CLEVELAND – A partnership between an area restoration contractor and a famous Cleveland cemetery will not only help Bricklayers apprentices gain real-world experience, but it will also help restore deteriorating mausoleums.

In mid-October, a group of apprentices from Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 23 apprentices, power washed the structures, removed broken or loose mortar, re-tuck pointed and sealed their work. The group was supervised by Cleveland Building Restoration foreman Mike Collins and Northern Ohio Regional Training Center Training Instructor Terry Halloran.

“It’s good to see these apprentices using live mortar,” said Halloran, who is also a Historical Masonry Preservation Instructor. “There are only so many joints you can caulk in the Training Center. This allows me to see how they do in the field.”

Besides working with the tools, he is also looking at how they handle other challenges.

“They need to work around problems,” said Halloran. “With this project, there’s only one water source.”

He also credited the journeymen who work with these apprentices in the field, as it is the best way to prepare them to work in the field.

Collins described the apprentices as a good, hard-working group.

While rain on the first day made the work more difficult, he saw progress – on the project and through improving skills.

“They learned how to clean, apply the chemicals, agitate and learn the timing,” said Collins. “They’ve done a good job grinding joints and haven’t hit the stones.”

The work was a joint project between Local 23 signatory contractor Cleveland Building Restoration (CBR), the Bricklayers Northern Ohio Regional Training Center (NORTC) and Lakeview Cemetery. In total, nine Pointer, Cleaner, Caulker (PCC) apprentices performed the restoration work on two crypts.

CBR President Morgen Cost, Esq., said the project allowed apprentices to gain first-hand experience in real-world historic restoration training while providing a service to one of Cleveland’s most historic sites.

The project came about when CBR was performing restoration work on several mausoleums at Lakeview and learned some older crypts had no funding for needed repairs, as their endowment funds ran out. Cost said, she remembered that back in 2019, CBR previously offered to use apprentices to fix two older mausoleums in similar need of repair.

Cost contacted the NORTC and Lakeview with the idea to do the same thing, and all parties thought it was a good idea.

“This is an important opportunity to keep history alive,” she said. “It exposes the apprentices to different opportunities and helps them make a choice with their careers. We would love to have more choose the restoration side.”

Similar to 2019, CBR provided the materials and tools the apprentices needed to clean and repair the structures.

CBR Vice President Dean Lamb discussed the different learning opportunities each mausoleum provided, as they were selected based on safety factors and the type of stone. In this case, one was made of granite and the other of limestone. The different stones provide different challenges.

“Sandstone is porous and hard to clean,” Lamb said. “That’s why we pick different substrates.”

Cost emphasized the apprentices were required to follow all safety guidelines.

“Safety is a top priority,” said she. “We want everyone to go home and enjoy their lives outside of work. It’s that culture that comes from the top down, following all rules.”

Cost added that there is hope similar volunteer projects can become an annual or semiannual event.

“I’ve had some conversations with Lakeview and the JATC,” she said. “They’ve been great partners. Nothing is set in stone, but it would be great to do this annually or biannually. Fall and spring line up nicely.”