The Old and the New

Whack, whack!  Bang Bang, Griiiiiind, griiiiind! whump!

Today it was like sitting in a dentist's office hearing him drill on a tooth all day.

That's pretty much what it has been this week.

Good evening, all.

All week I have been keenly aware of the white, powdery dust on everything.  All of them are alike in texture; part pulverized lawn and part powdered limestone.  We have had some nice compliments over the years on our lawn.  Our grass has always been a thick, lush carpet.

But that is about gone for a while.  I am going to ask that we begin to water our roses and see if we can get the weeds out of the sand area between the curb and the sidewalk.

Things are busy this week though some of the things that I had hoped would manifest themselves have not.  Still there is progress.

Workers have completed the removal of the cap stones and the honing crews are busy now every day.  The honing crews are smoothing the face of the limestone panels taking off the pittings and damage from the sandblasting as well as the staining and oxidization of 70 years.

The difference is pretty astounding when can see what we have seen now for so long that we don't think about it anymore and then right beside it is the bright white of the "new" stone.

A good portion of the South elevation and the West elevation have been done and most of the ground level panels are complete.



West elevation & photos do not do justice to the contrast


Here are a few shots of the South elevation.



So. Elevation - right half honed





So. Elevation - note fellow working at ground level

 There is a delay in the installation of the spandrels.  They are not likely to go up until next week.  They are waiting on some materials in the installation of a moisture barrier before the spandrells are put in place.  Workers continue to remove the other gray panels.

You cannot see it from the ground but the demolition of the old roof has begun.  They are taking it down to the concrete decking.  Now watch it rain.  Here is a spot where they were working.

Heh, it's not all gonna be pretty!

Thursday morning as I sat at the computer I noticed that was a lot of activity going on outside.  As I watched for a moment it was evident that the fellows moving around were part of the roofing crew.  Most of the day one of their lift vehicles was lifting bundles of the roofing material on the roof.  One of them they must have been dropped since as I worked I felt and heard a big ... WHUMP! ... and at least my corner of the building shook a little.  I had not felt that since our little earthquake a few months ago.

Not sure how far they got today but they made a good start as you can see below.  They have Friday as well to work.  This pic gives a pretty good cross section of the new roof.  I think they will come back on top now with another covering.  This roof should increase our R factor for heating and cooling.



The old and the new roof

 As I said earlier, part of our cost of the roof is being paid by a Federal stimulus grant.  Ironic. Ironic in that the courthouse was built under a Federal grant during a financial downturn in our nation's economy.  The purpose of those programs was to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and help put money in circulation.  Today, the SECO grant money was issued under a program designed to do exactly the same thing.

Accurate restoration can test your patience, I guess.  We are waiting on a ruling right now by the Texas Historical Commission to rule on a type of glass that we are going to use to replace broken glass in a number of places.  The glass is called "obscure" and is used in places like restroom windows to assure privacy.  Our windows man had tried unsuccessfully with a number of vendors in Texas and one in New York for a match but has not found one yet.  We are waiting to see if THC will accept the closest match found.  Some of the glass to be replaced is 30 feet in the air so who is going to be able to tell.

From time to time, I have hear people say that they did not like the look of our courthouse.  They thought it was plain and many have openly stated that they wished that we had kept the old one built in 1886.  I was visiting with a friend the other day who said she had never thought of our courthouse as particularily attractive but said lately with the work going on that she was seeing some things about that she really liked.  Someone else told me that we are starting to see that when it was new that it was pretty striking.

Perhaps we are now seeing what she was meant to look like in her beginning.

Most of us see those photos of the 1886 courthouse but we have never read of its failings.  The Commissioners Court in the opening years of the 20th century had iron rods driven into its walls to try to stabilize them because they were separating.  That problem continued to be a concern and was one of the leading reasons for building the current structure.

Your commissioners have really stepped up at this point to take on what they have done.  I hope you will tell them 'thank you' and how pleased you are with what you are seeing. 

We have just received word from the THC about the timeline for the next round of courthouse restoration grants.  When this program first started there was $50 million budgeted by the State for these projects.  A national study had shown that courthouses were some of the most threatened historic structures in our nation.  This 2-year stretch provides only $22 million.  But we, as a people in Jack County, are showing a great interest in our courthouse's restoration and, I believe, our chances are better than in the past to be funded to finish the work.

That deadline for filing is December 1.

Next time I hope we can talk about reinstalled spandrels.

I will also introduce you to our Courthouse's first guardian.