Location
Edgewood, Ky.
Project
new construction cleaning and weatherproofing
Architect
Cole + Russell Architects, Cincinnati
General contractor
Pilot Contracting Corp., Erlanger, Ky.
Masonry contractor
Weisbrod Masonry, Cincinnati
Weatherproofing contractor
Mirage Caulking Company, Cincinnati
Substrate
brick, block, manufactured stone, precast concrete
Products Used
Sure Klean® Custom Masonry Cleaner
Sure Klean® Weather Seal Siloxane PD
Supplier
Advance Building Products, Cincinnati
Cleaned and protected with PROSOCO products, the Edgewood, Ky., Municipal Building features brick, block, cast stone and precast concrete.
--photo courtesy of Mark Williams, Specialty Materials Inc.
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Profile
Municipal Building, Edgewood, Ky.
Edgewood, Kentucky’s new 42,000 square-foot Municipal Building has a full city government under one roof—Administration, Public Safety, City Council, Police Department and EMS/Fire Department.
The town of about 9,400 is located in Northern Kentucky, not far from the Ohio and Indiana state lines.
The Municipal Building’s masonry exterior is nearly as varied as the organizations within. It features red and gray brick, cream-colored architectural block and off-white cast stone and precast concrete.
“We chose these materials for their durability, as well as their contribution to the building’s ‘modern Prairie Style’ appearance,” commented David Johnson, project architect with Cole + Russell Architects, in nearby Cincinnati.
Block banding separates the first and second stories of the two-story-and-basement building. Block also sees use at the building’s base.
Sills and trim are manufactured stone, while water tables and smaller bands are precast concrete.
A green metal low-slope roof with large eaves completes the Prairie Style effect.
Workers from Weisbrod Masonry, Cincinnati, began building the masonry, cast stone and concrete exterior in early 2005, finishing in September of that year.
As the masons completed each wall, they washed away small smears of excess mortar and minimal efflorescence from fall and winter rains with Sure Klean® Custom Masonry Cleaner, said Nick Weisbrod, company president.
“We let each wall cure for about four or five days before cleaning,” he said. “Build and clean one wall at a time—we did the whole project that way.”
The crew diluted the Custom Masonry Cleaner one part product to six parts clean water. It was applied “the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Weisbrod recalled—with bucket and brush.
He explained that the crews brushed on the cleaner after pre-wetting the walls with garden hoses. After a short dwell, they used the same hoses to rinse the spent cleaner and dissolved soiling from the wall.
“We spent 3 to 5 minutes rinsing each 50-square-foot section we cleaned,” he said. “A good rinse is important.”
Working through three seasons, Weisbrod Masonry built and cleaned 14,500 square feet of brick, 5,000 square feet of block and about 1,500 to 2,000 square feet of precast and cast stone.
At the Municipal Building’s May 20 open house, visitors walked through the arched masonry entrance to tour the newly minted building.
In addition to offices, meeting rooms and city council chambers, they saw firefighter training areas, dormitories, and apparatus bays with enough space for eight fire engines and EMS vehicles. Tour-goers also saw the prisoner-processing and evidence-storage areas for the Edgewood police.
“This building does so much,” said Mr. Johnson. “That’s one of my favorite things about it.”
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