Stoop Restoration for Historic Brownstones — a Step by Step Process

Sponsored By Innovation Construction

For 20 years, Innovation Construction has specialized in historical brownstone facade and stoop restoration.

Created By Brownstoner

New Yorkers love brownstones. “It’s a house faced in stone, rather than brick or wood,” said Ekram Hassan, owner of Brooklyn-based Innovation Construction. “It’s solid and historic and people like solid buildings.”

And the first impression of a brownstone one gets is the stoop — the cover of the book, so to speak. It’s the first thing visitors and passersby see, it’s the main entry. And it’s also where people can relax, read a book, talk to neighbors. For many people, it’s an extension of the living room, an iconic part of the imagery of New York City.

“When people are buying a brownstone, the stoop is the first thing they think about,” said Hassan. “Either it’s in good shape or they think to themselves they’ll have to redo it in the future.”

That’s where Hassan comes in. For more than 20 years his company has been restoring historic brownstone stoops and facades.

Here’s how a typical project goes:

At first, a consultation will determine whether or not the building is in a landmark district (or an individual landmark). If it is, Innovation Construction gets a permit from the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for the restoration process, regardless of whether the house is brownstone, terra-cotta, limestone, or another type of stone.

Most stoops that Innovation restores are more than 90 years old, so the firm examines historic tax photos to find the original details. Then the chipping process begins: Using a machine chisel, they’ll chip the stone layer down to the original stone.

After chiseling down to the solid stone, they build it back up with successive layers of cement, rebuilding any fine details from the tax photos. The curing process can take as long as four weeks.

Innovation then provides color samples to the customer and to the LPC, based on the original stone. Once the color is approved, a tinted cement mixture is created to LPC’s specifications and the finished coat is applied — usually 5/8ths of an inch thick.

With a stoop restoration alone, owners can enhance their home value by more than 10 percent. “It’s also important to preserve the stoop,” said Hassan. “Owners should make sure they shovel the entire stoop after it snows, not just create a path. The moisture gets into the crevices and that’s how it gets compromised. And use a plastic shovel.”

Innovation also does facades, masonry, and roofs. “We are landmark restoration specialists,” said Hassan. “And our mission is to save the historical buildings in order to preserve the nature of the beauty in brownstone, and to preserve the beauty in the neighborhoods.”

For more information contact Innovation Construction here.

[Photos by Innovation Construction]