Now and Then

Susan Gilbert, Mahasin Saleh, and Julie Curtis in front of the Easton's store building. I guess this was over thirty years ago, around 1979.

Memorial Day 2013

I think it does the old house good to be filled to overflowing. A heart-felt thanks to all those who made the trek this year to our central point of origin.

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Water in the creek/krik and perfect weather.

Four generations of Sorenson women: Wanda Sorenson Bachman, Julie and Eliza Workman-Curtis, and Judy Bachman Curtis, at Ephraim Cemetery.

Two sets of twins: Wanda and Dale Sorenson and Nate and Will Curtis-Workman.

Wanda and Melvona Sorenson Boren with her great-grandchildren: Taite and Tieg Boren, and Hayden and Tori Weygant.

The Valkyries: Dana, Naja, and Melvona.

Hayden, Taite, Tori, and Tieg get ready to catch some taffy at the parade.

Betina Lindsey in Scandinavian garb.

Waiting for the parade!

The maypole tradition continues.

Visiting Ken Sorenson's corral: Eliza, Will & Nate, and Scout.

Eliza Curtis-Workman.

Always a good way to spend the afternoon.

The Curtis-Workman family at the beautiful Manti Temple.

A Closer Look at the Materials and Construction

These are exposed adobe bricks in the attic. If you didn't know, you would think they were baked or fired bricks because they are rock-hard. See how soft - like frosting - the mud mortar was when they built the wall?
Compare the attic adobes to this damp wall in the cellar. You can carve at these adobes because they are so soft and crumbly. Here you glimpse the stone foundation. See the one dark brick, the black sheep of the wall?
Now we are in the cellar looking at the stone foundation - oolitic lime-stone with earthen mortar, earthen plaster, and white-wash or lime-wash flaking off. You see how soft and compatible the materials are after 150 years of settling?
A view of the cellar showing the cement block retaining wall that was put in when there were some structural issues in the 40's?

This is the exterior where I removed some of the stucco to investigate the materials. Here you see that the wall is becoming hollow as the adobes turn to dust. There is some stone stacked horizontally to the left, and mud plaster buffer coats nestled up to the stucco to the right.

The Original Coating

This is an amazing photo full of historical information. Not only does it show Wanda and Dale Sorenson playing by the side of the house around 1918, but it shows so well the original decorative plaster coating on the house. It was a thin lime plaster applied to the outermost layer of earthen plaster. It was stamped or scored and colored to look like red brick. See how soft and worn it is?

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Remember this investigation I made into the wall by the back door to the bedroom?

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This sample shows us the inside of the stucco. It tells us a lot about the original coating. Here you see that the present day cement stucco was applied with a lot of pressure to chicken wire nailed to the earthen walls.

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The red pigment here is the original red of the decorative "brick" plaster. It came off and adhered to the cement coat during application. Here you see the off-white lime plaster that the red pigment was applied to.

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A side view of the removed stucco with protruding 2" nails.

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This is an example of the earthen plaster. Multiple coats were applied directly to the adobe bricks to protect them. See the random stones and bits of straw? They would have used the earth excavated from the cellar and foundation to build with.

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This piece of earthen plaster came from the corner of the blue room. It's 2" thick in some places. And also you see a piece of fired brick, like terracotta, that was also in the wall.

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Present Condition

The exterior cement stucco was put on in the 1930's or 1940's. The pastel green we all associate with the house is typical of the Art Deco/post-war era. This cement stucco coating has really stood the test of time, but the hard impervious nature of the coating has become more of a liability to the softer adobe system. The east wall of the house (the exterior side of the deteriorated wall in the blue bedroom) is the most exposed side of the house, getting the brunt of the harsh weather. There is a "belly" or visible bulge through the middle of the one and a half-story wall, and when you knock on the stucco much of the wall sounds hollow. Yikes!
Wherever there is a crack in the exterior stucco coating moisture is wicked by and absorbed into the thirsty clay adobe causing it to swell. Since the cement is so hard and impervious to water there is no way for the adobes to dry out and they start to deteriorate, becoming soft and crumbly.
 Particularly damaging are the severe freeze and thaw cycles typical of Sanpete weather. Also, good drainage and landscaping are of vital importance to preserving structural stability.

 An example of a bulging area on the back of the house. The west side is more protected by Glen and Bertha's house. Lets hope it's in better shape.
 The back of the house today.
 Remember this back porch addition? I think the washing machine was out there. Wanda had the add-on removed so she could nominate the structure for historical status.
 Old photos from when Wanda last had some stabilization work done
 I think they were doing the main sewer line here.

Stairway

This is the stairway in a house moved from Sanpete County to Heritage Village at This is the Place State Park in SLC. It is an adobe structure from the same time period. I think our stairway used to look similar to this.

We decided to tear off the 70's paneling to see the space under the stairs. Grandma Wanda told me that they used to keep their shoes under the stairs and that there used to be a door here, to the upstairs.

Wondering what we'll find!


Trent, tearing off the paneling.


Now we see that the space under the stairs was used for storage, where there are still some plank shelves. I'm glad we did this because there is some caving here to the adobe wall that needs to be repaired. I think it could be related to an exterior water leak.