Wood Restoration System Restores Federal Courthouse Windows

Surviving a winter in Wisconsin isn’t the easiest thing to do.   Surviving 110 of them is nothing short of amazing.  That’s exactly what the windows at the U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have been through.  The Courthouse is a Milwaukee landmark and is a picturesque example of Romanesque architecture, but its 650+ windows had suffered some serious neglect and improper maintenance since being installed over a century ago.

Beginning in 2007, New Millennium Construction, Inc. of Crestview, Florida, began the two year process of restoring the windows and exterior woodwork to their original condition.  The first step was to remove up to 18 layers of paint that had accumulated on the sills and sashes over the years. 

In the next step, LiquidWood® was used extensively to treat the soft, rotted areas that had been damaged by the constant exposure to the elements.  By penetrating and hardening within the wood, LiquidWood® permanently repairs and solidifies the material, making the wood structural again.  After treatment with LiquidWood®, WoodEpox® was used to fill cracks, checks, and missing sections of wood.  Corners were rebuilt using forms and large voids in the sills were filled in, in order to restore the windows to their original shapes.  Once cured, both materials were sanded and machined just like the original wood.

Only 16 of the original 650 windows were deteriorated beyond restoration.  These windows were replaced with mahogany replicas in order to hold up to the harsh exterior conditions.  Once reinstalled and painted, the windows were finished with freshly restored brass hardware, bringing the windows back to their original appearance.  With proper maintenance and care, the original windows should last another 100 years!

Cracking Down on Concrete

Cracking, pitting, and spalling are huge problems with concrete everywhere! These problems generally arise from water and salt penetration which causes the concrete to break down and metal rebar in the concrete to rust and corrode. Eventually this process causes the concrete to fail. A project which illustrates this problem, and its solution, was completed at Horlick High School in Racine, Wisconsin. The front edges of a double flight of steps were spalling and causing a safety hazard. The penetrating rust stains left on the surface of the concrete were also very unsightly.

Restoration of the steps was completed by Rossi Construction Co. To begin, all loose concrete was removed. Rust on any of the exposed, corroded rebar was removed by sanding, and the rebar was coated with epoxy paint to prevent further corrosion. Wooden forms coated with a paste-wax release agent were anchored to the risers. Abocrete™, an epoxy patching and resurfacing compound for concrete, was mixed with sand and poured into the forms to cast the missing concrete.

When the Abocrete™ hardened, the forms were removed and rough edges were smoothed. Finally, the steps were primed with Primkote 8006-1 and then coated with Abocrete™ for an attractive, uniform appearance. Before hardening, clear sand was broadcast on top of the Abocrete™ for slip resistance. The finished project saved the school district thousands of dollars and makes a permanent repair.

Wood Restoration Scores A Hole-In-One!
Successful project on Illinois' largest golf complex.

Bolingbrook Golf Club is the largest golf complex in Illinois, and its pristine course and gorgeous clubhouse make it one of the finest recreational courses in the Midwest. The log structure used as a snack bar and clubhouse for the driving range included many logs that were not quite as pristine. LiquidWood® and WoodEpox® were used to save many of the original logs and make difficult log removal unnecessary.

A combination of moisture and bug damage had completely deteriorated large sections of some of the logs. Cavities the size of footballs had slowly flaked out of the logs in the form of woodchips and sawdust. The first step was to consolidate the remaining rotted wood with LiquidWood®. A generous application was brushed and poured onto the rotted logs in order to stabilize the soft areas of wood.

Happy Sun Custom Moldmaking and Casting Project

A smiling face warms our hearts, especially if it is a smiling sun. A Happy Sun motif was chosen as an architectural design element for Plaza Del Sol, a new shopping center in Phoenix, Arizona. U.S. Builders commissioned Abatron to create happy suns in 4 diameters, from 1 to 5 feet. A picture of the motif was supplied by the architect, Kenneth Esry. Abatron then commissioned the models.

The molds were made using MasterMold 12-8®, a pourable polyurethane moldmaking compound. After the molds were produced, they were cast using WoodCast™ and WoodEpox®. These products were selected because they are light-weight and virtually shrink-free and have excellent weatherablity. The castings were painted a beautiful shade of blue before installation.

LiquidWood® and WoodEpox® Restore USDA Building Windows

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Building was the largest office building in the world until the erection of the Pentagon. LiquidWood® and WoodEpox® were used to restore over 8000 deteriorating windows in the South Building in 1986-1996. The most severely deteriorated windows were on the south end of the building. WoodEpox made possible the preservation of the windows on this side. LiquidWood was used on all of the windowsills and 8 inches up on the frames. After restoration, the wood was primed and painted.

Over 12 years ago Vi and Dan Hoagland purchased a vintage log home nestled along the Fox River in McHenry, Illinois. Upon close inspection they found that many of the logs were badly damaged and some of the lower logs were even coated in concrete.

Vi used Abatron's wood restoration products in several ways to restore the logs. Some logs were rebuilt using LiquidWood® mixed with sawdust to make a "gruel." Then,"half" logs were screwed over the patched areas. WoodEpox® was used to patch and fill-in missing wood. Tree bark pressed into WoodEpox before it hardened created a natural appearance to the logs. Vi also strengthened logs by drilling holes down into the logs every few inches and saturating them with multiple applications of LiquidWood through the holes.

Vi's hard work has really paid off. She has salvaged the cabin's structure and created a charming home to enjoy for years to come.

Repairs to metal can be made with metal-filled epoxy and epoxy primers. Rusting metal is often the result of cracks in concrete or masonry that allow water to penetrate the surface and cause the metal to rust. The rusting process causes the metal to expand resulting in the breakage of the concrete. By following the steps below, the metal and concrete can be repaired permanently:

• Clean rusty metal with a wire brush and emery cloth down to bright metal. Sandblasting is also an effective method to remove rust and paint.
• Prime metal with Primkote 8006-1 epoxy primer.
• Fill holes and cracks with Ferrobond.
• Paint metal with top quality paint formulated for outdoor ironwork that contains rust inhibitors, fungicides, and UV blockers.
• Bond broken concrete back together with Aboweld 55-1 heavy-duty epoxy patching compound.
• Patch any visible cracks with Aboweld 55-1 or appropriate Abatron product to avoid further rusting and corrosion.