New Completed Project – The Farm Show Complex

The Main Hall of the complex which was built in 1930, was the main focus of the restoration. After 90 years of exposure to harsh weather conditions, settling, and expansion, the façade of the building was in serious need of maintenance and extensive restoration. Mortar joints in the brick were decayed, and cracks had developed in some of the brick walls and limestone features, allowing water to enter the building and hasten further deterioration. Flashing, designed to shed water from inside the walls, was ineffective. The work consisted of extensive repointing of mortar joints and removal and replacement of large sections of brickwork. Matching mortar and brick for replacement and repairs is challenging but was successfully achieved by pre-construction mockups and testing. The brick that was removed was mostly salvaged and had the mortar removed for reuse in the repairs. Some of the large animal figures adorning upper portions of the façade were repaired and some weighing thousands of pounds each were removed, repaired, and reset. Over 500 feet of large limestone coping stones were removed for installation of copper flashing and then the pieces were reset in their original spots using a 200-ton crane for lifting. The seamless nature of the finished repairs testifies to the success of the Witmer crews. In addition to the work at Main Hall another large structure, Northwest Hall, had a deteriorated exterior that complete removal of over 100,000 brick was required. After the demolition of these bricks, The Witmer Group performed extensive repairs of the backup block walls, added waterproofing and new heavy-duty wall ties, before laying back 100,000 new brick to closely match the existing adjacent buildings.