No More Threat on Calumet

A local contractor smooths out a dangerous situation.

The public parking lot on Calumet just got a whole lot safer thanks to a resurfacing of the wall of a rowhome overlooking several of the parking spaces.

Kevin McCafferty, local plastering contractor (and Irish immigrant from the war-torn 80’s!), was called in after crumbling bits of plaster had begun to fall from the wall to the street below, posing a danger to pedestrians and parked cars alike.

The city had issued a summons to address the situation,” said McCafferty. “It really was a threat to the area.”

Speaking in front of the three-story scaffolding his crew erected last month, Kevin pointed out the crumbling plaster and exposed rock of the wall behind it. “You can’t just apply wire mesh and then stucco, like you would in an ordinary job,” he said. “It wouldn’t give you a strong bond. It’d fall right back off again.

Instead, McCafferty’s crew had to chip away all the old plaster with claw hammers and then work with wire brushes between the rocks in the wall to clean out dust and debris. “Then we mixed up some cement to apply to the wall to smooth it out and provide a foundation. After that, we applied the stucco.

It took about a week for the cement and stucco to dry and bond correctly, leaving a new smooth gray wall which residents were quick to notice. “Love the work they’ve done,” said one commuter walking past the site on her way to the train station. “Really makes it look great — and it’s a heck of a lot safer too.”