Fall 2013
They did it in Seattle
PROSOCO and the world’s greenest commercial building
PROSOCO President/CEO David W. Boyer authored the
following article after returning to Lawrence from opening
ceremonies for Seattle’s Bullitt Center in April.
Constructed according to the Living Building Challenge 2.0,
and featuring R-GUARD FastFlash® Air and Water Barrier,
the Net Zero energy-efficiency Bullitt Center has been hailed
as the world’s greenest commercial building.
by David W. Boyer, President
I
’ve long been skeptical of the “green” movement in construction, while at the same time I hoped
it could succeed.
My skepticism was born of early attempts at “environmental friendliness” that valued appearances
over quantifiable data, and “green washing” that abused the hopes of many who truly wanted
proven environmentally responsible products.
But as I toured Seattle’s Bullitt Center — arguably the world’s greenest commercial building —
during its grand opening April 22 — Earth Day, and not by coincidence — I realized someone
finally did it. Someone finally proved you can be environmentally responsible and sustainable, by
the numbers.
I went to the grand opening because the Bullitt Center has a PROSOCO R-GUARD® FastFlash®
air and water barrier system installed. FastFlash®, as you may know, is PROSOCO’s ultra-durable,
fluid-applied system for stopping air and water leaks through building envelopes.
It performs at a level that helps buildings reach Passive House and
in the Bullitt Center’s case, Net Zero levels of energy
Continued on Page 3. See “Seattle”
Stephen Falls
Sure Klean® 766 Limestone
& Masonry Prewash,
followed by Limestone
& Masonry Afterwash
helped remove more than a
century of staining from this
Tuckahoe marble courthouse
in the 80s and 90s.
Can you identify this
project?
Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors,
Topeka, used Enviro Klean® SafRestorer® to
clean Topeka High School, a three-story
Gothic building opened in 1931.
E-mail your answers to
[email protected], or call 800-255-4255.
Answer in the next edition!
Congratulations, a paid subscription to SMART Dynamics of
Masonry Magazine and a “You Sure Know Your Stuff ” certificate
go to these brilliant lights of the construction industry for
identifying last issue’s CYITP:
—Bank of America Theater, formerly the LaSalle Bank
Theater & Hampton Majestic Hotel
Matt Brokenshire
Amy Randy
Cuningham Group
Minneapolis, MN
FGM Architects
Oak Brook, IL
Andrew C. Smith
Michael Jones
Andy Vohs
Patricia Sticha
Chris Krinke
Rebecca Davis
Craig Mount
Richard Cross
Darius Shroff
Robert Swenie
Eric M. Friedman
Ross Spiegel
Howard Langner
Robert Swenie
Jake Lincoln
Scott Slimp
James Warren
Sharon Trsek
Keith Anderson
Terry Oglesby
Kevin Jarman
Warren Britts
Trivers Associates
St. Louis, MO
Chamberlin Contracting
Kansas City, MO
General Engineering Co.
Portage, WI
AECOM
Los Angeles, CA
HDR Architecture
Dallas, TX
Walgreen Co.
Deerfield, IL
THC
Austin, TX
Sherwin Williams
Arcadia, FL
NYS Historic Preservation
Waterford, NY
WRA Architects
Dallas, TX
Johnson Cartwright Jarman
Tampa, FL
Mark Epling
ZMM
Charleston, WV
Hunt
Towanda, PA
Mars Design
Chicago, IL
RBS Design Group
Owensboro, KY
The Suddath Companies
Jacksonville, FL
Stuart Dean Company
Chicago, IL
Fletcher Thompson
Shelton, CT
Stuart Dean Company
Chicago, IL
Intrepid Enterprises
Harvey, LA
Marous Brothers Construction
Willoughby, OH
Architectural Division
Birmingham, AL
University of Va.
Palmyra, VA
You sure know
your stuff!
PROSOCO NEWS is a publication of
PROSOCO, Inc. ©Copyright 2013
The news articles included in PROSOCO
News represent factual reporting
of methods that some contractors
have found effective. They are not
intended to be a company endorsement
of procedures but merely possible
alternatives in individual situations.
Additionally, the use of photographs does
not constitute an endorsement of
the products.
PROSOCO NEWS is a publication of: PROSOCO, Inc.
3741 Greenway Circle • Lawrence, KS 66046
(800) 255-4255 • Fax (800) 877-2700 • www.prosoco.com
EDITORIAL
Editor
Gary Henry
Copyeditor
Janet Horner
DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Creative Genius
Stephen Falls
VIPS
President/ CEO
David W. Boyer
Towering
Restoration
Built for $1.75 million and opened Sept. 17, 1931, Topeka High School, Topeka, Kan., is
arguably one of the most beautiful high school buildings anywhere.
Ever.
With its 165-foot bell tower containing a working 18-note Deagan Chime System,
stained glass windows, and limestone and masonry exterior, Topeka High School looks
more like a church or cathedral than a high school.
A closer look, however, shows that time and the environment have begun to take their
toll.
“The building was due for a general cleaning,” says David L. Falley, project manager with
Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors, Topeka. “It’s got mostly atmospheric and
biological staining on the limestone, severe in places. There’s also some smoke residue on
the back of the building from a fire a few years ago.
“It’s not as dirty as it could be, considering the last major work on it was 30 years ago.”
PROSOCO’s Enviro Klean® SafRestorer® got the nod to remove the black stains and give
the building an overall cleaner, brighter appearance. While decades of embedded staining
called for a cleaner with horsepower, SafRestorer is designed to safely clean around architectural metals and other sensitive surfaces.
“Seattle” from page 1
efficiency.
Net Zero energy efficiency is one of the checkpoints of
the Living Building Challenge. That’s likely the world’s
toughest environmental construction standard, and the
one the Bullitt Center was built to meet.
The Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors crew, led by Foreman Steven Balser, began
work at the end of June. They finished in mid-August, before the students returned.
The “Red List” is another checkpoint for the Challenge.
It’s a list of over 300 chemical substances many of
which are found in hundreds of common building
materials — substances proven harmful to people. Bullitt
Center design firm Miller Hull Partnership and general
contractor Schuchart Corporation designed and built the
six-story 50,000 square-foot office building for developer
Point 32 without Red-Listed products.
Along with cleaning the exterior, they tuckpointed masonry joints that deteriorated due
to time and weather. The repairs are minimal, David says.
To make the cut, every product had to be
environmentally sound and proven effective — not
David said the high school’s metal-framed stained glass windows were one reason he chose
SafRestorer.
“And it’s effective,” he said. “I’ve used SafRestorer on other projects and gotten good
results.”
“The building was in good condition
overall,” he says. “It’s got good workmanship and has weathered well.”
He added that it’s a good idea to have
cleaning and repairs done before
deterioration becomes severe.
Stephen Falls
These merlons atop the bell tower
of Topeka High School show, left to
right, uncleaned, pressure-washed
with hot water only, and cleaned with
SafRestorer and hot water.
Despite the building’s minimal
problems, cleaning it still presented
challenges, David says. The famous
Kansas winds twirled the hanging basket on the crane, used to reach areas
inaccessible by scaffold. It’s stabilized
by people holding lines on the roof or
ground, David said.
And the hanging scaffold, though
secure, swayed in the Kansas breeze.
“You get a 7 to 10 mile-per-hour breeze up there,
you’d think it was 50,” David says. “Keeping your
knees flexed helps. But when the wind kicks up higher
than 10 or 15 miles per hour, it’s time to get off.”
Installers from Katwall Inc roller-apply Cat 5 Primary Air & Waterproof
Barrier over sheathing sealed and prepared with pink Joint & Seam Sealer
and red FastFlash, for a continuous, seamless, durable, vapor-permeable
barrier to air and water leakage through the building envelope at Seattle’s
Bullitt Center. John Stamets photo
just by itself, but also in concert with other building
materials. At PROSOCO, we are justifiably proud that
FastFlash® made the grade.
So they did it. There it stands, 1501 Madison Street,
Seattle, a living building, a done deal.
It wasn’t easy. When Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation
Q.
Bullitt Foundation President Denis Hayes addresses media and guests during opening day ceremonies
at Seattle’s Bullitt Center. John Young photo
president — and one of the founders of Earth Day in 1970, by the way — first envisioned
a building designed from the ground up to be useful and healthy, he found local building
codes prohibited much of what was needed.
That might’ve stopped some. Not Denis. He went to the mayor. He worked with the
city and the state to change codes. Working together, they created a new regulatory
environment — one in which buildings like the Bullitt Center could flourish.
Next step? More buildings like this, in
Seattle and elsewhere. Obviously they can’t
all be the same design. The Bullitt Center
is made for the Seattle climate. In Phoenix,
for instance, with many more sunny days,
the solar array will be smaller. With fewer
rainy days, the rain-collection cisterns will
be bigger.
Other cities and states will also have code
Visitors line up for tours of the Bullitt Center during
issues. But they did it in Seattle. They can do
opening day. John Young photo
it in Kansas City. I believe that one day they
will. We will.
On a beautiful opening day in April last Spring, as hundreds of people flocked in for tours,
the fully operational Bullitt Center produced twice the energy it needed to run. The
distinctive solar array atop the building captured sunlight to produce that energy, in line
with the requirements of the Living Building Challenge.
I thought I might hear derogatory comments about the building’s appearance. The “hat” as
some call the solar array, makes the building look different from most other buildings, and
people don’t always like “different.”
That wasn’t the case in Seattle. I overheard at least one fan waiting in line for a tour giving
a rundown on the building’s features. Along with energy, the Bullitt Center collects and
treats all its own water. Its 26, 400-foot-deep geothermal wells help heat the building during
cloudy winters. Its service life is designed for 250 years.
That guy rattled off the features like Mariners’ baseball stats.
To me the building seems iconic. Fifty years after construction of the then-futuristiclooking Space Needle, Seattle’s Bullitt Center also points toward the future — a future of
legitimate and quantifiably green construction.
Our industry can do it.
They did it in Seattle.
My home is from 1939 and I’m
restoring it. I have tried everything to clean
the brick such as powerwashing, TSP,
various cleaners, and muratic acid. It has
brightened up but the stains underneath
the shutters have not gone away. Can you
help? I am almost ready to paint every brick
on the house.
A.
These stubborn stains develop over
years, decades even, as dirt and grime settles
on the window sills, then rain mobilizes it and
spreads it around. The stains could also come
from run-down residue from the shutters, or
from the window where it meets the brick -- or
all of the above.
Repeated wetting and drying from rain and sun
over the years bonds the contaminants to the
brick so tenaciously, almost like a ceramic glaze,
that even powerwashing is ineffective.
Sure Klean® Light Duty Restoration Cleaner,
while less corrosive than traditional restoration
cleaners, will attack and dissolve the bonds
of the soiling for easy rinsing away with a
low-pressure powerwash.
Its low-corrosivity makes it appropriate for use
around non-masonry materials, like your shutters. It’s a gel-cleaner, so easier to handle and
limit to a specific area like your sills.
Light Duty Restoration Cleaner makes an
excellent glass cleaner as well, so while you’re up
there, you might consider giving your windows
a wash, too.
Need some help?
Call Customer Care
toll-free at
800-255-4255
Nordstrom Rack, Birmingham
From a 400-grit resin finish, Tim polished the hardened/densified
floor to a 1500 resin grit finish in successive stages. He burnished
on a micro-thin coating of LSGuard® for increased protection
against stains and abrasion. LSGuard® has “LS” in its name because
it contains lithium silicate for an added hardening/densifying
effect.
Though LSGuard® can be re-burnished or refreshed with
additional coats if required, it never needs stripping or replacing.
That can amount to an enormous savings in maintenance costs
over time.
Courtesy Tim Blankenship
Tim and his crew completed the work over three weeks in March
and April. The most challenging part, he said, was working around
all the other trades who were also trying to get their work done in
time for the May 16 opening.
The Nordstrom Rack Store waits for its first customers shortly before its May 2013
opening. Polished concrete accounts for about 7,000 square feet of the 35,000
square-foot store.
U
pscale fashion retailer Nordstrom opened a new “Rack”
store in Birmingham, Ala., in May, with a polished concrete floor
installed by Tim Blankenship of Blankenship Concrete Specialties.
Tim created the finish from an existing floor in a space formerly
occupied by tenant Linens ‘n Things. He began with a 46 grit
metal bond wet grind and took the finish to a 200-grit resin, where
he spray-applied LS® and spread it with micro-fiber applicators.
The lithium-silicate hardener/densifier penetrates the concrete’s
microscopic pores and fills them with rock-hard calcium silicate
hydrate. That’s the same ultra-durable material that makes concrete
hard as it cures.
Courtesy Tim Blankenship
Tim used Consolideck® LS® lithium-silicate hardener/densifier and
LSGuard®, a glossy ultra-thin sealer, to help get that gleaming finish
on 7,000 square feet of the 35,000 square-foot store. Architectural
firm Callison, Seattle, specified the products, and Erie, Pa.-based
Niagara Machine supplied them from its Charlotte, N.C., location,
Tim said.
Blankenship Concrete Specialties created this gleaming concrete finish for the new
Nordstrom “Rack” store in Birmingham, Ala., by hardening/densifying, and polishing
to a 1500 resin grit finish, and burnishing on a glossy, ultra-thin “guard” treatment.
Along with dustproofing the floor, hardening/densifying also
makes the floor polish faster, easier and more effectively because it’s
less porous.
Location: Birmingham, Ala.
The floor showed some gloss at 200 grit, but another LS®
application at 400 grit made the floor even less porous and
“popped” the shine, Tim said.
Contractors: Blankenship Concrete Specialties
Project: Re-finishing existing concrete floor
Supplier: Niagara Machine, Charlotte, N.C.
Products:Consolideck® LS®
Consolideck® LSGuard®
FAX BACK
If you would like more information about anything mentioned in this newsletter, fill
out the form below and fax back to 1-888-343-2991.
Or mail your requests to Editor, PROSOCO Inc. 3741 Greenway Circle, Lawrence, KS 66046
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December 8-12 • Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Consumer Specialty Products Assoc. Mtg.
November 14-15 • Minneapolis, MN
RCI Building Envelope Tech. Symposium
October 20-25 • Jacksonville, FL
ASTM Committe Week
OTHER INDUSTRY EVENTS
Jan. 21-24, 2014 • Las Vegas, NV, S#11839
World of Concrete
Nov. 20-21, 2013 • Philadelphia, PA
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October 16-19, 2013 • Pittsburgh, PA
Passive House Conference
2013 TRADESHOWS
CALENDAR
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Lawrence, KS 66046
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PRODUCT LISTING
Tom Lane, PROSOCO
Cadena-Reeves Justice Center, San Antonio, Texas -- Water-related black staining and red pigment run-off removed
with Enviro Klean® SafRestorer®.
sa-f restorer
San Antonio’s often wet and always humid climate left its mark in many ways on
Bexar (pronounced “bear”) County’s downtown Cadena-Reeves Justice Center.
When completed in 1988, the five-story building turned
heads. Pecos Red sandstone trim around windows and arched
entrances, and under roof overhangs accented the Texas
Cordoba Cream limestone walls to lively effect.
Weather and water had other plans.
Water repeatedly wetted out the limestone, which had trouble
drying in the South Texas humidity, especially on the north
and east elevations.
Water streamed down the walls in places, leached pigment
from the sandstone and deposited it in long orange shadows
on the limestone.
Rundown also created black stains where the stone couldn’t
dry out.
Weapon of choice was Enviro Klean® SafRestorer®.
SafRestorer, a non-fuming low-odor restoration cleaner
takes it name from the fact that it’s safe for use around most
glass, painted surfaces and architectural metals.
Though not an aggressive cleaner, SafRestorer got after the
pigmented staining by uniformly dissolving the microscopic
surface layer discolored by the red runoff.
ADVANTAGES
• Fast and effective
on most
masonry surfaces.
• Safe for unpolishe
d limestone
and marble.
• Will not etch or di
scolor most
glass, architectural
metals or
painted surfaces.
• Low-odor, non-fu
ming
formulation.
• Contains no min
eral acids.
• Effectively remov
es mud staining
from clay brick su
rfaces.
• Secret weapon ag
ainst absorbed
staining on sensitiv
e stone.
At the same time, the cleaner broke the carbon-based bonds
anchoring the black stains to the limestone.
Results? Repair Contractor Mackey Welch, One State Contractors, Buda, Texas:
“Those walls looked like the day they were built.”
Technical information
n
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r
Sec
-
Saf Restorer
Regulatory compliance
VOC Compliance
Enviro Klean® SafRestorer® is compliant with all
national, state and district regulations.
Coverage rates
Coverage varies based on porosity and texture.
Always test.
•150–400 sq.ft. (14–37 sq.m.) per gallon of
undiluted cleaner
Equipment
Apply with an acid-resistant brush, heavy nap
roller or low-pressure spray (50 psi max). Do not
atomize. Scrub heavily soiled surfaces with a
nonabrasive brush or synthetic scrubbing pad.
Rinse spent cleaner and dissolved contaminants
from the wall with masonry-washing equipment
generating 400–1000 psi with a water flow rate
of 6–8 gallons per minute. Use a 15–45° fan
spray tip. Heated water (150–180°F; 65–82°C)
may improve cleaning efficiency. Use adjustable
equipment for reducing water flow-rates and rinsing
pressure as needed for sensitive surfaces.
Rinsing pressures greater than 1000 psi and fan
spray tips smaller than 15° may permanently
damage sensitive masonry. Water flow-rates less
than 6 gallons per minute may reduce cleaning
productivity and contribute to uneven cleaning
results.
Use only well maintained staging and
scaffolding that is equipped with steel cable. Use
polypropylene ropes and safety lines. Use acidresistant dilution and application equipment.
SafRestorer® Recent Projects
• 1055 Broadway Building, Kansas City, MO,
white precast concrete
• 3500 Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL,
brick and white terra cotta.
• 311 W. Monroe Street, Chicago, IL,
Granite
• Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS,
Junction City and Cottonwood limestone
• Cadena-Reeves Justice Center, San Antonio, TX ,
cream-colored limestone
• Northwestern University, Crown Hall, Chicago, IL,
precast concrete
• The Crane Building, Portland, OR, limestone and brick
to water
exposure masonry on
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ins from estone and san Antonio. Note
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sensitive
defaces -Reeves Justice er right.
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• Topeka High School, Topeka, KS, limestone and red clay brick
sensidamage to
ed with no ® SafRestorer® .
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Black and re es, courtesy Enviro Klea
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