There’s something grand about every high-profile restoration project, but Shepard Hall, City College of New york, with work spanning more than a quarter-century and $100 million, is truly epic in scope.

The project began in 1986 when the award-winning Stein Partnership, New york City, now Elemental Architecture, took on the job of determining how to save the 1907 Gothic Revival centerpiece of the college — if indeed it could be saved.

The building, designed by George Browne Post (1837-1913), was in dire condition inside and out, said Carl Stein, FAIA, one of the firm’s founders. Author of Greening

Modernism, published by W. W. Norton, Mr. Stein has overseen the Shepard Hall restoration from the beginning.

Decorative terra cotta, unable to cope with decades of freeze-thaw cycling and building movement had been failing for 60 years. In some places chunks, falling from the building, were replaced with brick and mortar.

“It wasn’t very pretty,” Mr. Stein said.

Of the 72,000 separate pieces of terra cotta, a third were already missing from the building. Another third were badly damaged. Craftsmen, studying vintage photographs, replaced 65,000 with GFRC replicas.

In the process, they recreated nearly 10,000 different shapes of which 3,000 are sculptures ranging from floral decoration to larger-than-life-sized human figures, gothic grotesques and gargoyles.

To correct the flaws of the original design, Mr. Stein specified a traditional masonry structure with

the GFRC replicas bolted on. He used a steel framing system to accommodate

adjustment in all three planes.

Shepard Hall’s dark gray Manhattan Schist, which was quarried from

PROSOCO and Shepard Hall

Fall 2011

Continued on Page 2. See “Epic”

Courtesy Carl Stein, Elemental Architecture

Andy VohsChamberlin ContractingKansas City, MOAngela MylerUnivar USAKansas City, MOBill Morris, AIAAugusta, KSBill NevilleChamberlin ContractingKansas City, MOBilly Vicic Jr., RLANewman, Jackson, Bieberstein Dallas, TXBrian PapeHistoric Preservation & Green ArchitectNew York, NYChelsie BookerRIM ArchitectsAnchorage, AKChing-Ya YehHistoric Preservation & Green ArchitectNew York, NYConnie WatkinsScott Rice Office WorksLawrence, KSDaryl CarterACI/Boland

Kansas City, MODoug KoubaKouba + Knoop AssociatesSt. Louis, MOElliott E. DudnikElliott Dudnik + AssociatesEvanston, Ill.Frank HalseyMid-Continental RestorationFort Scott, KSGary BeckerHesston, KSGerald MorganUniversity of MissouriMexico, MOGerard AlbaStudio 804Lawrence, KSGerri KielhofnerButler Rosenbury & PartnersSpringfield, MOHoward LangnerTexas Historical CommissionAustin, TX

See our full list of winners, comprising most of the elite of the construction industry on PROSOCO’s Green Journey blog athttp://greenpiece1.wordpress.com/

2 Prosoco News

The exotic French concrete tiles on this building arrived on the jobsite covered in efflorescence. After they were cleaned with Sure klean® Light Duty Concrete Cleaner, the “kezako” tiles were protected with Sure klean® Weather Seal Siloxane WB. Can you identify this project?

Can you identify this project?E-mail your answers togary.henry@prosoco.com, or call 800-255-4255.Answer in the next edition!

PROSOCO NEWS is a publication of PROSOCO, Inc. ©Copyright 2011The news articles included in PROSOCO News represent factual reporting of methods that some contractors have found effective. They are not intended to be a company endorsement of procedures but merely possible alternatives in individual situations. Additionally, the use of photographs does not constitute an endorsement of the products.

PROSOCO NEWS is a publication of: PROSOCO3741 Greenway Circle Lawrence, kS 66046 (800) 255-4255Fax (800) 877-2700www.prosoco.com

EDITORIALEditor Gary Henry

CopyeditorJanet Horner

DESIGN/PRODUCTIONCreative GeniusStephen Falls

VIPSMarketing DirectorScott BuscherPresidentDavid W. Boyer

Congratulations, a PROSOCO ball cap and a “you Sure know your Stuff ” certificate go to these brilliant construction professionals for identifying last issue’s CyITP— Union Station, kansas City, Mo

You sure know your stuff!

Continued on Page 3. See “Epic”

“Epic” from front page

the very ground where Shepard Hall now stands, bore up under the decades much better than the terra cotta. Still, it had problems in places. Damaged stones were replaced with similar-looking granite.

Where cleaning was needed, the preferred method was simply brush and water. When tougher measures were called for workers used Sure klean® Restoration Cleaner.

The technicians used Restoration Cleaner for areas of heavy carbon staining, a common problem on buildings from the coal-fueled early 20th Century.

Sure klean® Weather Seal SL100 Water Repellent was and is specified to weatherproof the cleaned and repaired sections of the building. The protective treatment is designed specifically for dense substrates like schist and GFRC.

“We chose SL100 because it’s highly breathable, and doesn’t create any appearance change,” Mr. Stein said. Along with short-circuiting the freeze-thaw cycle by blocking water penetration, the protective treatment also makes the surface easier to keep clean by stopping contaminants from soaking in, he added.

Work proceeded in nine separate phases, with a 10th and final phase set to kick off in late 2011.

Each phase addressed its own portion of the building, the order driven by severity of deterioration. “Life-threatening” conditions topped the list. With its four turrets beginning to bend outward, in danger of catastrophic failure, Shepard Hall’s main tower was first to get attention.

“We dismantled and rebuilt the upper 65 feet of the tower,” Mr. Stein said. This included the installation of four, 56-foot-tall structural post-tensioned precast concrete “masts” which were entirely clad with GFRC replicas, faithfully reproducing the original terra cotta forms.

A three-story bay window, one of six on the building, that had torn loose and collapsed led to another priority project. Investigation showed that all of the steel in these areas had deteriorated to the point of imminent failure. All six bay windows were carefully removed and replaced.

Inside, the building’s Great Hall, a cathedral-sized space 63 feet high, 185 feet long and 89 feet wide, was equally at risk. In its time, the hall boasted appearances by Albert Einstein, presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other luminaries.

Authorities closed the Great Hall in the 1980s because of the risk of masonry falling from upper parts of the window surrounds and other dangers. It stayed closed for 10 years.

By 1997, Mr. Stein and his team had put the Hall back in business, with a new limestone floor, new ventilation, lighting, acoustics, and voice and data systems — and restored stained glass windows with new surrounds. That work netted the firm a coveted Lucy G. Moses Preservation award.

Courtesy Midswest Pressure Washing

3Continued on Page 3. See “Epic”

Trial by water

People caused some of the deterioration. In the 50s and 60s, Mr. Stein said, wooden doors and windows were replaced with aluminum. One of the building’s main entrances was taken for a concrete truck dock, which was later abandoned.

The entrance is now restored. Handsome oak door and window frames matching George Post’s original specifications have replaced the deteriorating aluminum frames.

But weather, architectural flaws and human disregard for aesthetics aside, the biggest cause for the building’s descent into near-ruin was neglect, Mr. Stein said.

Several New york City budget crises, going back to the 50s, back-burnered maintenance for decades. With nothing to oppose it, weather found the weaknesses in the design and exploited them. By 1986, Shephard Hall was at a turning point where something had to be done — demolition or restoration.

Mr. Stein and his associates envisioned a 10-year plan to save the building. Its owners, the Dormitory Authority for the State of New york and City University of New york, agreed. The architects structured the plan to proceed as money became available.

While the vagaries of public funding have stretched the project out to more than two-and-a-half times its intended length, the work has methodically continued to where Shephard Hall, if not complete, is at least out of danger.

During the decades-long project, Elemental and nearly a dozen general contractors worked around building occupants, explored dozens of options for terra cotta replacement, and navigated a complex and constantly shifting political and financial landscape to keep the epic project on track.

The payoff is that this landmark building, centerpiece of a campus that has produced more Nobel Laureates (nine) than any other public college, that has hosted presidents, will be around for a long time to come, Mr. Stein said.

“Epic” from page 2

Dark gray Manhattan Schist and newly installed GFRC await cleaning and weatherproofing with PROSOCO products on Shepard Hall, during its ongoing restoration.Courtesy Carl Stein, Elemental Architecture

The eye-catching art-deco Asheville City Building in Asheville, N.C., is an iconic landmark for the town of about 83,000, nestled on the western edge of the Great Smokey Mountains.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Unfortunately, it leaks.

It leaks so badly, the 7th and 8th floors are now unoccupied. That’s no reflec-tion on the building. The Asheville City Building (1928) is 83 years old, and at that age, without a little specialized attention now and then, is entitled to leak.

The city, to its credit, is giving this splendid old building that attention now. Consulting engineers Sutton-kennerly & Associates, with offices in Greens-boro, Charlotte, Asheville and Wilmington, N.C., and Birmingham, Ala., is heading up the effort.

The project is still in the planning stages, according to Zeb Wells PE, an engineer at the firm’s Asheville Office. Part of that planning is a systematic analysis of the building’s troubles, including learning how and how much the masonry, terra cotta and marble fabric admits water.

To get an idea of what they were up against, Mr. Wells said, the company called on specialty facade restoration contractor Masonry Preservation Services (MPS), Bloomsburg, Pa., in July to run ASTM C1601 Standard Test Method for Field Determination of Water Penetration of Masonry Wall Surfaces.

The testing is part of an overall pilot phase MPS is conducting for Sutton-

Continued on next page. See “Trial"

Recent testing revealed the beautiful though octogenarian Asheville City Building to be surprisingly leaky.

Right - The ASTM C1601 test apparatus prepares to drench the test panel.

Courtesy Midswest Pressure Washing

photo courtesy of the City of Asheville

Masonry Preservation Serivces Inc.

Fall 2011 4

“Trial” from page 3. Q&ATrue queries from the files of PROSOCO Customer Carekennerly to prove effectiveness of planned repairs and establish

standards of quality, said Erik Valentino, architectural engineer and building envelope specialist in charge of field testing at MPS.

The non-destructive test method involves attaching a 12 square-foot pressurized test chamber to the masonry and cycling .68 gallons of water per minute from a top-mounted spray bar through it, with air pressure of 10 pounds per square foot. This keeps a running “sheet” of water on the wall throughout the test. The difference in the volume of water at the test’s beginning and end indicates how much water penetrated the wall.

The test simulates a storm dumping 5.5 inches of rain per hour on the wall with 62.5 mph winds.

The wall, as Sutton-kennerly and MPS found it, allowed a staggering 7.48 gallons of water to penetrate the surface.

“We knew it was leaky, but we didn’t expect that much,” said Mr. Wells. That vol-

ume of water soaking into the wall is easily enough to make its way

to the interior, causing mold and stains — exactly the

problems the Asheville City Building is experi-encing.

MPS then repointed the test panel. They used a Type N mortar, and

followed Secretary of the Interior standards for

preservation of registered landmarks. They let the new

mortar cure, then reattached the test apparatus for another

round.

The repaired wall withstood the simulated storm much better indicating only 2.93 gallons per hour of water penetration — well within an “expected” range for masonry of this type, and an improvement by the numbers of 60.9 percent.

“At the suggestion of Jeff Erdly, CEO of MPS, we decided to take it one step further,” Mr. Wells said. “We wanted to see if we could reduce the water penetration even more by limiting the brick absorption.”

MPS recommended and roller-applied PROSOCO’s masonry water-repellent Sure klean® Weather Seal Siloxane WB Concentrate. The “WB” stands for “water-based,” which, along with “no odor,” was a Sutton-kennerly specification.

The penetrating treatment soaks into microscopic masonry pores where it chemically bonds, lining the masonry pores with water-repellent molecules. Liquid water won’t enter the pores. However, water that’s already in the masonry can still evaporate out — a characteristic known as “breathability.”

The protective treatment isn’t an alternative to repair — any small gap in the masonry or mortar joints will still admit water — but the normal porosity of masonry is taken out of the game.

A third round of ASTM C1601 testing confirmed it. Water penetration decreased again from 2.93 gallons per hour to .76 gallons — a virtually negligible amount of water penetration,

and an 89.9 percent improvement over the original unrepaired wall.

“The testing helped us judge the effectiveness of the repointing and water repellent procedures,” Mr. Wells said. “Now that we know how much benefit they bring to the building, our next step will be to include them as we evaluate our recommendations to the build-ing owner.”

Colorful terra cotta crowns the eight-story, 83-year-old Asheville City Building,

now being prepped for restoration.

Masonry Preservation Serivces Inc.

Q. Can I use Consolideck® products on cementitious concrete overlays just as I would on a concrete slab?

A. The short answer is yes. Consolideck® products will work on most anything cementitious. That said, you must use some common sense and carefully read the product documentation that comes with your overlay material. For instance, does the overlay contain an integral water-repel-lent? If so, then water-based Consolideck® products -- or any other water-based products – may not be compatible. For the most part, however, if the cementitious concrete overlay has been correctly installed following manufacturer’s guidelines, you should be able to apply Consolideck® hard-ener/densifiers, color treatments, and water and stain repel-lents just as if they were going on a concrete slab. As with any project, test first to fine-tune your application proce-dure. The overlay will also be compatible with Consolideck® maintenance cleaners.

Need some help?Call Customer Care toll-free at 800-255-4255.

Profiles

5 Prosoco News

Fites Center, Valparaiso, INPolished concrete flooring got the nod for the new Donald V. Fites Engineering Innovation Center at Valparaiso University because of its sustainability.

Project Architect Victor Ritter, LEED® AP and Principal of Chicago and Valparaiso, Ind.-based Design Organization, said he considered tile, vinyl and other flooring before deciding on polished concrete.

“It has several advantages no other flooring has,” he said.

One was that no other flooring material had to be bought and transported to top the concrete. “Using concrete saved resources,” said Mr. Ritter, who has submitted the building for LEED® Gold certification.

The $13 million addition is built onto the south side of the univer-sity’s Gellersen Center, which houses the College of Engineering and Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

A little over half the building’s 13,600 square feet is polished concrete, says polishing contractor Bill Fansler, a vice president, estimator and project manager at Smock Fansler Corporation, Indianapolis.

Mr. Fansler and crew went to work in January, about a month after the slab was poured and the building shell was up. Following their test-panel procedure, they flattened and “opened” the concrete with 650-pound grinders using 40-, 80, and 150-grit metal-bond abrasive diamond pads.

A three-day winter storm Jan. 31- Feb. 2, nicknamed the “Ground-hog Day Blizzard” complicated the job. As snow blew in temporary exits, or was tracked in on boots it melted on the concrete floor. The water, where it wasn’t mopped up right away, pulled cement “fines” out of the concrete, which hardened into insoluble white deposits on the surface.

“Re-grinding was the only way to get rid of them,” Mr. Fansler said.

After getting a 150-grit metal-bond finish, they switched to softer resin-bond diamonds of 100- 200- and 400 grit.

At 400 grit resins, generally considered the line between grinding and polishing, They applied Consolideck® LS® (lithium silicate) Hard-ener/Densifier with pump-up sprayers and micro-fiber applicators. LS® fills the concrete pores with rock-hard calcium silicate hydrate -- the same durable material that makes concrete hard to begin with.

The hardened, densified concrete, more abrasion- and spill-resistant, polishes faster and with better results.

Because the treatment penetrates easily and rapidly, there’s no scrub-bing in or flushing away excess densifier, as with older potassium- and sodium-silicate hardener/densifiers, so jobs go quicker.

After hardening/densifying, the techs took the floor up to a 1500-grit finish with softer resin-bond diamonds.

They protected it with a micro-thin coating of Consolideck® LSGuard®. The “LS®” prefix means the protective coating contains lithium-silicate, for a further hardening/densifying effect.LSGuard® heats up while being burnished on, and “melds” with the concrete, providing a protective gloss that never needs to be stripped and replaced.

Heavy propane burnishers running specialized Consolideck®

HEAT burnishing pads are the recommended application tools, but Mr. Fansler’s crew only had a light-weight electric burnisher.

“Even though we had the HEAT pads, our burnisher didn’t have enough weight. We couldn’t create the amount of friction we needed to heat up the applied LSGuard® to the temperature needed to get the gloss level we were after,” Mr. Fansler said.

They switched back to their 650-pound grinding/polishing machines — which did have enough weight — equipped with the fine 1500-grit resin bond diamonds.

“That did the trick,” Mr. Fansler said. “In some places you look down the hallway and you can’t even see the floor. All you can see are the lights and walls reflected in it.”

“We’ve done acid-stained and epoxy floors, but this was our first experience with polished concrete,” Mr. Ritter said. “We won’t hesitate to recommend polished concrete again on projects where appearance, performance and sustainability are the priorities.”

Reflectivity of polished concrete enhances illumination provided by daylighting and artificial sources at the Mechanical Systems viewing area in the new Donald V. Fites Engineering Innovation Center at Valparaiso University.

Location: Valparaiso UniversityProject: Floor installationArchitect: Design OrganizationContractor: Smock Fansler Corp., IndianapolisPROSOCO Products Used Consolideck® LS®

Consolideck® LSGuard®

Substrate: Concrete

courtesy Design Organization

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