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Donley County COURTHOUSE RESTORATION PROJECT

What's Wrong?

With The 1890 Courthouse

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise 03/09/00

Last summer, a team from Volz & Associates, Inc., — the same firm that has overseen the restoration of the State Capitol Building and the Governor’s Mansion — spent a week going over the Donley County Courthouse from the attic to the basement. Then later, specialized engineers studied every aspect of the building.

Their findings were alarming. Listed here are just some of the problems they found.

• Masonry Condition

While the building is a long ways from falling down, the architects found structural cracks in the masonry, deteriorating sandstone, and open mortar joints among other problems.

The report details numerous instances of cracks in the brickwork. Just one example: “The brick arch over the second floor stair window is failing,” the Master Plan says. “Brick are displaced, and  [mortar] joints are open.”

The concrete steps to the main entrance are in poor condition. The reports says reinforcing rods in the concrete were placed too close to the surface which have caused the steps to crack and erode as the steel rods rust and expand.

The top of one wall in the attic is severely damaged by water coming from the leaking roof. “Mortar is like sand and is dropping from the joints,” the report says. “Bricks are loose and are dropping from the wall.”

In the basement, moisture is deteriorating the foundation walls – particularly the mortar joints – of the Courthouse. Poor drainage away from the building and clogged downspouts are blamed for this water damage.

In literally dozens of places, the exterior sandstone is deteriorating – the surfaces of the stones are flaking off. Here, too, water is the problem. Tom S. Patty, a petrographic studies consultant from Austin, writes in the Master Plan, “A reduction of water exposure from leaky downspouts and contact with soil should help reduce future deterioration.” Richard Pieper, a preservation consultant in New York, agrees with Patty and suggests that unobtrusive flashing has been used to protect similar stone features in Europe.

• Roof & Bat Problems

Problems with the roof of the Courthouse are nothing new. Two years after the building was constructed, the minutes of the Commissioners’ Court indicate the roof had to be repaired. By 1897, the original plaster had been damaged, and pressed metal ceilings were installed in 1900. Despite work done through the years, leakage from the roof has continued to plague the building.

Today, the main problems with the roof appear to be associated with the flashing around its edge. The flashing details are “poorly designed and poorly installed,” the Master Plan says. In several places, there are gaps between the brick walls and the flashing, which allows entry for birds, bats, and water.

Additionally, the gutters are leaking, are filled with leaves, and may be too small to handle the volume of water coming off the roof. In at least one location, weeds are growing in the gutters. The inadequate drainage off of the roof and away from the building contributes to the damage seen on the sandstone surfaces.

The bats infesting the attic of the building are also not a new problem. Newspaper articles from 50 years ago refer to a man working to “make the structure bat tight.” Obviously, it didn’t work.

Bats roost in the roof framing of the attic, and sometimes a stray bat flies about the inside the Courthouse. Guano covers the floor of the attic, and some piles are as high as 10 inches. On warm days, the stench permeates the building.

According to Volz’s report, the guano creates a potential serious health hazard.

“Cryptoplazmosis and cryptococcus have been associated with animal feces and can cause respiratory problems in humans that can cause death,” the Master Plan says.

Judge Jack Hall says the county already has received one letter from the Health Department regarding the bats.

• Weathering

A lack of weatherproofing and poor maintenance are also taking a serious toll on the building. This is most noticeable around the windows.

The wood of the window frames is terribly weathered and cracked. The first floor windows appear to have been painted most recently, but some windows on the second floor have very little paint left.

Several window sashes are rotting and need to be replaced, and much of the glazing putty is deteriorated.

The stained glass arch window on the east side of the building is also endangered.

“The reinforcing bars on the stained glass windows are not attached to the sash,” the report says. “The glass is unsupported and needs repairs.”

• Electrical & Mechanical Problems

The majority of the wiring in the Courthouse is the old knob-n-tube style and has “exceeded its life expectancy,” as the Master Plan puts it.

The wiring system was legal and sufficient when the Courthouse was wired nearly a century ago. The insulation on this type of wiring breaks down over time, however. This is a safety concern if someone should come into contact with the exposed wires, and it can cause a fire. Knob-n-tube also wasn’t designed to carry the heavy electrical loads of the modern age.

Much of the wiring added to the original system is exposed romex wiring, and most of the receptacles in the building are not grounded. All of this is in violation of the code for a commercial building and presents a safety hazard.

Wiring for the elevator system, which was installed in the 1980s, appears to be in satisfactory condition. But the report mentions, “The enclosed breaker sounds as though it is arcing when the elevator hydraulic pump starts. This condition could eventually burn out the breaker and is a potential fire hazard.”

There is no fire alarm system in the Courthouse, and there is no emergency lighting.

Several code violations were reported in the Master Plan pertaining to the steam heating system, and there is no air conditioning in the Courthouse except for a few window-mounted units.

The plumbing fixtures are reportedly in adequate condition, but many of them do not meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The hot water lines need to be insulated. The water lines passing through brick walls are not sleeved properly, and there are several code violations regarding the water pipes and the water heater in the home demonstration office.

Four violations of the Uniform Plumbing Code have been found regarding the natural gas line.

• Code Violations & Accessibility

The Master Plan identifies no fewer than 30 separate violations of the Standard Building Code. While the Courthouse can get away with some of these because of its historic nature, the violations would need to be addressed if any significant restoration work is done. Additionally, code violations pertaining to life safety issues present a potential liability to the county if someone were to get hurt as a result of a violation.

The women’s restroom does not meet accessibility specifications and will have to be relocated.

The stairs do not meet the code and are not uniform. Some of the steps are more than an inch out of level, and the existing handrails do not meet specifications.

The report also found 53 accessibility violations under the ADA. These problems start at the curb ramps on the Courthouse square and continue throughout the building. They include everything from the height of the water fountain to the size of the mirrors in the bathrooms.