Toronto 65 King Street East | 82.9m | 18s | Carttera | WZMH

DavidCapizzano said:
I was kind of hoping they would go with a brick stain
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Are you envisioning a stain that would be rich/deep enough to mask all the different brick colours, or one that would merely make the differences less jarring?
 
egotrippin said:
I don't think there was much of an option considering the bizarre patchwork of brick colours. I'm actually curious about the story behind this building; has it just been altered so many times in its history? Or was it built with whatever bricks they had lying around with the intent to paint it since day one? I've seen mismatched brick buildings before, but never to this extent.
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Latex paint traps moisture inside of heritage bricks causing the face to spall and then it becomes a vicious cycle of repainting and further deterioration. Clay bricks need to breathe and moisture needs to escape through the breathable mortar joints (no cementitious mortar either!)

Because clay bricks are porous, they can absorb different masonry stains. There are plenty of opaque stains that cover up the original colour of the masonry.
 
I'm generally not a fan of painting brick, for the reasons you've mentioned and because I like the look of brick, but in this case I'm guessing they painted it anyway considering the vastly differing bricks. Though I'm not as familiar with brick stains, I think even the most opaque still show some degree of colouration? Same with a limewash.

Perhaps the patchwork effect might've looked kind of interesting if softened by a stain/limewash, but it is really patchy.
 
Northern Light said:
Are you envisioning a stain that would be rich/deep enough to mask all the different brick colours, or one that would merely make the differences less jarring?
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Yeah they can do more opaque stains that even out the mismatched tones, and then apply subtle shade variations on top of the base tint to give it more of a natural look. I've seen done really successfully in other heritage projects where they have to match infill or extensions to existing brickwork. My guess is that that is considerably more expensive than going with paint.
 
mcornett said:
Good news. Looks like it was painted a tasteful off white. Like a very light brick colour.
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Those top 2 rows of 5 windows just need some flower boxes and it will look terrific. Flower boxes are surprisingly rare in Canada. I'm not sure what the cultural disinterest in them is. It's an inexpensive way of injecting visual interest, beauty, colour, character, warmth, and refinement.
 
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isaidso said:
Those top 2 rows of 5 windows just need some flower boxes and it will look terrific. Flower boxes are surprisingly rare in Canada. I'm not sure what the cultural disinterest in them is. It's an inexpensive way of injecting visual interest, beauty, colour, character, warmth, and refinement.
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Part of it may be cultural, I expect part of it is liability. It's a low-risk thing.........

But years ago corporate landlords in Toronto starting issuing notes that any of those over-the-railing planter boxes that everyone does or used to do for balconies now had to be set on the inside of the balcony railing.

The fear, presumably, is a planter box somehow coming loose and beaning someone on the head. Seems like a pretty remote risk, but there ya go.
 
I asked someone who works for Google when she would be moving to the new office, and she said next year. Not sure if that's just her department or if everyone will move at the same time.
 
evandyk said:
Lobby
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Ok.....I thought about it........... I was measuring whether this was just too me to share........ The flooring here is incorrect so far as I'm concerned.

I can live with the tile selection, it's quite common, and a practical choice, but there are at least three things I see about the way it was laid that drive me right nuts!

1) This is obviously tile, but the natural colour variation is suppose to give a 'stone' feel. Right, yes.......and you know what makes it look natural? When you match up the discolourations from one tile to the next so they blend.
Having the colour hard-transition to the next tile w/no matching pattern is jarring and un-natural. Now, the way these are sold, you're never going to perfectly match every piece. But you should try, at least a little. Just sayin

2) I can see by the grout lines that someone did not use spacers. There are people in the industry with an excellent eye, who are very well practiced...........they don't need spacers. Whoever laid this tile did, and it shows. Just saying.
* (to be fair, it's actually not that bad, it's just that since the grout pops, I can see the irregular spacing, it's only out by a mm here or there....but...but....)

3) If you want this to look like stone, and blend in, you want the grout to match as best as possible, something in a similar shade of grey, that would actually hide some of the spacing issues too........


****

Yah, yah, so I'm being retentive, get over it! LOL. Details matter.
 
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