Downspouts gone!

We received an email alert from our Fredericksburg properties on Valentine's Day morning that copper downspouts had been 'removed' from the rear yard of both the Mary Washington House and the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop over the preceding weekend. Finally had a chance to go up to Fredericksburg yesterday and see the damage. Someone apparently 'popped' the straps with a screwdriver or something similar and yanked the pipes away. Fortunately no additional damage other than the need to replace two at Mary Washington and two at Hugh Mercer. This photo shows the back of Hugh Mercer with the pipes gone. We advised them to use painted galvanized instead of copper when replacing the pipes. Since water should not stand in downspouts, longevity should not be as much of a concern. Better to have cheaper version in place than a more expensive one that is attractive to thieves!

Chiller in Place at JMH

The installation of the new stand-alone HVAC system continues apace at the John Marshall House. The rather large chiller unit was set several days ago and I visited with the crew hooking it up on Tuesday. The electrical inspection was to take place later that morning. Once connected, we will no longer be reliant on City Hall for our chilled water. When this work is completed, our crew will construct a white picket fence, based on the design of the perimeter fence to conceal the mechanical unit. This is in accord with the plan approved by the City Architecural Review Board in November.

Tucker Brothers Store Update

I met with the architect, contractor and our structural engineer at Tucker Brothers on Tuesday to look at a concern about the front wall of the building. Turns out it is not properly attached to the roof framing structure of the building and sways ever so slightly when pressure is applied. This is a concern. Mike Koelzer, our structural engineer devised a way to attach the wall to the structure that will be part of the extended portico. He is doing the calculations and drawing it up but appears convinced that it can be remedied without an inordinate amount of trouble. The plumbers had to run a video camera through the sewer piping to see where it made a connection with the municipal lines and to determine the condition of the entire line. It too is 'not too bad'. The plumbing engineer recommended a low-pressure flush of the line and second camera tour to determine the final condition. We will do that. We are waiting mostly now on Dominion to schedule the new pole installation so we can trench back to the meter base. We will need an archaeologist on site to observe the trenching. The revised project schedule now has substantial completion in early May.

Bad News at Monumental Church

The Restoration Department has finished the demolition part of the stair tower room. What a mess! Of the seven original joists, only two could be salvaged. Of the period, heart pine floor boards, only four could be salvaged. An item of interest is that the four good floor boards were not tongue and groove, whereas all the rest were. All the floor boards were pit-sawn and adzed on their undersides and nailed with period "L" head nails, so they appear to have been installed at the same time. Puzzling.

The bad news is that we discovered active termites in the stair tower joists, floor boards and in the stairs themselves. Amy Swartz, the HRF Executive Director has had the Church treated for termites and has a contract with a pest control company for annual inspections. This should have been sufficient to prevent a termite infestation, but it was not. When we met with representatives of the pest control company, they were at a loss as to explain how their annual inspections did not detect the new infestation. Perhaps we can help. During the demolition phases of both the passage room and the stair tower, we observed numerous abandoned termite tubes clinging to both wood and masonry surfaces. We do not see how a termite company can tell if a these signs of activity are new or old, unless the pest control technician removes the tubes during the inspection. The tech could check for living termites as he is removing the tubes. Doing this annually would make new termite activity obvious. The logical conclusion is that Amy need to pursue a new pest control company, once her current company has finished its contractual obligations.

A last item of interest is the stairs themselves. The treads, risers and most other elements are cypress. We know they are period because there are "transition" nails attaching the bottom of the risers to the back of the treads. These nails, with cut bodies and forged heads were made mostly from 1790 to 1815, which fits nicely into the 1814 date of construction for the church.

Monumental Progress

I love the name of this structure. Every time we write about it, it sounds like we have accomplished mighty things. As you can see from the photo, the Restoration Dept. has completed replacing the four damaged, pit-sawn pine floor joists with pressure-treated pine ones. The loose brickwork under the safe was repaired, and a few bricks under the joists had to be reset. The utilities were reconnected to the framing. A subfloor of pressure-treated 1"x8"s was installed, followed by 1/2 inch plywood. We are now progressing to the stair hall, which has more extensive termite damage than the foyer. One item of interest, we found what appears to be an unused chimney flue in the corner by the safe. The flue was full of topsoil and shards of early window pane glass. Gold coins would have been better.

Tresspassers WILL be prosecuted...

...by the Law of Gravity. After that last exciting blog I"m sure y'all are breathless with anticipation, waiting to know what the Restoration Department is doing the second half of the month of August. Well wait no longer, we are doing a preservation for fee job at the 1814 Monumental Church in Richmond, owned by the Historic Richmond Foundation. The first floor foyer and stair passage rooms have been heavily damaged by termites. The termites are gone, but not forgotten. Seven of the three inch by nine inch floor joists in the foyer have to be replaced, and the remaining need to be consolidated. The subfloors were destroyed. The white oak finish floor has some damage, but at least 80% is reusable. It was carefully labeled, toward its reinstallation. There are two manufacture stamps on the oak floor, one is "Peerless Flooring Co. of High Point NC". The other is "NOFMA Burress of Lynchburg, Va." It may be possible to establish a ballpark estimate of the date of installation with this information. We laid plywood down for the safety of the HRF staff before left.

Isle of Wight Punch List

The Restoration Department was at the Isle of Wight courthouse in Smithfield the first half of August to correct some moisture problems, to repair the stocks, and to renovate the bathroom. The stocks were approximately five years old and were constructed of white oak and painted brown. We have no idea why its' horizontal members started to decay so quickly, as white oak should have a 20 year life-span. The decayed members were replaced with band-sawn pressure-treated pine, and then the stocks were reassembled. The bathroom needed a baseboard and a piece of flooring to fill in a void where an HVAC register was removed. Some plaster repair was also done there. To correct long term moisture problems to the courthouse a major amount of regrading was done between it and the Clerk's Office. Patio blocks were placed in the drip lines of the two buildings to prevent runoff ruining the grade work. On the other side of the courthouse, a large hole in the exterior wall next to a gutter downspout was bricked and repointed. The effects of these moisture-control activities will be noted by the Isle of Wight branch over time.