22 Frederick St redevelopment | Completed

[ijmorlan]

I do think that the paint job was a temporary "cosmetic" fix. If the brick is deteriorating, which wouldn't surprise me. I have a feeling like the whole building will need to be re-clad in the next decade. I don't know if Europro is the type of property management company to make that type of long term investment.

Seems like a weird cosmetic fix. Take a building with flaking brick and turn it into a building with flaking brick revealing the original colour. Isn’t a deteriorating surface the last thing one should be painting?

[Spokes]

Maybe they'll realize they screwed up and redo it in a way that doesn't look cheap.

A guy can dream right??

[westwardloo]

ijmorlan pid='77000' dateline='1580404217']

I do think that the paint job was a temporary "cosmetic" fix. If the brick is deteriorating, which wouldn't surprise me. I have a feeling like the whole building will need to be re-clad in the next decade. I don't know if Europro is the type of property management company to make that type of long term investment.

Seems like a weird cosmetic fix. Take a building with flaking brick and turn it into a building with flaking brick revealing the original colour. Isn’t a deteriorating surface the last thing one should be painting?

I won't be surprised if they didn't hire a building science consultant to assess the condition of the brick before painting. I think someone high up at Europro thought "if we paint it we can lease it as AAA office space". I think it will be quite the cost to fix this. they will probably sit on it for the next 5 years sell it for a profit and pass the buck on to someone else.

I think they have completely ruined the building (not that it was great to begin with)

I would love them to reclad like the calgary university library.

[attachment=6701]

[tomh009]

Yeah, something about this process definitely seems to have been done incorrectly. When I went back to look at some of the earlier pictures to figure out the timing it was obvious that the brick was old and crumbling. I wonder if they didn't treat it properly before applying paint and if that's the case we might be seeing the brick continuing to decay, taking the paint with it.

I've never heard of any treatment that would stop brick from deteriorating, after the deterioration has already begun.  I have seen cases where paint simply will not adhere to damaged brick.

Or the bricks were not correctly prepared, and continued to crumble.

I think this is the most likely scenario.

[tomh009]

I would love them to reclad like the calgary university library.

This reclad is not so bad, either:

[jamincan]

I love the new KPL.

[ac3r]

The fact the paint already appears to be deteriorating is almost amusing, as if the adage "slap a coat of paint on it" would have really worked to preserve an already physically deteriorating building. Talk about cheap.

[timc]

From what I know about painting, new paint only makes underlying problems look worse if you don't fix them first.

[tomh009]

I finally got around to taking a photo with a long lens. Paint is not coming off everywhere, but it's coming off (or possibly oxidizing?) in specific areas, mostly near windows.

Based on this, I would hazard a guess that the paint did not adhere to areas that had been repaired, possibly because of the repair materials. Or would anyone else like to speculate about the cause of the paint failures?

   

[KevinL]

That 'frosty' look is from newly-repointed mortar, if I'm not mistaken. I imagine it bled right through the paint.

[tomh009]

That 'frosty' look is from newly-repointed mortar, if I'm not mistaken. I imagine it bled right through the paint.

So ... they didn't wait long enough after repointing, before painting the bricks?

[DK519]

Efflorescence, no?

There is nothing on the other side of that brick except a cat-walk type thing that runs along those windows. I suspect water runs down the other side of that wall and carries the minerals in the brick/mortar out through the paint.

[JCnb]

Efflorescence, no?

There is nothing on the other side of that brick except a cat-walk type thing that runs along those windows. I suspect water runs down the other side of that wall and carries the minerals in the brick/mortar out through the paint.

I would guess efflorescence bleeding through the paint, yes. This streetview pre-paint job shows this area had issues before. Going to be pretty difficult "fixing" this now and would also say they have ruined the brick. Would have been better off leaving it.

[tomh009]

It was less obvious on the brick than it is on the dark-gray paint.

[tomh009]

The former council chambers are being reworked with significant window content. And a glass-wrapped staircase next to the ex-chambers part.