Pneumatic Stone Vacuum Lifter Used to Install 260 Travertine Tiles

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Constructed in 1982, the travertine panel façade of the Capital One Plaza building in Houston, Texas was showing signs of spalling and the sealants were failing from years of weather exposure. Western Specialty Contractors was hired by property manager CBRE to restore the 22-story building’s damaged travertine façade.

Western’s scope of work included removing 260 travertine panels, each weighing 700 pounds, and replacing them with new tiles imported from an Italian quarry to match. Damaged panels were repaired by using a combination of re-pinning using Helical Anchors and performing Dutchmen repairs, a technique used to replace only the faulty portion of a stone with a new stone material that closely matches.

“One of the main challenges on the project was lifting the heavy travertine pieces to their places on the building’s new facade without damaging them,” said Patrick Sheeran, Western Houston branch manager. “Fortunately for Western, a stone fabricator located next door to our offices let us use their pneumatic stone vacuum lifter, which is capable of handling stone pieces of up to 2,200 pounds.”

All existing sealants on the building were also replaced including the concrete masonry units backup joints, travertine panel joints, window perimeter joints and glass butt joints. The entire building was also cleaned and parged to create a continuous surface by filling surface air voids and bug holes in the masonry walls.

With a little ingenuity and use of the pneumatic vacuum, Western crews were able to successfully complete the project within 20 months.