Farmers Bank Shutters

Karl, Mike and Jon finished rehanging the 5 exterior shutters and removed the scaffolding back to its home at Bacons Castle. While in that area, they traveled to Isle of Wight Courthouse to meet Lanny Hinson and inspect maintenance problems. Lanny pointed out the chronic stucco problem on the porch, paint and plaster coming off the interior wall in the courthouse, and two floor boards under the commode showing signs of rot. It was a good day for an inspection, the overnight rain had partially dried, which highlighted the really wet areas. Lanny indicated that it had been years since the rain gutters had been cleaned out. The exterior of the wall where the paint and plaster were failing had a wash under the gutter and a mossy, wet area on the foundation. This is a good indicator that rising damp from the gutter wash is causing the paint and plaster to fail.

When we looked at the porch, we noticed a substantial percetage of spaliated bricks and salt stains caused by moisture moving through the bricks. Our theory for the porch is that there is trapped moisture under the porch, which is unvented and inaccessible. The mortar used for the porch appears to portland cement based. This combination forces the trapped moisture to move upward through the bricks and eventually through the stucco, causing it to fail. In case you didn't notice, I finally figured out why I couldn't post pictures. I had failed to check off an agreement with blogger, so blogger wouldn't post them. I really needed to deal with a vindictive computor program.