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.

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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.

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.

Cleaning out the Granary

Of course we couldn't throw anything away! We even sifted through the dirt that we shoveled off the floor boards (I didn't even know if it still had a floor ) to make sure we didn't miss anything interesting or valuable. As the saying goes: "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

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.

See the daylight coming through from a crack in the exterior? Yikes!

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.