Los Angeles, Los Angeles County,
California, USA
This classic brick and terra cotta facade was in serious need of cleaning and repairs due to deferred maintenance and rusting of the internal steel anchors. The project also required glazed terra cotta replication to replace damaged units.
Earthquake damage began the long process of decay and failure of the decorative terra cotta trim at the lower floors, and when moisture was able to seep in through the cracks left from multiple seismic events, it caused the expansion of internal steel anchors and severe damage to the historic veneer of the building. We restrained falling terra cotta pieces as a unit by stabilizing them with stainless steel ‘staples’ and epoxy, then dismantled and removed the damaged terra cotta. Any terra cotta that was damaged beyond repair was replicated with GFRC units, using molds taken from the original building. We coated them in epoxy-based paint to match the original cleaned glaze appearance.
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