The weekend brought rain, and challenges.
The building’s exterior was wrapped in plastic, much like a slip n slide, to channel water away from the foundations.
Rain began to fall steadily, and gained power over time.
Last night the water table had fallen slightly, but water was coming in under one footing, as well as through the roof in one spot. The walls were holding, but it was not the place to be in a storm.
Today, rubble removal begins.
Thursday September 18th, the Masons arrived at the shop.
They removed the crumbled brick areas by the doors, and one section which was collapsing on the East wall. They then began to prepare the holes and the bricks for rebuilding. One fellow removed brick while the other used a chisel to remove all evidence of mortar from it.
On Friday, the steam locker removal began. This was hard to watch. They did a careful job, protecting as much original brick as they could, and setting all of the steel fittings aside. The steel has rusted to less than half thickness where it was wrapped in concrete. We saved off the braces, pintels and door with the intent of rebuilding the steam locker in the future.
Behind the locker, the wall was pushed out over a foot. Bricks were at odd angles, pushed down by the soil pressing on them. A real surprise, however, was hidden behind the brick of the wall.
In the ground, shale had been stacked like Jenga, and cinderblocks were neatly stacked in the hillside.
It seems that when the hill was closed up after original construction, they used the shale to brace behind the wall. When the wall began to go 100 years ( my guess ) later, the solution of the day was to dig out the matter pressing on the wall, insert cinderblocks, and cement over it, then replace the brick wall, and build the locker to hold it all in. We are not the first to have problems with this part of the shop.
Throughout the past week, bricks have been moved, brick has been cleaned, historically correct mortar has been made and used, holes in walls have been filled, and so on. It’s been a lot of work, a dramatic visual change in the interior of the building, a few scares here and there, and a lot of learning.
I have been enjoying working as a gopher for the masons. They are knowledgeable and likeable. They allow me to carry water, clean brick, move rubble, and such other things, so they can do the things they are properly trained to do.
In the next week, we hope to clear out most if not all of the rubble, and prepare the floor for the concrete trucks. It is probable that the floor will be generic grey, and we will need to color stain it to make it look like the shale underneath. As sad as we all are to lose the character of the shale slab floor, our building’s safety is the first priority. It helps that the new floor will make the building easier and more approachable to visit.
