Western Specialty Contractors’ Austin branch completed a complex project to restore a century-old building housing the Skyhouse Lounge – Austin’s first rooftop barbershop and cocktail lounge.
Located at 408 Congress Ave., adjacent to a public parking lot, the historic building’s exposed masonry wall had been damaged, neglected, painted and overlaid several times over the years. To further complicate the restoration, the wall’s existing masonry was covered in tar, stucco, paint and other mysterious foreign materials.
Western, in partnership with project engineer ECS Southwest, was tasked with performing masonry restoration, tuckpointing, and waterproofing of the exposed wall.
“The bricks and mortar were basically crumbling out of the wall, and it took delicate care to properly remove, lay up the brick/block and tuckpoint,” said Western Project Manager Webster Wrightsman. “The engineer originally estimated 50% of the mortar needed to be tuckpointed – this turned into virtually 100%. Many of the bricks were too deteriorated to salvage, so we had to purchase pallets of new bricks to lay up. We ended up purchasing reclaimed bricks to keep the aged aesthetic to the facade. There were also many years of stucco, waterproofing, and paint layers to remove. This required brainstorming from the engineer and manufacturer to figure out the best cleaning agent to remove everything.”
Western’s crews were also tasked with making repairs to the building’s lower roof wall. As it turned out, the wall adjacent to the lower roof, which was initially thought to be all brick, was actually made of half brick and half gypsum board, so a pivot in repairs was necessary.
“We had to alter the work scope to extend the TPO membrane up the bottom half of the wall and place Hardie backer board on the top half. Our excellent roofing crew flawlessly installed the new membrane and had no issues with the unforeseen circumstances,” said Wrightsman.
Western’s crews also faced challenges coordinating with the adjacent parking lot owners and the neighbors to access the roof and wall for specific scopes of work.
“Access to the south elevation wall was a challenge because all parking stalls adjacent to the wall had to be purchased by ownership for the duration of the project. We also had to de-mobilize and re-mobilize during the project to allow full parking lot access for a South by Southwest (SXSW) event.”
Western completed the project about two weeks after the contract deadline on July 25, 2025, but within budget despite several unforeseen conditions and additional work required to complete the restoration properly. The project started on February 24, 2025.
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About Western Specialty Contractors
Family-owned and operated for more than 100 years, Western Specialty Contractors is the nation’s largest specialty contractor in masonry and concrete restoration, waterproofing, and specialty roofing. Western offers a nationwide network of expertise that building owners, engineers, architects, and property managers can count on to develop cost-effective, corrective measures that can add years of useful life to a variety of structures, including industrial, commercial, healthcare, historic, educational and government buildings, parking structures, and sports stadiums. Western is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with 30 branch offices nationwide and employs more than 1,200 salaried and hourly professionals who offer the best, time-tested techniques and innovative technology. For more information about Western Specialty Contractors, visit https://westernspecialtycontractors.com.