Questions, including the two you should ask everybody.
The first and the last of these are worth putting to every fabricator you speak to. The answers vary more than you would think.
- Do you fire your own units?
- Yes, here. We mould, dry, glaze and fire in the shop. Ask any fabricator this directly, because 'we partner with a manufacturer' can mean a kiln or it can mean a purchase order, and the difference shows up in the lead time.
- How close can a glaze match get?
- Close enough that you will not pick the new unit out from the pavement, and not so close that it fools you at arm's length in the shop. A hundred years of soot, sun and washing is not a colour — it is a history, and a new unit has none. We match the fired body and the glaze, and we let the new unit be slightly new.
- Why is the mould bigger than the unit?
- Clay shrinks as it dries and again as it fires, so the mould is cut oversize by the amount that clay body is known to move. The allowance is measured for each body we use rather than taken from a book, because it varies with the clay, the grog content and the section thickness. It is the single most common reason a replacement arrives not fitting.
- What is grog?
- Previously fired clay, crushed and mixed back into the body. It limits shrinkage and lets a large unit dry without cracking. It is the reason architectural terra cotta can be made in blocks this size at all.
- Our building is in a landmark district. Does that change things?
- It changes the approvals, not the work. Landmark elevations need permit review before anything is fitted, and a substitute material that would be fine on the alley elevation may not be approved on the street. Build the review time into the programme rather than discovering it in week six.
- Can you sign our façade report?
- No. The ordinance requires a licensed architect or structural engineer, and we are neither. We work from the report; we do not produce it. If a fabricator offers to handle the inspection as well, that is worth a second look.