Masonry, Brownstone Expert Needed

Many years ago, the raised front patio of my house was excavated, necessitating three limestone steps to be added to the foot of my original Brownstone steps.  Over the years, the Brownstone stoop and facade needed repair.  A bit over a year ago, I had the work done and was extremely pleased with the results with one exception:  The contractor suggested scraping the limestone steps and applying Brownstone to match the bottom part of the stoop with the original.  When it was completed, it looked fantastic, but within a month, the bottom three steps were cracking.  The company redid the work three times over the next four or five months, but without success.  The bottom of the stoop is looking far worse than before I did the work, and I expect it will get even worse over the winter. I need to find an expert who can come out and figure out how to fix this problem.  I have spent a lot of money on this project, so I may end up having someone fill the ever-growing cracks with a closely-matching silicone just as a temporary measure to minimize further damage, but either way, I would like to know how to fix this once and for all (or at least for the next 10-20 years, which shouldn’t be too much to ask).  Any recommendations or suggestions?  Many thanks.

gianpaulo

in Masonry 12 years and 7 months ago

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walterpda | 12 years and 3 months ago

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HI I am polish mason with 27 years’ experience mostly in NYC some in NJ , I done many of brownstone job. I am installer for ,,Stone Quest” [ stone fabricator – limestone , brownstone and granite]located in Carteret . Incoming   3 of brownstone  job all in east 60 st area in Manhattan but two of them going be using Spanish limestone and one brownstone  facade . Call me I give you report of condition and  repair estimate free of charge. Walter 646 522-7669

sandston | 12 years and 4 months ago

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In the event that your problems continue and you get to the point of considering full replacement, we can offer a permanent solution. We can supply replacement stair treads in our genuine, natural Beckwith browntone, quarried fresh from the ground.  This is not recycled or man-made patching material. Check our our website at atlanticsandstone.com   you would consider repmacement, we quarry a brownstone here in Canada, which is a pretty good match for  Protland brownstone

greenmountain | 12 years and 7 months ago

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As in the past,  I offer you some articles on the whole topic from Period Homes from about 10 years ago, on the occasion of the exterior work at Cooper Union (not the technique of scraping off natural stone and plastering with a recipe of collored cement). You can learn a lot about the problem you experience.  Just get in touch with me through the ‘Stoner directory under shower stalls.  Green Mountain.

ayman | 12 years and 7 months ago

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Hi gianpaulo, i seen your last post with the photograph of your steps. The cracks do look back and it will be hard to give you any kind of specific advice without actually visiting and inspecting the steps. If you have the budget then I would call an engineer (Rand PC is good, we consult them on many of our projects). Have the engineer inspect it and then have an experienced contractor re-do it as per engineer’s suggestions. On the other hand, try to get hold of an experienced masonry contractor (there are tons of good ones recommended on this site) who knows the complete process of a brownstone resurfacing. I am curious to know if your previous contractor did a scratch coat and left it for curing before doing the final brownstone coat on the steps. Usually you would leave the scratch coat for a month or more and if there are any cracks they will appear in the scratch caot.