Work Begins!

Work has begun on the Castro Adobe! The long awaited seismic stabilization is underway.

On Feb 21st work started with a group of California Conservation Corps (CCC) members and Direct Construction Unit (DCU) crew setting up scaffolding for the project. What a difference a week makes! The DCU foreman, Chris Barrazza and his crew are moving quickly. (Photo 1 shows interior of cocina wall with gable end dismantled. Photo 2 shows CCC member carefully removing historic corner shelves from cocina.)

The cocina (historic kitchen) wall is about to be dismantled, the fireplace is being dismantled as well as the other non-historic interior features of the building. Part of the south gable wall is exposed and is being assessed for the best way possible to maintain the original adobe bricks and integrate them with the new adobe bricks made in summer 2007.

Today, the State archaeologist, Karen Hildebrand was rapidly finishing her documentation of the cocina wall before the DCU crew dismantled the damaged wall. Volunteers from the Santa Cruz Archaeological Society assisted Karen by removing the plaster from the interior north wall. Karen was excited to locate the original vent holes, view smoke stains, and holes for cooking tools in the cocina wall. Locating these will ensure the correct placement of the bracero (masonry range) in the interpretive plan in the future. (I apologize for the video orientation...but it was such good information I felt I had to post it!) We hope to update the blog more frequently now that work is proceeding ...so check back often! -JK

January 16, 2008-Brick Maintenance

A few of us ventured out into the cold Central California winter to do some upkeep on the bricks and perform weed control around each pallet.The first job was to clear the quickly growing weeds surrounding the pallets. We also attempted to clear the dirt underneath the pallets (pushed up underneath by gophers) to ensure a steady air flow from the ground to the bricks.

From left to right-Charlie Kieffer, Jim Brownson, Jim Toney, Jessica Kusz, and Barney Levy (Randy Widera-not pictured).

We also took the covers off a few sample pallets to check the condition of the bricks. Most of them appeared in good condition although some had suffered a bit of water damage generally due to covers shifting in the recent storms and exposing portions of the bricks. Some bricks exhibited moisture from condensation although this is a fairly common occurrence when bricks are covered and stored.

Charlie Kieffer, Barney Levy and Jim Toney check the bricks.

We also noted that the dirt piled up underneath the bricks did not appear to be causing the expected damage to the bottom of the bricks....of course we didn't discover this until after we had cleaned out most of the dirt!

In one instance, the plastic cover had blown off half of the pallet which exposed a portion of the bricks to the elements.

Note the difference between the tops of the brick. The smooth surface had not been exposed to the weather while the other had been exposed.

Some rubber bands surrounding the pallets covers had snapped due to UV exposure and each one was re-secured and tied down with either poly-propylene rope or with duct tape. We also cleared any downed tree branches and leaves off the tops of the pallets. We didn't find many tears in the black plastic and it seems to be holding up quite well.

Thanks for all the hard work from the Friends board members, Jim B, Barney, Charlie, and Jim T! -JK

January 2, 2008

Today we ventured out to the Castro to do a a primary check of the adobe bricks to see how they are faring this winter. Our main concern was water wicking up from the ground and penetrating the brick as well as water pooled on top of the bricks infiltrating the pallet covers. We uncovered a sampling of bricks and found that our method of covering them with plastic pallet covers is mostly working to keep the bricks dry! The overall condition of the bricks was excellent with a few displaying a small amount of moisture/condensation on the tops of the bricks (see photo 2). One brick had some wicking at the bottom and was soft enough that with a strong force (Randy's thumb) an indentation was made into the brick (see photo 3). That condition only appeared on one brick and overall the base of the bricks appear to be withstanding the rain and moisture (see photo 4).

One issue we noted was that the large rubber bands used to secure the tops of the pallet covers are snapping due to UV exposure. The bands that have broken will be replaced with twine and thus the twine vs. rubber bands experiment has been answered. For use outdoors, twine endures much better than the large rubber bands.

A big storm is approaching tomorrow and our next steps are to clear away any branches that have fallen on or near the bricks. We also plan to clear the weeds growing around the base of the pallets. This should ensure our bricks are protected for the remaining winter months. -JK

Winter Upkeep at the Castro

A small group of us met at the Castro Adobe yesterday, December 5 from 12-3:00. Although the day was warm and sunny, it was apparent fall had come and gone with the bare trees and plants. The Persimmon tree's fruit was in full abundance and some in the group were kind enough to lighten its load.

The roof of the adobe has been tarped for the winter (a great job!) done by the State maintenance crew.

We then moved on to checking the palletized adobe bricks. Our method of tarping with thick plastic seems to be working well. The water is being diverted and we brushed the fallen leaves off the tops of the bricks so that water would not collect on top. A few pinhole openings in the pallet covers were patched with duct tape. We found that some of the rubber bands snapped (which bind the top of the pallet covers) and they appear to be very susceptible to UV. We will replace those with twine. Other than that, the adobe bricks seem to be doing well.

Our meeting ended with Charlie Kieffer telling us Castro family stories of his great great grandmother's reminisces of bandit Tiburcio Vasquez ! Wow.

Will return in two weeks to clear around the pallets and continue to monitor condition of the bricks and structure. -JK

Preparing for Winter!

Today we will be going out the Adobe to inspect how secure it is for the upcoming winter. Expect a post soon! RW

Weather proofing

Great question from GK on what is being done to protect the building from the upcoming rainy season. New tarps have been installed on the roof of the building..this should keep most of the weather out for the season. The new adobe bricks have been carefully covered and are being checked frequently to ensure that they are staying dry (in fact, we are doing a check today). Thanks for your question! -JK

First post

This is the first post to the Castro Adobe blog! Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks is very excited to be able to chronicle the ongoing efforts to stabilize and restore the Castro Adobe. Please add comments or questions and we will try to post them and/or answer them questions quickly. We hope this can be a place to share ideas, history, upcoming opportunities or anything else related to this incredible building. Onward!