Q: I have an old brownstone house and some of the stone have been falling off, what can I do to prevent further damage and fix the damage that has already occurred?
A: When you have brownstone deterioration or any form of stone deterioration and want it to stop, you have to first identify the root cause. Sometimes it’s as simple as replacing downspouts or replacing roof flashing, to prevent further damage to the stone. Other times it can be a long complicated series of tests and empirical analysis. Depending on the cause of the deterioration of the brownstone, several solutions can be applied.
If the stone is only sugaring or sanding with light deterioration, then perhaps doing nothing for maybe a year and watching the stone for further deterioration is sufficient. However, if the stone is in much worse shape with possibly a ¼ inch or more of stone loss, then some could be some very serious problems with the integrity of the stone.
Brownstone as with many different types of sandstone has bedding planes. These bedding planes in the stone tend to detach from one another depending on how the stone was laid on the wall. Imagine a layered cake as the stone, with each layer on top of the other. If the stone cake is put on its side there is a greater chance that moisture can get between the layers and cause delimitation and or exfoliation. This is a common problem associated with sandstone, a more detailed resource for classifying the type of stone loss you may have can be found here.
It is always recommended that when fixing damage to stone a qualified professional be brought out to see what the damage is and come up with an appropriate course of action. There are many different ways to approach fixing a stone like whether consolidation is appropriate is an appropriate first step or not. In my eyes, it is always best to honor the original detail of the stone and the artisan who created it by only fixing what is broken. When patching stonework an important approach is to make sure that appropriate sympathetic patching materials are used. (Lithomex) The use of impermeable materials can cause further deterioration of the stone by trapping moisture. This will result in a faulty patch that can accelerate the deterioration of the adjacent stone.
Brownstone with Water damage
Brownstone Repaired with Lithomex
