We are leaders in the industry of Terra Cotta Restoration, repairing and maintaining Terra Cotta structures. Managing the complicated and time sensitive process of procuring replacement terra cotta for high end restoration projects is a big part or our expertise. We work with terra cotta producers including Gladding McBean and Boston Valley,  also, we work extensively with Edison Coatings, a manufacturer of specialty products related to the this industry. 

For more information about terra cotta buildings see Preservation Brief 7

http//www.nps.gov/history/tps/briefs/brief07.htm

We love stonework. Our stone carvers and fabricators are some of the best in their field, whether you need repairs, alterations, dutchman’s or complete additions.  Do you need replacement cut stone for your project?  Do you know what stone it is? Don't worry - we probably do. We have developed an extensive network of information from historic archives and just plain hard work searching on the ground.

Replacement stone was needed for the Ritz Carlton Residences project at 690 Market - the original Chronicle Building. This stone was uncommon, and nobody involved knew what stone it was or where it originally came from. Our team went to work on the matter and uncovered the long closed Sespe Quarry in a canyon on a private ranch in southern California. We forged a relationship with the land owner and he agreed to sell us stone. We then identified suitable 15,000 to 30,000 pound boulders in the canyon that we could get to. Three 70,000 pound truckloads were needed. Our fabricator re-created approximately 1,000 new pieces from the boulders - many hand carved to replicate missing originals. Our craftsmen and women assembled the new stones as they rebuilt the lower Market Street Facade.

We did this very same thing, developing a relationship with the owner of the land at the long ago closed Colusa Quarry. This stone was used extensively in the early 1900's on prominent San Francisco buildings. It clads The Ferry Building, 400 Montgomery, The Flood Building, The Westin St. Francis Hotel, the Temple of Music Bandshell at Golden Gate Park, walls and gates at Presidio, the Disney Museum at Presidio, and many other major structures and grand residences. You will see several of these buildings on our project page.

Exposed historic brick is a popular, contemporary treatment in both residential and commercial historic interiors. As older brick warehouses and manufacturing plants are converted to high-end spaces designers and their clients often choose to let the historic interior brick walls be the final finish. This same trend is taking hold at masonry high-rise buildings during renovations and tenant improvement projects. Many of these steel frame masonry clad buildings have (potentially) beautiful brick walls hiding behind furred-out plaster and sheet rock interior walls. At buildings like the historic AT&T tower at 140 New Montgomery, and the historic Russ building down the street, original applied wall finishes are being removed and the interior brick walls are being exposed as the finished architectural treatment. Fortunate occupants of these spaces love the look and feel of their spaces.

Often the walls need some work. The original masons often were not so careful setting the bricks as they were never intended to be a high-end architectural finish. Also many have been painted, plastered over and sometimes are just old and deteriorating in a normal way for their age.

While needed brick repair and refurbishment work can be expensive the alternative cost of furring out these walls can be credited toward the brick repair work netting a reasonable cost for ending up with such a high end and desirable exposed historic brick finish.

Giampolini Courtney has done many such projects for clients all over the City including the newly renovated Koret Foundation headquarters on Battery Street in the Old McArthur Park Restaurant space, and at floors in both the Russ Building, Hearst Building, and the historic AT&T building at 140 New Montgomery. 

Click here to see Secretary of the Interior Standard for Rehabilitation - Removing Interior Plaster to Expose Brick.

http://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/applying-rehabilitation/its-bulletins/ITS05-ExposedBrick.pdf

A wise man once said "There are two kinds of concrete. Concrete that is cracked - and concrete that is going to crack".

If not well maintained, (and sometimes even if well maintained) cracks in concrete lead to moisture penetration, and rusting of embedded reinforcing steel. This progresses to rust-jacking, and spalling. (hunks of concrete falling out of the wall). 

The repair work is referred to as spall repair. It is expensive, dusty, and noisy. Many unqualified contractors profess to know how to do it. We have seen so many jobs done wrong by others and failures occurred in short order.

We have extensive history and experience doing spall repair. We take no shortcuts. We work with top consultants, architects, engineers and material producers and stay current with developments in technology. 

Mike Courtney is a member of ICRY - International Concrete Repair Institute

http://www.icri.org

Mortar is the sacrificial component in a masonry wall. It is weaker than the masonry units by design - or at least it should be. But if mortar is too strong it will transfer forces against the edges and will damage the masonry.

All mortar joints will eventually require repointing. Early in the life of a building, only miscellaneous repointing is required. Later in a buildings life all mortar joints will need to be repointed (replaced).

An excellent and informative article on the subject - Preservation Brief #2, published by National Park Service, can be found here: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief02.htm 

Silica dust is a byproduct of cutting out joints and in this state silica can be very dangerous.  Workers, building residents, tenants,  and the public must be protected from exposure to silica dust. We recently invested $100,000 in a transportable, state of the art, air movement, filtering and dust collection system. We will not do major repointing work without this system on your project. When searching for a qualified contractor to perform repointing, be sure to ask them how they will control the dust generated during the mortar joint cutting process. 

As the 20th century masonry buildings in the bay area age, we are seeing more and more brick and other masonry material developing cracks due to oxide jacking. This occurs when steel corrodes; it expands and pushes all masonry out of plane and allows water to infiltrate the masonry and accelerate the problem.   Essentially the corroding steel acts like a hydraulic jack, pushing the masonry apart.  This occurrence developed due to the introduction of buried steel into masonry buildings in the 20th Century.

In some of these situations where anchors are rusted through, and masonry is pushing off the wall, frame elements, columns and floor beams, life-safety hazards are present and they should not be ignored, especially walls over public areas: window opening headers, columns, corners and other areas.  There are short term fixes including sealing cracks, adding pins etc.  Eventually the conditions worsen and the assemblies must come apart to expose the problem and get to the root of the matter. These projects are very challenging as they often occur at occupied buildings over public sidewalks and streets.  Typically there is a need for matching replacement brick and other masonry materials to the original as close as possible, however, the historic material is not commonly available.  The catalog of photos you see here and on our projects map page illustrates the story of our extensive experience and abilities in this highly specialized work discipline.  

All building owners want their building to look its best. Most every building gets routine scheduled window cleaning. The dirt that accumulates otherwise is obvious, and builds up fast, even on the slick glass surfaces. The other components of the wall, especially masonry, accumulate the same dirt, maybe even more because these surfaces are usually rough and porous. Consider giving your building a wash next time you plan a window washing program. If your building has a "house rig" scaffold, or your window washing vendor brings in suspended scaffold for the washing, take advantage of the cost economies of working in a cleaning program for the entire building, while this expensive access equipment is already planned to be on site.

Most buildings have not been cleaned at regular intervals, and as a result, many have deep set stains that are hard or nearly impossible to remove without causing damage. There are many specialty cleaning products available in the market, from mild to very harsh, and some are potentially damaging to glass, architectural metal, paint and even the masonry. We always test to assure we are using the gentlest means possible and also have some tricks and proprietary methods of our own that are very effective at cleaning and also cost effective. 

For further information about cleaning of historic buildings see the Preservation Brief #1 on the topic of cleaning and water repellants.

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief01.htm

What is the life expectancy of the sealant on your building? Sealants have come a long way in the last 40 years, but even modern buildings being re-sealed, or sealed for the first time will require regular maintenance and resealing over the life of the buildings. We see buildings constructed in the 1960s and 70s where original sealant is still intact and performing. These sealants are typically early versions of Thiokols, Polysulfide’s and Urethane’s. It is however uncommon for sealants to last 40+ years, even the modern silicones. With the best intentions of manufacturers and installers,  early 1970's sealants failed within 2 to 3 years of application, and on some noteworthy buildings. Most sealants of that era, however, lasted roughly 10-15 years.

Mike Courtney has an extensive history in managing re-cuaulking projects on major high rise buildings, both while at another company and at Giampolini/Courtney. Mike has managed million dollar plus re-caulk projects on the Transmerica Pyramid, PG&E Headquarters at 77 Beale. 50 Fremont Street, Hills Plaza, 450 Sutter Street, Embarcadero Centers, Crocker Plaza and others. While Giampolini/Courtney is currently better known for masonry restoration work, please consider taking advantage of our expertise and service offerings in the remedial sealant construction market. 

Assisting architects and engineers with facade condition surveys is a service we provide.  Arranging lifts and scaffolding required for access allows us to make careful forensic exploration openings and salvage original fabric when possible. We can lend our experience to the design team, assuring problems are found, identified, and most importantly properly quantified in the design phase -  to minimize unanticipated conditions and cost impacts during construction. Our goal is to prevent change orders. If accurate and thorough surveys are produced and budgets and pricing are based on what is real, then change orders will not occur in the construction phase. 

Maintaining the integrity of our built heritage requires the skills of our conservation artisans who specialize in providing care for historic fabric, artworks, statuary, artifacts, gold leaf, etc.  We have performed sensitive conservation cleaning of grand stone altars, statuary, lighting, and artisan finish walls and ceilings in Churches, Cathedrals and historic public buildings such as courthouses, city halls and notable Carnegie libraries. 

We have performed complete building window replacements with high quality matches on many buildings including 1090 Chestnut San Francisco, San Francisco City Hall Dome, Serrano Hotel, Placer County Courthouse and 450 Sutter Street. Our window refurbishment work includes 1090 Chestnut, Wheeler and Bowels Halls UC Berkeley, Mills Building, 600 Townsend,  Hasting School of Law and many others. When the replacement windows are being considered and Commission approval is required it is best to choose a company that has been through the Preservation Commission approval process and is familiar with the requirements.

In partnership with the Painting Division of Giampolini & Co. we offer a complete range of painting restoration services, including historic faux, gold leaf and stenciling, conventional exterior painting and waterproof coatings, as well as interior painting and custom wall finishes.

We have extensive experience in repair of historic plaster and cast stone surfaces. Plaster is a common finish in older buildings and was typically applied over a brick or concrete structure wall to dress up and create ornament and architectural style and details. Often joints were struck in the work to simulate the look of stone - known as rusticated plaster.  Project photos show examples of work we have performed in this discipline. 

Recently, we have impressed Stanford University with our abilities to match new repairs to very old existing plaster finishes at several noteworthy buildings on the campus.  They include Hoover Tower, Encina Hall and Stanford Memorial Church. Our craftsmen have the specialty skills and old world craftsmanship knowledge required to successfully carry out such work. This knowledge is no longer common in the plastering industry, as these types of projects are rare, and as old timer artisans leave the trade through attrition. Our focus is on plaster restoration and repair, not new construction plaster work (a very different skill-set). We perform many such jobs every year. As a result our best craftspeople are able to keep their skills sharp and in demand, and we are able to expose and train new craftsmen in this area to keep the old world of craft alive and thriving.

In addition to our many specialty contractors licenses we also hold a State of California type B General Contractors License. On approximately half of the projects we perform we are the prime general contractor working directly for owners and their agents. Typically this is on select projects when the majority of the work is work we self perform, but there are also other minor components and other sub-trades involved to complete the work. When the work we typically self perform is a majority of the work to be done, it makes sense for us to take a lead role as prime contractor. We have relationships with many sub-contractors in various trades including: concrete & formwork, sheet metal, plumbing, roofing, carpentry, and of course our own painting, metal framing and drywall businesses, etc. Our expert project management staff and communication skills will get the job done on time and on budget.

We highly value our strong relationships and project partnerships with all of the general contractors we work with on a regular basis. The last thing we ever want to do is harm these relationships or imply we want to compete with them at any level. 

Expansion Joint Systems

Traffic Coatings

Wall Coatings

Sealants

Wet Seal

Clear Sealers

At your request, we can share our experience and assist you with:

• Evaluation of facade conditions

• Advice and budgeting for long term maintenance and capitol project programs

• Assist with due diligence facade inspections that typically take place with ownership changes

We have seen many of these inspections go wrong, where problems are not detected, when an otherwise brilliant professional inspector may not be so familiar with the issues many historic masonry buildings have.  Typically, we will offer our initial evaluation at no cost. When special access equipment is required we may request compensation for cost of equipment and related survey items. We will put you in touch with professional Architectural and Engineering Consulting firms when there is need for such associated services.  We are also happy to show you Budget Package examples of work we have done for many of our good and prospectable customers. 

When initiating a capitol plan to address known issues many of our clients choose to assemble a team that includes an owner representative, design consultants and a contractor all working together to determine the appropriate scope and fix at the most economical cost. These projects typically have a very successful outcome for all, especially the owner, where most of their money goes to fund the work rather than a costly bid process. Of course, we hope to be considered as your contractor choice.