I recently just finished a full Brownstone Facade Replacement. I wanted to detail my experience so that others can benefit from it.
Property Address: 313 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, New York 11216
I purchased the property on August 11th, 2014.
The paint on the Facade was peeling very badly. It looked really bad and one part of the windows had some cement that seemed as though it could fall off.
I decided to hire someone to power wash the facade so I can see if it was worth just repainting it or if the Facade as really bad, have it replaced.
Well, after the power wash, I couldn't believe all the holes which had appeared from years of deterioration and layers of paint. It was a complete mess and it really looked dangerous. I knew it was time for me to look for someone to do a complete Facade replacement.
For about 1 month, I had several contractors come over to give me estimates. That included A. Malek, Excellence, Abbedin, etc. and lastly, Progressive Contracting run by Mohammad Hossain. The location is 88 Church Ave and his phone number is 347-341-3808.
After speaking with Mohammad for a while so I can understand the process which included removing all the old Layers of cement until we get to the Brick, then apply the Rough Coat, the Slurry Coat, the Scratch Coat and finally, the Brownstone Coat. It was at that point that I decided Progressive Contracting with Mohammad would be the best to use not only because he came in a the most reasonable price, but also because he really took the time to explain to me the details of the entire restoration/replacement.
I negotiated to have the entire Facade and Stoop restored, the Cornice scraped and repainted, the iron gates scraped and repainted, the inside of the stoop redone with Brownstone, the front yard concrete redone and also to repair any damage which eventually revealed itself such as very large gaps approximately the size of a rectangle around 1 foot by 3 foot hole in the facade which was covered up by paint. I can't even understand how that gap could have happened, but after the old layers were removed, I am so glad that I had hired someone to make these repairs.
The first thing that Mohammad did was pull the permits for the Scaffolding. It's really key to make sure that you have all the permits in place. He then showed me the Insurance. I bet that there are unscrupulous contractors out there that won't even bother protecting the owners from liability. So I was glad that Mohammad showed me all his Rigging Licenses, the Scaffolding Permit, and the Insurance that he took out on the job.
By Early December 2014, Mohammad put up the Scaffolding. He then had his crew begin work on removing the layers.
Sometime at the end of December, the Scratch coat was placed on and the waiting time for the Scratch coat to cure took us to Spring.
The crew then started the final coat. Because the old Facade was so warn out, the Crew had to use the next door Brownstone to see the details. They immaculately reproduced the details into the final coat.
Once the Facade and Cornice was finished, the Scaffolding went down and it revealed a really awesome Job! I can't tell you how happy I was with the job! Anyone can come to my place and see it a I posted the address above.
Mohammad then worked on the Front Cement and then I also hired him for the Sidewalk.
Everything was done a few weeks ago around June 15th.
I have to say it was a real pleasure working with Mohammad and his crew. They worked hard and did an excellent Job!
My picture sizes are too big. Can't understand why you would limit pics these days to only 512k. But send me an email and I'll mail it out to you. read more