Temporary Job Site Safety
Temporary Job Site Safety
In the masonry restoration industry we almost never have the luxury of working on unoccupied buildings. The job site is always at schools, condos, office, or church buildings. Buildings that have people living or working in them at all hours of the day. When working on buildings of this type, not only is the safety of the crew on our minds but the safety of the building occupants. Setting up temporary job site safety measures can accomplish both goals and even satisfy the government agencies that deal with safety from OSHA to the Fire Marshall.
Work area is just to the right of the doorway
Building Problems
First a little background information on the building. This building was built just over a 100 years ago. It used 16P finish nails as the brick ties. This is pretty common for the era. Over time if the building isn’t maintained water can get into the wall assembly. The roof leaks, caulking sealant breaks down and leaks, or the mortar joints weather to the point to allow water infiltration. Then either the brick ties rust, lintels rust and expand, or the freeze/thaw cycle starts moving the brick. Eventually what was once a very durable cladding becomes compromised and dangerous as the facade starts falling away from the building. A combination of these factors is what happened with this building. Water leaked in from the roof flashing and failed sealant, lintels over the basement windows rusted and expanded, and the brick was pushed up and out from the wall. Large gaps appeared around the window trim and more water at a faster rate infiltrated the assembly and accelerated the damage.
