Concrete Restoration
Quality is the cornerstone of Graciano’s concrete restorations. We offer an extensive range of concrete restoration capabilities. Our experts understand concrete from the inside out, and are experienced in employing it to your best advantage.
Graciano’s Concrete Restoration Division uses the most advanced leak-sealing grouts, additives, bonding agents, and injection materials in our concrete restoration services. This approach provides permanent protection against cracking, spalling, and erosion in concrete structures. Projects include the Lanphor Reservoir and the Mt. Sinai Parking Garage.
Concrete Restoration Services Offered
Concrete restoration services can significantly enhance the lifespan, structural integrity and safety of concrete structures. Graciano Corporation has successfully worked on a wide array of bridges, dams, reservoirs, sewers and waterways. The firm has also performed numerous garage and stadium deck repairs.
- Traffic Coatings Traffic coatings protect concrete surfaces from wear and tear caused by automobiles, machinery or pedestrian traffic. Most commonly formulated from an epoxy base, these coatings seal out moisture and damaging materials such as salts and oils. They are frequently impregnated with fine aggregates to improve traction and to minimize slipping hazards.
- Structural Repairs Most concrete structures are reinforced by reinforcement rods (“rebar”) or structural steel. If the concrete skin of the structure has been damaged or has deteriorated, it is frequently necessary to restore or replace the steel substructure. In cases where the building has been built with little steel in the structure, it is frequently necessary to employ and anchoring system to stabilize the building before repairs can be made.
- Sealing Sealing effectively closes the porous surface of concrete and makes it more impervious to damaging substances, such as gasoline, oils or melting agents. Sealants are available in clear formulations, for high visibility, high aesthetic areas, or in urethane formulations for high–traffic areas, such as parking decks or industrial floors.
- Polymer-Modified Mortar Repairs Polymer-modified mortar repairs involve the addition of plasticizers to traditional mortar. These additives improve the mechanical performance of the mortars by improving adhesion qualities, extending working times and improving hot weather workability. Polymer-modified mortars can also offer improved chemical resistance, higher flow, increased flexibility and better levels of compressive and tensile strength.
- Parking Deck Repair Parking deck repairs frequently involve repairs to both the deck surface and to overhead concrete structures that may have been damaged by water infiltration or exposure to melting agents. Repairs can take the form of partial–depth repairs, where a damaged area is filled and sealed, or through–depth repairs, where concrete is removed through to the other side of the damaged surface and then replaced. Repairs may also be made to vertical surfaces clad in concrete or masonry materials, or to overhead surfaces, such as ceilings.
- Façade Repairs Façade repairs involve removing damaged or degrading concrete from the surfaces of a structure, stabilizing the repair site, and filling any voids or cracks with new material that has been formulated to match the color and texture of the existing material that surrounds the repair. Façade repairs can also demand the creation of customized forms to allow for replication of cast–in–place detail.
- Demolition Demolition entails the removal of damaged or undesired concrete. It is most frequently accomplished with a jackhammer or another piece of pneumatic equipment.
- Cementitious Coatings Cementitious coatings are generally comprised of Portland cement that has been combined with a vermiculite or perlite premix. These coatings are used to provide fire protection on steel or concrete surfaces, and are typically sprayed on while a structure is under construction.
- Balcony Repairs Balcony repairs typically involve structural stabilization and replacement of damaged or missing components. In many cases, due to water infiltration or damage from the environment, it is necessary to remove the facing surfaces and decking materials from a balcony, stabilize the steel framework that ties the structure to the building, and then replace the facing surfaces with new or recovered material.
Featured Projects
Two Mellon Center
Two Mellon Center, is one of Pittsburgh’s most stunning landmarks. An imposing Flemish-Gothic style limestone structure, the building occupies a full city block and features a sixty-five-feet high mansard roof pitched at a 17° angle. Each elevation features 38 dormers of varying size that are positioned in three uniform tiers spreading across surfaces of the mansards. Graciano completed a full-scale restoration of the building including a comprehensive system to stop the water infiltration that had plagued the structure since its original construction in 1919. Learn more
Featured Projects
Staple Bend Tunnel
Completed 1833, the Staple Bend Tunnel was the first railroad tunnel, and the third tunnel of any kind, in the United States. Located about four miles east of Johnstown, PA, the tunnel is part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. Following strict Historic Landmark guidelines, Graciano restored the arched sandstone liners at each portal. Interior improvements included resetting of stone, as well as grout injection into mortar joints of the stone liner. Learn more
Featured Projects
Rockefeller Center
Graciano was selected to revitalize this well-known part of the New York City skyline. Built during the Depression (1929), Rockefeller Center is actually a complex of a dozen buildings. Rockefeller Center, constructed in Indiana limestone, a beautiful building material noted for its durability and fire resistance. Graciano performed historic restoration and exterior cleaning, of over 2,500,000 sq. ft. of building facade. Much of the work was done at night to avoid interrupting commerce at the busy site. Learn more
Featured Projects
Oyster Bar
The oldest business in Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal has welcomed New Yorkers, tourists and travelers since 1913. The Oyster Bar’s iconic Guastavino tile arches and vaults were restored by Graciano, specialists in Guastavino tile restoration. 1,300 square feet of terra cotta tile were removed and reset or replaced with newly fabricated, architecturally correct tile above dining rooms, lunch counter and bar. Learn more
Featured Projects
Mainstreet Station
Built as the Main Street Passenger Railroad Station in 1901, Richmond Virginia’s Main Street Station has stood as a fine example of Beaux Arts architecture for more than a century. Graciano was responsible for reversing years of decay and damage to the structure’s masonry and terra cotta surfaces. The brickwork required extensive repointing, cracked terra cotta had to be removed and replaced, balustrades required reconstruction and deteriorated stonework had to be replaced. It was imperative that original finishes be replicated and matched as accurately as possible. Learn more
Featured Projects
Eaton’s Neck Lighthouse
Eaton’s Neck Lighthouse is a brownstone lighthouse that’s been standing in a harsh and exposed environment for almost two and a quarter centuries on Huntington Bay and Long Island Sound, New York. The lighthouse was built in 1799, electrified in 1921. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and its site is a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) station. Learn more
Featured Projects
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art, opened to the public in 1916. The original building, made of white Georgia marble, still stands as an excellent example of neoclassic design. Graciano cleaned the entire building, pointed, replaced marble, patched, installed dutchman, restored bronze work, installed storm windows and bird netting, and installed lead caps on all architectural features that protrude skyward, such as water tables, cornices and drip edges. Learn more
Featured Projects
Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House
The oldest performing arts center in America, the 100-year-old structure features a façade that incorporates extraordinary decorative detail in brick, polychrome terra cotta, granite and marble. Graciano performed significant rehabilitation of the masonry, terra cotta, stone and metal trim features on the building’s facades was also necessary to stabilize compromised brickwork, as well as replicate and reinstall missing stone elements that had been removed over the years. Learn more
Featured Projects
Belvedere Castle Central Park
Central Park Conservancy asked Graciano Corporation to restore Belvedere Castle from bedrock to rooftops — updating mechanicals and utilities and adding a state-of-the-art geothermal system, while preserving the castle’s historic charm. In this turnkey restoration project, the Graciano project management team oversaw the entire scope of work — not just the usual artistic historic restoration, but mechanical, utilities and interior construction as well. Learn more
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