9/11/2008 5:04:00 PM Sutler's old adobe walls going back up
VVN/Steve Ayers
Foreman Josh Baker and bricklayer Mike Carlile of Beyond Adobe have begun rebuilding the 137-year-old adobe wall of the Wingfield building that fell down during a microburst last month.
Most of the original bricks from the old adobe wall were salvaged and will be used in the rebuilt wall.
Just weeks after a micro burst leveled one of the historic adobe walls in the Wingfield Building, construction crews are putting it back up.
Building owner Robbie Allen has hired Beyond Adobe, a Camp Verde company that specializes in adobe construction, to restore the wall to a resemblance of its former self.
To strengthen the rebuilt wall, foreman Josh Baker said they would build an exterior wall made from new bricks that contain Portland cement along with an interior wall about three feet high also with the new bricks.
Then they will use the adobe bricks salvaged from the old wall and possibly some new bricks made from the damaged ones to build the upper part of the wall on the interior. The interior wall will be more decorative than load bearing.
"Our challenge will be to make the new wall look as close as possible to the old wall," Baker said.
According to Beyond Adobe owner Adam Wayne, they will use a mix of whitewash and a ferrous sulfate rust-like stain to try and recreate the patina of the old walls on the interior.
Once the wall is up the exterior will be covered in a lime-based plaster, which, according to Baker, will allow the adobe to "breathe again."
Sometime back in the 1950s the old adobe walls were covered in a Portland cement-based plaster, which effectively sealed its fate.
"The Portland plaster was what caused the wall to be so unstable. When water got between the adobe and the plaster it had nowhere to go so it was actually causing the adobe to melt," Baker said.
After the wall is completed, which should take about a week, according to Wayne, his crew will pour a bond beam linking the old south-facing wall to the newly constructed wall, effectively stabilizing both walls.
"We are using methods similar to the way it was originally constructed," Wayne said.
The entire project, which will have to be completed in phases, will take about a month, according to Wayne.
Baker, who has taken an interest in adobe construction since making the change from traditional build methods to adobe, said the old building is built in a traditional territorial style.
"The territorial style, which used adobe walls and a steep wood framed roof, first began around Taos, N.M., where there was a readily available supply of lumber. This is really a classic example that is being restored to its original look," Baker said.
The walls were originally constructed in 1870 as part of the Sutler's store owned by William "Boss" Head. The sutler was a private contractor hired by the Army to provide goods to the military not otherwise supplied by the government.
