Job Description: deGruchy Masonry Restoration gave a bid 20 years before these photos were taken and lost winning the bid for the difference of $6000 to repoint this bell tower. Even though the job bids were all above 6 figures the difference of $6000 from our price to what was the winning bid only represented our premium of using the Saint-Astier Natural Hydraulic Lime and sand mix which we proposed. The fact is jobs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars are usually all about the labor and the scaffold cost and not the little increase to using a superior mortar blend that will yield a longer service life. Instead of taking our advice to use the more breathable, more malleable and more accurate replacement formula that would be suited for this application the church building committee decided to save the $6000 and allow the contractor to use the Portland cement Type N mortar that the contractor recommended and then did finally use in the repointing campaign 20 years before these photos. We don't blame the church building committee for accepting a lower bid from a reputable contractor. We dont even fault the contractor for using he mixes they were accustomed to using and thought was acceptable since there are publications that seem to support such mixes. This post is to show that we have, as a company, finally witnessed the full cycle of re-repair where repointing work using denser, stronger thus more brittle and less breathable mortar which is placed over top bedding mortar found to be soft and absorptive will fail prematurely. The bell tower moves slightly and the Type N Portland cement based mortar does not accommodate that movement. The water held back from subsequent rains, especially driving Nor-Easters, can now push water into newly opened fissures created when using brittle Portland Cement based Type N mortar as it cracked and opened up. This allowed the bedding mortar behind the pointing mortar to trap water then swell up since the water that cumulatively built up could not re-release to the atmosphere which resulted in moving out of position the stone units which were once sound and originally stayed put for the first 100 years of the towers existence. The current Building Committee were all ears on hearing how to attempt to install a better performing material that might yield more than a 100 year service life because the evidence proved that it would not be a good path to repeat what was done in the past and because the cost to re-repoint every 20 years is not something the church felt they could sustain in their budget.

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Job Images
Before	Before
Before	Before
Before	Before
During	During
During	During
During The copper finials which were damaged from lightening strikes were refurbished and the copper rods that now extend 12 inches above each of the four finials is completed grounded to create a lightening arrest system. The window frames were also refurbished and missing mill work reproduced in-house to complete the work needed while the scaffold was up.	During The copper finials which were damaged from lightening strikes were refurbished and the copper rods that now extend 12 inches above each of the four finials is completed grounded to create a lightening arrest system. The window frames were also refurbished and missing mill work reproduced in-house to complete the work needed while the scaffold was up.
After The same color of mortar was used to repoint the bell tower using Customized Ecologic Lime Mortar produced by LimeWorks.us. It may look the part of a mortar containing gray Portland cement but no Portland cement is present or required when using Ecologic Lime Mortar for applications such as this. The joint profile of a ruled raised ribbon was also recreated so that the work complemented the balance of the mortar used throughout all the church stonework. Caulk was removed from joints of the entry steps and replaced with Ecologic LimeCrete Ready-Mix mortar Customized which is engineered for durability in the service these horizontal applications will require for all anticipated snow and ice build up over the years to come.	After The same color of mortar was used to repoint the bell tower using Customized Ecologic Lime Mortar produced by LimeWorks.us. It may look the part of a mortar containing gray Portland cement but no Portland cement is present or required when using Ecologic Lime Mortar for applications such as this. The joint profile of a ruled raised ribbon was also recreated so that the work complemented the balance of the mortar used throughout all the church stonework. Caulk was removed from joints of the entry steps and replaced with Ecologic LimeCrete Ready-Mix mortar Customized which is engineered for durability in the service these horizontal applications will require for all anticipated snow and ice build up over the years to come.
After The same color of mortar was used to repoint the bell tower using Customized Ecologic Lime Mortar produced by LimeWorks.us. It may look the part of a mortar containing gray Portland cement but no Portland cement is present or required when using Ecologic Lime Mortar for applications such as this. The joint profile of a ruled raised ribbon was also recreated so that the work complemented the balance of the mortar used throughout all the church stonework. Caulk was removed from joints of the entry steps and replaced with Ecologic LimeCrete Ready-Mix mortar Customized which is engineered for durability in the service these horizontal applications will require for all anticipated snow and ice build up over the years to come.	After The same color of mortar was used to repoint the bell tower using Customized Ecologic Lime Mortar produced by LimeWorks.us. It may look the part of a mortar containing gray Portland cement but no Portland cement is present or required when using Ecologic Lime Mortar for applications such as this. The joint profile of a ruled raised ribbon was also recreated so that the work complemented the balance of the mortar used throughout all the church stonework. Caulk was removed from joints of the entry steps and replaced with Ecologic LimeCrete Ready-Mix mortar Customized which is engineered for durability in the service these horizontal applications will require for all anticipated snow and ice build up over the years to come.
During The copper finials which were damaged from lightening strikes were refurbished and the copper rods that now extend 12 inches above each of the four finials is completed grounded to create a lightening arrest system. The window frames were also refurbished and missing mill work reproduced in-house to complete the work needed while the scaffold was up.

Customer Comment:

It was a pleasure to work with the entire crew! Charlie made sure we, the church, received a first rate job! The pointing looks great!!

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