A Job From a Year Ago

When I was with the family company we had an exterior paint job which called for some renovative attention to tall wooden columns. We also got to try our hand at re-pointing some of the stone foundation and brick.

The house is a large "Four Square" that had been remodelled with the consultation of a local architect, but previous work before the present owners had moved in included the salvage of and incorporation of some tall wooden columns that graced the entryway of the old Red Cross Building where it stood on 8th Street in Pueblo, Colorado. They suported a pediment like a portico in an unusual two-storey accomodation.

Abatron wood consolidant and epoxy filler was used. This spring I was called back to put pidgeon spikes up because they were nesting under the eaves on the drainspouts. They were ruining our paint job! They seemed to be expanding out from a tall church about a block south. This seemed to be the second best hospitable place. (Pigeons are color-blind, so I'm not sure it had anything to do with new color scheme.) That's when I finally got to take pictures of the finish. Only minor touch up was needed. A little expansion and contraction was exhibited.
(After consulting with the owner about where the column top and bottom traditionally broke as a unit I painted the scotia and torus the green color. He prefered it as above. I would have painted those the limestone color.)

I found only one quibble with the architect about a blind return on the northeast side of the garage. Even with a drain and downspout that is only a couple feet away from the corner there must be a problem with snow getting caught inside the nook made there, which freezes and thaws until it overflows down the brick, causing water damage to the paint. It can't be much better on the brick and mortar. This will be a re-curring problem until it is remedied.

Here it is in detail.

My father ran into some damage up top when concidering the chimneys. After a little consultation with the client we then re-pointed them.