“The whole condo crisis has been a boon to the masonry claddings because they have a proven performance,” he said.

Masonry claddings lost popularity to less expensive alternatives, as they demand a rain screen system.

New standards embedded in building codes now make those systems mandatory making masonry claddings “cost competitive” plus bringing longevity and reliability to the table, said McEwan.

Builders are finding that a brick wall, using a traditional 3.5-inch brick, provides a dense barrier against moisture and has traditionally included a cavity that wicks away moisture before it strikes interior walls.

“What we found when we looked at the buildings that had leaky condo problems, almost none were with masonry claddings,” he said, adding that providing that escape cavity behind the brick wall is something that the masonry industry has done for 70-80 years.

Many masonry tradesmen also recommend a cavity that is larger than set out in building codes.

McEwan said that water essentially has to move past multiple guards to penetrate.

Bricks can be treated with a water repellant, a first line of defense.

The brick and mortar density is also a deterrent to water penetration as well as the cavity that drains water away.

Finally, there is the rain screen.

If the rain screen is over concrete, there is a further line of defense.

“California stucco was put onto buildings and it really caused the leaky condos,” said Robert Skujins owner of Dunbar Masonry, which has been in business since l955.

He applauded the return to tried and true masonry methods.

“Stucco was cheaper, but it sprung leaks and then it cost a fortune to rebuild these buildings,” he said.

“Now, everyone is going back to brick.”

Many building owners, who are especially interested in quality and durability, are opting for brick facings.

Dunbar today focuses on restoration work with much in the Yaletown and Gastown areas.

“Those buildings – the first in Vancouver – are now l00 and 125 years old,” he said, adding their brick construction is why they have endured, as many masonry structures have in Europe.

“A lot of the brick came over as ballast of ships from Scotland,” he said.

“It’s kind of neat – you pull a building apart and you find old bricks made in Scotland.”

He’s also found other items – old newspapers in walls and drinking cups.

Dunbar recently worked on the Reiner Hotel, at 309 Carrall St., which won an award for one of the Best Heritage Restorations in Vancouver by the Vancouver Heritage Committee on April 11.

The owners are B.C. Housing, with project manager Mariam Petrosian and heritage architect Barry McGinn.

Institutional buildings, concerned with longevity, have traditionally used brick or masonry products, said Eric Sigurdson of Dominion Masonry.

“Nearly every building out there (at UBC) has a major portion of it,” he said, adding that commercial structures are also turning to masonry. “It is also the aesthetic look of masonry,” he said.

Se:math (Sumas) Clay Products, a First Nations venture, has nitched into the market offering specialty items, such as bricks with a native motif or a corporate logo.

Other suppliers like B.C. Brick offer a wider range.

Rick Miller, a B.C. Brick Supplies partner, said there is a tendency today to use different colors of brick in “banding” or mixing up the colors. Today, most brick arrive from Washington, rather than Alberta, which once had a thriving brick industry.

Still the product hasn’t changed.

“It’s the same brick we are using today that has been around for 100 years,” Miller said adding that only the construction requirements have changed, such as more sophisticated tiebacks.

McEwan said the Institute has developed technical information on masonry applications and also now provides a guide for designing and drawing masonry walls on its website. The technical manual is available at www.masonrybc.org

Original Article: http://www.joconl.com/article/id44239/buildingenvelope

Improvement projects in the yard? The landscaping pictures (both plant photos and pictures illustrating landscaping ideas) offered here will give novices direction and should provide food for thought even for more seasoned DIY enthusiasts.

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By Christy L. Bonstell

There isn’t much that Robert Skujins doesn’t like about what he does. For more than 30 years, his company Dunbar Masonry & Construction Ltd., has served the masonry needs of Vancouver. “My brother used to have a company that did chimney repair, and I bought it off him,”he says. “Then I started to do my own work.”

And he has done it ever since. It wasn’t long after Skujins bought his brother’s business that he hired a masonry repair specialist from England, leading the company to take on repairs as its main focus.

“What happened was the residential construction out here started to change, and we found that the commercial market was very, very tight,” Skujins says. “A lot of
homeowners here in the west side of Vancouver have old stone houses that need fixing. We ended up doing a lot of stonework and specialty repairs. We did a lot of chimney
repairing, and we cleaned chimneys. We blended that all together, and our crew grew to be able to do a little bit of everything. We were able to keep busy because we were
able to do a lot of different things.”

Skujins and his crew of 14-20 (depcnding on the weather) diversify their work, handling small jobs, like fixing a fireplace, and large ones, like renovating a building, all with the same fervor. “We also do a lot of old buildings where we recondition them,” he adds. “The fellows have a lot of experience in building and rebuilding, so when
we get a job reconditioning an old building – there’s a lot of old buildings out here – pretty [much] the whole downtown corridor is being cleaned up. The buildings are
fairly old, and the government is spending a lot of money to repair [them]. It puts us in a very competitive mode. We sort of specialize in it; we can do a fireplace repair all
the way to rebuilding a building.”

In fact, the company just finished renovating an old hotel in downtown Vancouver. The hotel was more than 100 years old, and each brick had to be cleaned before it could
be reassembled. All mortar joints were ground down, and the paint was stripped from the entire facade. What made this job different was the extreme environmental care that had to be taken. The paint, which had traces of lead in it, had to be removed with a special environmentally sound stripper, requiring the workers to wear special equipment. Despite these obstacles, Skujins says, the building is now a jewel in the crown of Vancouver.

Skujins says that this ability to handle difficult jobs is just one ofthe things that sets his company apart. “We have great service,” he says. “lf you phone us, there’s always
someone who answers the phone. If you have a problem, we are there. We can do the tough stuff that other people don’t have the ability to do. When you get into something
where you’re restoring it, it’s two or three times the work. People know when they hire us that they get the work done on time and done right.”

And Skujins feels that it’s this customer satisfaction that will continue Dunbar Masonry’s success. “We get lots of referrals,” he says. “We’re lucky. When other people’s
phones aren’t ringing, ours are busy, and we’re very fortunate that way.”

Case Study – Ranier Hotel
Full street facade restoration including a repair of the upper sheet metal cornice, masonry restoration of a wooden storefront, and the reinstatement of a historic neon sign