Frederick Christian Sorensen House: adobe

Showing posts with label adobe. Show all posts

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Renovation Process Update

I've been gone for two months - working in Santa Barbara on a big project - and have just now gotten back into the swing of things here at home, and that includes thinking about Ephraim.

So here is a quick update: Russell Bezette began the adobe renovation in October and made six trips to Ephraim over the next month, finishing the project before Thanksgiving. He took most of these photos to document the process. He is truly an expert on these old buildings with a life-time of experience, and a great love for his craft. It was truly a pleasure to work with him. I think he is up for another Utah Heritage award.

A heartfelt thanks to all those who gave donations to fund this project, and the exterior renovation that will continue this Spring.

Back bedroom before wall excavation.

Southeast failed corner. Russell found this wall in urgent need of repair and close to collapse.

After adobe repair and first coat of mud plaster.

After second coat of mud plaster.

After final coat. Bizette also repaired the chimney during excavation and now the old wood stove can be put in place again.

After exterior south wall excavation.

Here you see how the failed adobes are removed and the wall is re-built.

After repair of the stem wall and stucco scratch coat.

Blue room before and after.

Before and after.

After second coat of mud plaster.

After final coat of mud plaster. Bizette used local soils sourced from the west side of town, by the city dump. It is hard to grasp just how much raw material it takes to do this kind of repair - literally tons.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

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.

Monday, July 2, 2012

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Blue Room

Remember this? Dirt from the adobe wall was pouring out from under the beloved silvery-blue wallpaper I had admired throughout my childhood. It was going to have to come off.

So, we knew there were some deterioration issues in the blue room, especially on the east wall in the area of the closet and under the stairway.

The cleared out room. Trent begins to demo the closet.

Meanwhile I am removing the famous silvery blue wallpaper down to the original earthen plaster.

Here you see how the front northeast corner of the house has really settled and there are cracks in the exterior stucco and a vine coming through. Here you can also see how the original floor boards were once painted red.

For the record, Trent in a good sport and actually doesn't mind doing these projects. He also likes hanging out in Ephraim because it's a nice change from the studio in SLC.

Don't you love finding all the wallpaper under the wallpaper? Here you can also see that the ceiling used to be painted salmon pink! I think Jennie was partial to salmon pink.

See the previous patch job under the window and the way the adobes start to have holes toward the corner?

Here you see the construction: the adobe bricks with mud plaster in between, multiple coats of earthen plaster and then traces of the white-wash or lime-wash that was the original protective and decorative wall finish.