much. Your links tell me I should make an important clarification: my “brownstone” has no actual brownstone, near as I can tell. I believe it’s 100% stucco. The house is in Boerum Hill. Does that make sense?
OP: There are different approaches to removing surface paint, stucco, or Thoroseal (or equivalent), depending on which you’re actually dealing with. Get input from your contractors both onsite and when they bid on the job, and carefully weigh their feedback and preferences as part of the vetting process. Even the gentlest forms of removal also carry risk of their own damage—ask about that. Below are a few more links, including extensive NPS preservation notes/briefs:
Landmark Conservancy Brownstone Guide: http://bit.ly/4zXtW6
Old House Journal, Brownstone Facades: http://bit.ly/4vJT2l
NPS Historic Preservation Briefs: http://bit.ly/7fwgGn
NPS Historic Preservation Tech Notes: http://bit.ly/79EahS
Thank you all again, especially for the advice to make sure scaffold construction and Landmarks and DOB permit application are built into the quote. In addition, there is currently (nasty, peeling) paint on our brownstone. I assumed it would just get chiseled off with the rest of the stucco. It must be removed first and that will lengthen the process?
Green Mt, I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying that the method of brownstoning currently being used all over Brooklyn is a bad idea? Can you summarize what you believe is a better method?