Restoring San Antonio’s Broadway Bank

Words: Dan KamysWhen San Antonio, Texas-based Broadway Bank owners say, "We’re here for good," they mean it. In a display of commitment to their community, the bank owners embarked on a major project to preserve the iconic bank building at the corner of Nacogdoches and Loop 410.

The building's 46-year-old quartz and marble exterior had become cracked, damaged and weathered with time, so Broadway Bank’s owners turned to Western Specialty Contractors — San Antonio, Texas, branch (formerly Western Waterproofing Co.) to return the façade to its original luster.

Western crews were charged with removing sealants in all of the building's exterior joints and replacing them with new silicone sealants, plus removing all of the building's worn exterior quartz tiles and replacing them with new ones. It was vital to the success of the project that the new quartz tiles match the facade of the bank's adjacent high-rise administration building. The bank's owners had quartz tile from the Himalayas installed on the administration building when it was constructed to closely match the existing bank building. Three years later, the owners decided to replace all of the exterior tiles on the original building with tiles to match the new administration building.

Western Waterproofing located and used the same quarry in the Himalayas, where the bank had ordered quartz tiles for the administration building three years ago.

The quartz tiles were cut into 2.5- X 8-inch pieces, adhered onto CMU walls with Laticrete thin set, and then grouted. Western crews installed 14,796 square feet of quartz tiles, weighing about 51,446 pounds on the building's facade.

Western crews completed the job by chemically cleaning and pressure washing all of the bank's exterior marble panels to a like-new appearance, while all of the exterior windows were resealed using silicone caulking.

The general contractor on the project was Malitz Construction, and the architect was Garza Bomberger & Associates, both of San Antonio, Texas.

For more information, visit www.westernspecialtycontractors.com.
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