How to make a modern rowhome look historicOnce in a while, right in the middle of a historic neighborhood we walk right past a new building which looks a lot like a historic building. The building in the photos below is entirely modern, not just a historic building with a few modern details. It was entirely rebuilt in modern times. It’s not entirely uncommon. There are buildings like this, with modern brick kind of disguised as a historic building, sometimes people walk right past them and hardly notice, but they are different. If you pay close attention though, the differences are quite obvious. The side facade at the alley is made from CMU blocks. CMU stands for concrete masonry unit and is the technical name for what lay people refer to as cinder block. Adding Cinder Block For The LookThis cinder block wall could be painted a red brick color or any other color and that would slightly hide the cement gray color, to an extent. The side-by-side view of the front facade brick and the side facade cinder block is shown below, up close. There is a stark contrast, And everything about this combination looks extremely modern, and not necessarily good. The cinder block, by itself looks industrial and simple. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, it’s a very plain architectural aesthetic that you commonly see in warehouses or industrial buildings where visual value or interest are not part of the programmatic concerns of the building design or construction. That’s not what you expect though in a residential rowhome in an urban area such as Washington DC or the historic cities of the East Coast of the United States of America where land is or should be coveted or at least simply valued. Urban land was once filled with the potential of the strength and power embodied in the cities of America, before the self-imposed economic blight of the late 20th century and its long lasting residual effects. There are several different types of struck finishes that can be applied to a mortar joint with a striker tool. It’s not actually a trowel that applies the shape to the mortar joint. The actual tool used in generally much smaller, with a profile built into the edge of the tool, to apply the profile to the mortar joints. How To Lay The Brick WorkHistoric buildings were generally built with brick which was laid and finished with a flush joint, in most cases. Lined or grapevine joints such as the one shown below were not that common in historic brickwork around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in Washington, DC. A separate or related topic is commonly considered among historic building owners and restoration and restoration and repointing or tuck pointing contractors related to the type of Joiner to be used for restoration. Some people choose to use a bucket handle joint, also referred to as a concave joint. That type of joint is extremely common in track homes built with hollow face bricks. The grapevine joint in the mortar of the brick below is also so sloppily applied that it accentuates the poor craftsmanship. You can see the inconsistency in the tooling, It actually makes the joinery of the brick itself look worse than it actually is. It highlights or underscores the inconsistency or actually makes it look like there’s more inconsistency between the height of the bed joint of the mortar then there actually is in reality. The application of this grapevine joint is an extreme disservice to the aesthetic or architectural value or finish of the building. In modern times, there’s a major push to build housing cheaply, and this is an example of an attempt to create an artifice to make a building look like something it isn’t: well-built. Tract homes are often built with just a single wythe skin of brick on the exterior side of the front wall assembly. Unlike the grapevine joint shown below, the typical joint for track homes is a concave or bucket handle which is just a slightly recessed radius that enters from the front of the brick into the wall area in the middle of the joint. Applying Mortar JointsThis type of joint is also commonly used on historic brick when the brick is being restored or repointed, but it’s not necessarily historically accurate. In fact a flush joint was much more historically accurate in the Capitol Hill, Georgetown, and Dupont circle areas of Washington DC when the rohomes or historic buildings were built over a 100 years ago. The picture below shows a close up of the perpend mortar joint at the head joint between 2 bricks. The joint itself is almost cleanly applied, the grapevine recess runs almost in the middle of the joint space, but the bed joint was struck after the prepend, which is common and this left a globule of mortar at the top and bottom of the perpendicular joint. The picture below shows the example of a gun-applied sealant between the block at the left end and the clay brick at the right in the photo. Gun applied sealants are required at planar joints between masonry. In this particular case, the brick stands slightly proud of the adjacent block work. Planar joints in masonry will normally crack because of pressure differentials in the thermal expansion of differential planes of masonry. This is not actually a problem, it has no negative implications about the quality of the masonry work. It’s actually natural for block work, brick work, stone work, and even concrete to crack at planar joints. In fact, provisions are normally required and part of the design to allow for cracking and even control the cracking. And this particular case, there is no expansion joint, but the intentional difference in termination and the application of the gun applied sealant allows for control of that natural cracking. Modern Window Header Made To Look HistoricEven though this is modern construction and has a steel lintel embedded behind the exposed portion of the brickwork, they took a little bit of an extra effort to make the modern window header look a little bit like a historic segmented arch. Historically though, when set in a soldier course, the brick would often be a squint brick, tapered to fit the self supporting element of the archway. Historically though, when set in a soldier course, the brick would often be a squint brick, tapered to fit the self supporting element of the archway. Another detail that is immediately obvious and in stark contrast to historic building methodology is that this particular building has a gable roof. A gable roof is a sloped roof, more sloped than a typical low slope or flat roof Washington DC or typical in historic rowhomes. Even flat roofs are not actually flat, they always have some slope or should always be designed and built to have a minimal slope of at least 1/4 inch per linear foot, but in the case of this particular roof, it appears to be close to a 2.5-12 or 3-12 roof. That is a relatively low slope, but it’s more slope than what would be classified as a low slope or flat roof. In fact shingles can be installed on roofs that are over 2.5-12 or 3-12. The picture below shows the gable side of the roof with a rake board running down below the bottom edge of the roof at the top of the cinder block alley side wall. Immediately, when you look at the building, it looks like it just doesn’t fit. It’s very uncommon to see gable roofs on the sides of historic rowhomes or historic buildings in urban environments and it’s also very uncommon to see a protruding rakeboard running down from a gable center at the top of a cinder block wall. Exposed cinder block, in almost all applications is used for non-residential buildings, not homes. And this gable roofs are almost exclusive to residential homes, mosy in the suburbs or countryside. So these type of materials and building configurations just don’t fit together in an intuitive type of way. How Roof Gutters Are InstalledThe next picture below, shows a gutter petruding from the eave at the top of the front facade of the building. This is also an element that is almost never seen in historic rowhomes or historic classical building construction. There are other elements such as built-in gutters or water tables that are common on elegant front facades of city buildings, but it’s rare to see an applied K-style, modern and cheap looking aluminum at the top of a historic-looking building facade. And although this particular facade does not really pull off the artifice of looking historic, you can tell that the intention was to replicate the elements of a historic building so this is a very poor mismatch of qualities and visual characteristics. With the grapevine joint applied so sloppy at the oversized motor joints at the front facade, the brickwork looks like a poor imitation or application and the rusting modern light fixture, not even old enough to justify a patina, makes the overall aesthetic look like a complete architectural failure which detracts from the beauty and value of our city. How To Maintain Historic RowhomesTo properly maintain, repair, and care for these historic buildings, a knowledge, interest and understanding of historic building principles is required. Here in Washington DC, historic masonry buildings are extremely expensive and the amount of financial loss caused by improper repointing and low quality construction is staggering. However, in addition to the direct financial value of the property, there is also a cultural loss when historic buildings are damaged. By comparison, consider neighboring poor cities, when historic buildings are damaged, it’s not just the loss of value to the property owner, there’s also a loss to all inhabitants and visitors of a city, present and future, who care about architecture, history, and culture. We encourage all of our clients, and all readers of this article and to our blog in general, to prioritize the historic built environment of Washington DC and neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, and Georgetown and become educated on on the difference between proper historic preservation versus improper work which leads to significant damage to the historic fabric of a building. From a conservation and preservation perspective, several approaches can be taken to improve conditions related to deteriorated historic brick masonry. Primarily, lime mortar brick joints and low temperature fired soft red clay bricks should be inspected and checked on a routine maintenance schedule, either seasonally or at least annually. If brick masonry is kept in good condition, the life of embedded wood elements can be significantly extended. Hire a professional contractor which specializes, understands and appreciates historic construction elements and buildings. In this article we talked about the terminology and concepts of historic masonry restoration, follow the links below for more related information from the IDS website:
These concepts are part of the fundamentals of historic masonry restoration, tuckpointing, and brick repair. The links in the list above will take you to other articles with more information on defects, failures, preservation and repair of historic masonry. You can learn a lot more on our blog. Feel free to check it out. If you have questions about the historic masonry of your building in Washington DC, fill out the webform below and drop us a line. We will be in touch if we can help. <p>The post Modern Rowhomes Made To Look Historic first appeared on Infinity Design Solutions.</p> Via https://www.ids-dmv.com/masonry/modern-rowhomes-made-to-look-historic/
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About UsInfinity Design Solutions LLC (IDS) is a full service general contracting company in the heart of the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. We focus on repair and renovation of buildings and facilities in both historic designated neighborhoods and the commercial-zoned central business district of the city. Follow Us
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