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.

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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Over Head

Uncovering the plank ceiling in the living room was really exciting. Once we got the right tools and heavy gloves we developed a system of peeling and cutting away sizable pieces to haul outside. I could never have done this without Trent.










The front room looked like a war-zone for a little while.