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 Out Buildings: Before & After

Outbuildings like barns, chicken coops, outhouses, granaries, sheds, and carriage houses, are often overlooked and under-appreciated in historic neighborhoods. Although simple in design and usually small in scale, they tell the story of the development of the home-site and the neighborhood, adding a visible layer of history and information. This is why we thought it was important to preserve these buildings for the next generation to explore.

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The Granary with a new metal roof.

Interior with new pine rafters. I had the roofers, Alpine Summit Roofing, save the old boards. Even though they were mostly rotted through, I find old barn wood irresistible and I'm sure they can be used for something. 

Granary floor after cleaning - I wasn't sure if it even had a floor.

The outhouse with a new cedar shingle roof. We also had the whole thing moved over, away from the encroaching trees onto a new timber base. According to Grandma Wanda, it's been moved all over the place.

The old two-seater is ready for business!

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.