Blogs

Let's get one thing out of the way first. Your brick wall isn't actually breathing. It doesn't inhale. It doesn't exhale. And if yours starts doing either one, you have a considerably different problem than the one we're discussing today. When people in construction say masonry needs to "breathe," we're talking about moisture movement. Brick, block, stone, and mortar are not completely waterproof materials. Moisture can enter masonry, move through portions of the wall system, and eventually need …

Scaffolding Ancient Castles Castles were designed with one very specific goal in mind. Make them difficult to access. Build the walls high. Put them on steep hills. Add towers. Add cliffs. Maybe surround the whole thing with a moat just to make absolutely sure nobody can easily get near it. It was an excellent defensive strategy. Several hundred years later, it's slightly inconvenient for the people trying to scaffold them. Welcome back to Scaffolding Around the World. This time, we're tackling …

Scaffolding the Colosseum Some restoration projects involve buildings that are 50 years old. Some involve buildings that are 200 years old. And then there's the Colosseum. Construction on Rome's famous amphitheater began nearly 2,000 years ago. Since then, it has survived earthquakes, fires, weather, pollution, stone removal, changing uses, and more generations of visitors than its original builders could possibly have imagined. And it's still standing. Not untouched. Not complete. But standing. …