Brownstone Siding
Chocolate colored brownstone is a type of limestone that was commonly utilized as siding material in the late 1800s in major cities throughout the United States. Amazingly, brownstone as a construction material has been enjoying a resurgence in recent years – amazing because extracting it from the earth requires a labor intensive process used by quarrymen a century ago – splitting blocks with hammers and wedges and wrestling 20-ton blocks onto flatbed trucks.
First quarried in Connecticut from a source known as the Portland Formation, brownstone receives its distinctive tint from the ferric oxide that cemented the sand and mud together. Some of these horizontal layers, deposited about 200 million years ago, even show dinosaur footprints!
While beautiful, brownstone’s composition is also its most serious limitation. Brownstone, typically applied vertically in sheets, attracts rain and other moisture, which in turn can cause flaking, or spalling in brownstone that hadn’t been properly cured, or dried prior to construction.
Unfortunately, there are few methods to prevent this flaking and over the century since it was first used, many people have tried to paint and cement patch the problems away with mainly bad results. Paint and siding over brownstone actually accelerates spalling because they trap moisture. Consequently, restoration of old brownstone siding is best left to the experts.
Because of the huge cost involved in quarrying large pieces of brownstone, much of the stone being quarried today is utilized for replacement lintels, stair treads, sills and ashlar, or squared blocks for 2-inch pavers. Easily carved, brownstone is more often used for interesting interior features, such as an elaborately carved room divider.
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