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.

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!