Parish Council: Facilities Presentation Update

Here you can see the difference between a wet wall and a dry wall after a rain. Repairs are on the way to correct the water infiltration.

Parish Council Members present: Father Fonseca, Teresa Juarez, President Rito Rivera, and Vickie Sanchez. Council meeting was not held due to lack of a quorum. A facilities presentation was held with those present.

Plaster Project : Confessional, Church Tower and Outside Wall:

Joe Uranga with El Capitàn Construction provided an update on the repairs being made to the church tower walls and confessional. He is currently working on the walls and placing the finish on a couple of the walls. One will be left undone to determine whether the repairs are working. Mr. Uranga reported that there is an area where the water runs off the roof falling against the wall to the fleshing and into a hole in the wall. The hole had been filled at one time with gobs of caulking. The water is going around the caulking and into the wall. He placed a coffee can in that area to see how much erosion was taking place when it rained. Within two hours of rain, three quarters of the coffee can had filled with erosion. The holes that were located have been filled with cool seal. Before, covering the area, Mr. Uranga would like to wait for it to rain so that he may see if the cool seal will work.

The plaster on the walls in the confessional is being removed and the adobe is being dried. The west wall of the confessional appears to be to wall with the most damage. Roots from the cypress tree are growing within the adobe. The roots will damage the walls. It was recommended that the cypress tree be cut down and that the parish consider the possibility of changing to desert landscaping.

Mr. Uranga reported that he found a sealed drain in the middle of tower. The drain indicates that in the past, the water was being channeled out of the tower. He also mentioned that cement plaster from the outside walls would need to be removed since this form of plaster creates a barrier and “sweats” creating moisture, erosion and cracked walls. It is possible that certain areas requiring removal of the cement plaster might result in the removal of some of the adobes.

The name and contact information for David Tennant, architect was provided. Mr. Tennant and his wife, Barbara, have a home in Marfa and will be in Marfa during the Thanksgiving holidays. They are willing to donate their time and develop architectural plans for the repairs. This would give the council a starting point in determining techniques and a game plan. Bonding and safety rules and techniques and city ordinances were mentioned. It was estimated that the major repairs could cost approximately $125,000.00 or more depending on what takes place.

Natural plasters were discussed as well as the dimensions of the tower and how much would need to be purchased for the repairs. Mr. Uranga stated that Rich Gill, a resident of Marfa, could be contacted and asked to look at the tower and provide the council with the dimensions. As for the inside walls in the confessional, Mr. Uranga stated that he would like to use a marble dust finish. The color would be a bright white and would “glow” from the marble dust creating warmth and color.

An update of the discussion held at this meeting will be provided to the parish council at the next meeting. Council members will be asked to meet on Tuesday, October 30th, at 6:00 p.m.