How I Spent My Covid Vacation

My "Covid Vacation" began with parquetry floor repairs at the Eisenhower Building and an historic auditorium refinishing. Once these projects put me back in touch with my roots in antique furniture and musical instrument restoration, multiple opportunities for antique furniture repair materialized. The thread between these is the need to consider more than just aesthetics. In order for historic gems to last, sometimes we need to augment to strengthen original design flaws or mistakes made by other restorers. Longevity of the artwork and maintainability of finishes is equally crucial.

Carbon Fiber: From Woodwork to Masonry

This is part of larger series on carbon fiber (CF). If you are just joining this blog now, please take a moment to review the previous carbon fiber repair posts.   In initial attempts to determine which CF cloths and resins to use, we reviewed loads of technical literature. Too often though it was focused…

Carbon Fiber Repair for Historic Buildings, Woodwork, Part 2

Methods for carrying the load of deteriorated joist ends using carbon fiber "mittens", information about the carrying capacity increase with each ply of carbon fiber tape on a timber, and a means of extending timbers with grafted elements like glass after casting an acrylic tooth cap to fit the damaged end of a timber, all designed with the wide-ranging timber damage at the Menokin Ruin in mind, but applicable to many buildings for in-place supplemental strengthening.

Carbon Fiber Repair for Historic Buildings, Woodwork Part 1

An overview of carbon fiber uses for strengthening individual timbers or floor systems. Epoxy tape can be used to support weakened timbers, but with vacuum-forming carbon fiber cloth can be form-fit to the core of hollow timbers as well.

Carbon Fiber Repair for Historic Buildings, Intro

Stabilization with carbon fiber is a very cost-effective and preservation-oriented option for deteriorated building elements.

Matching mortars by recognizing the fractal nature of geology

Mortar matching is often seen as difficult to do, but once you understand that historic mortars primarily came from local sources, one need only look to the local geology including at roadside cuts to recognize the aggregates of a sand in their former condition. This is the wonder of the fractal nature of stone reduced to sand. And often the sand you seek is right beneath your feet!

Mortar ratios: How to measure void space in sand

The basic idea behind determining the void space in a sand is to determine the ratio of lime needed to adequately bind the sand without pushing the sand grains apart. In other words, how to make the strongest possible mortar by optimizing the lime portion.

The strength of mortar: an introduction to lime mortar

Covering the differences between hydraulic limes or cement and lime putty, this is a summary of the importance of pre-mixed mortar, proper hydration before and after installation, and compaction of lime putty-and-sand mortars.