Morton Schoolhouse Restoration News

 

 

 

Exterior Brickwork

 

Only a few days after the bell tower had been installed and

the trucks and crane had left, another trailor arrived in the

school house parking lot. It was the first of several that are

being employed by the crew that will restore the exterior of

the building.

 

 

Morton School - April 2, 2002

 

There are multiple steps in the process required to

restore the brick exterior. This will be a summary

of those used at the Morton Schoolhouse.

 

 

What a grind!

 

Loose and deteriorated mortar is removed by grinding the

joints. All the mortar joints are ground to a depth of about

1/2 to 3/4 inch.

 

 

The front enclosure is removed

 

In order to facilitate the grinding on the front of

the schoolhouse, the enclosure was removed the

day after the work had begun.

 

The weather has been a mixture of snow, rain,

and bits of sunshine for the benefit of the work crews.

 

 

Same old grind

 

The grinding of the mortar joints took the crew about 4 to 5 days

of dusty, grimy, work. The rain that occurred was welcomed, since

it helped to reduce the amount of dust in the air and helped to

remove some of the dust that settled on all the surrounding

surfaces. After an area was finished, pressurized water was

used to further remove the dust and grime.

 

Face lift

 

Once the surface has been washed, the task of removing

damaged bricks begins. Over the years some of the bricks

have deteriorated, or have been damaged. If the damage

is extensive the brick is removed. In the picture above,

the school front has been washed and several bricks in

the outer course have been removed.

 

 

 

Bricks on the West side as well as the remainder of

the schoolhouse have been removed.

 

 

The brick used in the construction of Morton School, as well

as many of the early schools, were a soft brick fired at a relatively

low temperature. The bricks that are currently manufactured are

much harder and of a different size. In order to properly restore the

building, the bricks that replace those that have been removed should be

as similar in appearance, age, and all other characteristics as possible.

 

Bricks that the work crews had reclaimed from other area projects,

proved to be unsuitable for Morton School for a variety of reasons.

When faced with this dilemma, friends in the community again

came forward to help.

 

Faulkner school, another area one-room school that was constructed

at nearly the same time (1889) as Morton, is currently in bad repair

and many bricks are becoming detached from the inner brick courses.

Current descendants of the Daniel S. Faulkner family who owned the

land where their school was built, agreed to allow the use of some of

the brick from their schoolhouse in the restoration of Morton School.

 

Lawrence Faulkner, a grandson of Daniel, and his sister, Mrs Doris

Faulkner /Stotts, and her daughter Mary Ann Stotts have been closely

following the Morton project. When they heard of "brick problem",

they all agreed to help and volunteered to participate in removing

the Faulkner school bricks. The Faulkner bricks were taken to

Morton School so the crew could begin installing them the

following day.

 

Now the schoolhouse with some bricks removed and freshly ground

mortar joints, was washed with a mild cleaning solution that removed

most of the surface grime, stains, paint wash, and bird droppings that

had accumulated over the years.

 

The Faulkner bricks were then put in place with a mortar that cures not

nearly as hard as the standard mortar commonly used today. Since the

bricks are a softer variety, the mortar must be also, so that the relative

hardnesses are compatible. Otherwise, today's commonly used mortar after

a period of time, would destroy the surface of these brick. Mortar was then

applied overall to replace all that was removed in the grinding process.

 

 

Morton School West Side - April 9, 2002

 

Newly cleaned, with some Faulkner School bricks and fresh mortar!

Doesn't it look great??

 

 

 

In another week or so, all the scaffolding and equipment that was used by

the crew from Oak - Stone Renovators, Inc. was gone gone and they have

left us with a beautifully restored building exterior.

 

 

Morton School House - May 2002

 

 

The next step is the replastering of the interior . . . .

---

If you have additional information that you would like to add to this page, we

would be happy to hear from you. Please email us!!

Copyright © 2000 - 2018