FOB #6 EXTERIOR LIMESTONE FACADE REPAIR
By: John Baker, Project Manager
This project involves repairing the exterior limestone facade at Federal Office Building #6 in Washington, DC. This seven-story building located on the corner of Maryland Avenue and C Street, SW is home to the U.S. Department of Education. The building has experienced some degradation of the limestone over the years, most noticeably above and below the windows from the second floor to the sixth—all of these stones are being replaced. The limestone between the windows will stay in place. This has created some challenges in matching new stone to old stone. The new stone that is cut smooth at the plant has to be artificially weathered to achieve the proper texture.
Instead of tube scaffold, a Fraco scaffold system that uses hydraulic lifts to raise and lower a platform is being used to keep masons at the perfect working height at all times (see recent photo above). Prior to any of the exterior stone removal, specialized brackets are installed supporting the limestone pieces that are to remain between all windows at each floor. In order to minimize the disturbance to the Department of Education, most of the work takes place at night.
Current Status
Hydraulic scaffold has been erected fully on one-half of the building. Stone replacement is ongoing in one area; specialty joint sealants are being applied in another section and stone patching is taking place in yet a third section. The entire South and East sides of the building are usually full of activity during the night as a small army of tradesmen perform their work around the building. In addition to these activities, the building is being cleaned with a proprietary, non-acidic cleaner to remove years of dirt and grime.
What's Next?
The Department of Education is having a special decommissioning ceremony for the last two “schoolhouses” that are located at the north side of the building (see photo below). The “schoolhouses” were actually built to protect people from falling debris as they enter the building, but have become an iconic symbol with the motto “No Child Left Behind” proudly displayed on each one. One of the schoolhouses will be saved and placed in the courtyard to help identify this building as home to the Department of Education.
The project is scheduled for completion in Fall 2008.
Date Posted: May 21, 2008