Located in Ossining, NY, the Maryknoll Sisters Retirement Home is a four-story, 400 unit masonry complex with an interior courtyard and a distinctive masonry bell tower. Built in the 1930s, the masonry facade was showing signs of deterioration, and cracks had developed in the mortar. The owner turned to Structural Preservation Systems (SPS) to complete a comprehensive repair project that included brick re-pointing, as well as masonry, lintel and capstone replacement.

The first phase of the project involved the repair of 10,000 linear feet of mortar and brick cracks. What made this phase of the project challenging was the fact that approximately 30 years ago, many of these cracks were filled with caulk as a way to repair the cracks. Over the years, the caulk had turned to hard plastic and bonded to both the mortar joint and brick. In order to remove this caulk without damaging the existing mortar joint and bricks, SPS crews used a thin braided wire-wheel and developed a technique for using the wire-wheel that removed the caulk without damaging the surrounding brick or joint. This involved intricate hand-work and craftsmanship ... basically, if a worker hit a brick it would need to be replaced, increasing the total cost of the project. By using the proper tools and carefully executing the removal technique, SPS crews were able to remove the caulk while minimizing the damage to the existing brick and mortar joints.

The remainder of phase one included:

• Rebuilding large sections of the upper bell tower and repairing its unstable brick face
• Repairing and replacing all archways

The second phase of the repair project involved:

• Completing surface repairs of the bottom side of the masonry walkway
• Laying a liquid plastic walkway on the parapet walkway of the courtyard

Aside from the original scope of work, a SPS crewman, in partnership with the foreman for the general contractor, J.S. Mitchell & Sons, asked permission to repair a statue located in the courtyard. Both workers from SPS and J.S. Mitchell & Sons donated their spare time to repair and install the statue in its original location.

As the building was occupied during the entire project, it was crucial for SPS to erect safety barriers and signage in order to control access to the work area.  Additionally, noise and dust needed to be controlled not only in the work area, but throughout the entire complex.  Daily meetings were held between SPS and the property manager, and advance notice was given for all activities and movements so that the property manager could communicate these changes to residents.

Interestingly, not only did the building contain human residents, but the courtyard was home to several turtles. The turtles were of a rare breed and were placed in the courtyard over 40 years ago. SPS took extra precaution to make sure that the turtles were not disturbed during the entire project.