Special bricks present special problems for the Berman & Simmons project.
LEWISTON
The bricks are one-of-a-kind, so the renovations are as well.
The facade of the Osgood Building – a brilliant white among a sea of red brick and granite on Lisbon Street – is getting spruced up. Scaffolding and construction drapes have shrouded the building for the past few weeks while work progresses.
Now home to the Berman & Simmons law firm, the building was built in 1893. It’s listed on the Register of National Historic Places.
The brick, which came from Leeds, England, has a unique white enamel tile on the exterior-facing side. The enamel is a mixed blessing: While it lends the building its very distinctive facade, it also makes it vulnerable to damage.
“Moisture gets behind the enamel facade, freezes and then portions of the enamel pop off,” said John Sedgewick, managing partner at Berman & Simmons, which specializes in personal injury law. He said small chunks of the facade started breaking off and falling to the ground; the firm decided to get the facade repaired before the chunks got any larger.
But that hasn’t proved an easy task. Sedgewick said Mike Hebert, of Hebert Construction, searched throughout the United States, Canada and Europe trying to find a replacement brick.
“Apparently they don’t make brick like this anymore,” said Sedgewick.
So they went with Plan B. Damaged Masonry Technicians of Lewiston designed and made a replacement brick. To imitate the white enamel tile, they used a high-gloss acrylic coating.
“When it’s done you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference,” said Tim Allen, foreman of the DMT crew.
Allen has been doing masonry work for the past 13 years, but this project is a first for him. Because of the fragility of the enamel, the damaged bricks have to replaced very carefully. Four or five holes are hand drilled into each damaged brick, then a chipper is inserted into the holes. The vibrations of the chipper cause the old brick to crumble. The resulting space is cleaned out and a new brick is inserted in its place.
The crew is also replacing mortar on the four-story building with a special mortar mix that’s intended to prevent a recurrence of the problem. Additionally, the whole facade will be finished with a special waterproof coating.
Sedgewick hopes it does the trick. The owners did facade work on the building in 1991 and hoped they wouldn’t need to make repairs again so soon. This time, the law firm has applied for some of the city’s facade restoration grant money. The project should cost about $100,000.
Because of the complexity of the restoration work, no one is quite sure when it will be done. Sedgewick hopes it will be before the bad weather sets in.
“And I hope we won’t have to do it again in 12 years,” he added with a smile.
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