# Granite courtyard



## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

A little taste of Center City, Philadelphia...right in the heart of Rittenhouse Square...anyhoot, a colleague is the lead on this one, but he needs my assistance in pointing and sealant expertise :whistling

This project will consist of saw-cutting the base slabs and re-pointing in full. The bench walls/koi pond will receive sealant repairs using using 2 part urethane sealant tooled to perfection...this place will have it no other way...very, very picky, prominent, people percolating at this pad. When you park you car in the elevator, you simply get out and go home. Your car ends up in the dungeon and spun 180 degrees beckoning for your call back out.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Dang, how much do polished granite frogs cost anyway...no matter...about ten feet below us, it's jam packed with Benz's, Ferrari's, Lambo's and probably lizards as well :blink:

What the hell am I doing wrong :sad:

Quaint little setting here...until you turn around, dang! hope that cornice don't fall on my head while doing this job.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

So my lead requested management remove the Koi fish from the pond so we don't get any floaters when we come to do the job...Good thing too, apparently these gilled gargantuans are select grade 34"/36" and fetch $10,000.00 a pop. I have no idea where they are now...probably back in Japan sucking in some Fukushima. When I heard the price of those puppies, I felt like kicking that granite frog right in his stinking head although I rather quickly shelved the idea 

So anyway, I wasn't chitting when I mentioned the automated underground parking lot this place has...6 years old now and being hailed as one of philly's most premier properties, Cliff Lee recently sold his unit for a cool 6.5 mil,... parking spot included. 31 floors and 31 units make up the building along with a host of other amenities. Ryan Howard as well as many other heavy hitters call this home. Units are a little over 4K sq ft. and apparently the taxes an el cheapo 1,600.00 bucks a year. Gosh dang...I'm nearly paying four times that myself living in a shack. I feel like kicking that frog in the head again, what the hell is wrong with this picture. I wonder if they can fit my truck in here? Retrieving tools like cool hand Luke!


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Everybody needs a turntable for their Ferrari.:thumbsup:

One of the things I like about Philly is whenever there is a big down turn, you can pick up used luxury cars relatively cheaply. I'm not saying they give away Ferraris, but they're much less unaffordable.:laughing:


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

So we got this one started up yesterday before the cold really settles in and much to our surprise, the gilled gargantuans are back in the cage...well, at least some of the small ones anyway. More are supposed to be delivered back today but it was a rain out, so I'm not sure they made the trip. Anyhow, it's a good thing we're doing this saw-cutting in a dustless fashion as I'm sure the natives would throw a hissy fit if billowing clouds of silica were to wander over Rittenhouse Square.

When we asked why the fish are back...management only noted that the order came down from the 18th floor and there was nothing they could do about it. I gave one of the little fellas a little piece of my tuna fish sandwich and he gobbled it down and gave me a wink...I think he liked it.

It's hard to believe that four little tuna grubbers can cost north of 30K :blink: this number will go up exponentially once the big boys show up...expensive little hobby for sure. 

That vac assist bosch tuckpointer made quick work of the 1/4" joints and I single handedly had the entire base slabs cut out by 1:30 pm. We wrapped up early and got out of dodge before traffic let loose.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Even yesterday, it was a cloudy, chilly, Philly day, at least until the sun popped out. I love when the sunlight glitters off of One Liberty place, Two Liberty Place and the Comcast Center tower. For those familiar, it was the Liberties that pierced the height of Billy Penn's hat on City Hall back in the mid to late 80's that made them the two tallest buildings in Philadelphia. It wasn't until the Comcast center was topped off in 2007, that they lost that recognition.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Is that some kind of seperator hooked up to the Rigid vac?


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Yea, it's Oneida's dust deputy...do you use one?

Friggin' great for silica dust I might add.

Your filters won't clog, no suction loss and I can saw cut for an entire week without changing them...maybe longer if I try.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

superseal said:


> Yea, it's Oneida's dust deputy...do you use one?


No, but I'm going to start - sometimes (like almost all the time) I go through way too many filters and bags. Thanks for the info!


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

It was like a wind tunnel in this courtyard today mixed with chilly temps and damp conditions. Sure beats the rain we've had the last two days however so we'll take it. 

Mix of the day was triple 0 blasting sand and type 1 Portland. Slicked it in and came back after it set a bit and burned in a concave joint. No burn really, granite doesn't suck in much water as you know so we had plenty of time to work these joints. At the end, we went back and cut off excess at the traction grooves blew off all the crumbs. Still got another visit to apply the mild acidic washdown and neutralizer. Also banged out that misc. sealant work while we were here.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

So you can see we didn't leave much of a mess which makes final cleanup a breeze...no pun intended.

The property manager who runs this place stopped by and was liking what he was seeing. He manages 16 building here in Rittenhouse and had us check two other prospects that need some work on our way home.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

hdavis said:


> No, but I'm going to start - sometimes (like almost all the time) I go through way too many filters and bags. Thanks for the info!


Don't buy the kit, just buy the unit itself and customize it to your liking would be my advice...as you can see I'm using an easy off lid and two clean 5gal buckets. It's important to reinforce the lid before you bolt the Oneida down so you don't collapse the lid. Two pieces of masonite is what I choose as it's thin and stiff. I set everything down in a bead of sealant to thwart off air leaks. I also went as far as sealing the masonite with some spar varnish I had laying around because I rinse it down once in awhile. Stiffeners that are impervious to water would be ideal such as pvc but I didn't have and thin sheet goods laying around.

These things are worth every penny and they're no joke...you'll never go back.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

I thought I'd post some pics I found of this place being built...broke ground in 08 when the chit was hitting the fan. Turned out to be a very good investment nonetheless, to the one's who plunked down pre construction.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

A few more...


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## Joe Pro (Aug 14, 2016)

Damn, looks like you guys did a great job. How many zeros do you add the estimate to work at a place like that? Would they notice one of those frogs missing, really cool.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

What frogs :whistling


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## Krok (Jul 9, 2016)

superseal said:


> What frogs :whistling


It'd be cool to make one of those buggers--but have someone else move it for you.
You ever run across any of those trolleys for the larger grinders?


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## ConcreteDrive (Mar 10, 2017)

Hey you did a beautiful job re-pointing that walkway. Thanks for sharing your work.


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## aquakbd (Aug 19, 2016)

Seems like a challenging but rewarding work. Great job! Thanks for sharing!


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## SPG (Mar 9, 2017)

If you hadn't said it was in Philly I would have assumed Tokyo. That's what every nice building looks like over there with all the granite work and the car elevators. Those frogs are all over the place there too, but not at the nicer places...they're kinda like garden gnomes here!


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