- Two historic buildings in use in Nephi do not meet current building standards, but they are still structurally sound for their current uses
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
One nice thing that the city discovered in a recent review of two old buildings they own is that the buildings remain useful.
"In order to evaluate the overall benefits of potential improvements to existing city-owned buildings, preliminary structural reviews are conducted," said Mark Jones, mayor.
A recent such review was made of the Old Gym, which was once the high school gym, and the city gas department building, which once served as the National Guard Armory.
"From time to time we ask (as city staff and council members) if it is appropriate to keep investing money in these historic buildings," said Randy McKnight, city administrator.
For that reason, a structural engineer the city had worked with was asked to walk through the two old buildings and give a professional opinion on whether the buildings warranted further improvement or whether the city would be better served to discontinue improving them in favor of saving funds for replacement buildings.
"The recommendations we received are based on a visual walk through only," said McKnight.
The Old Gym is built of unreinforced masonry walls. That type of construction does not meet the building code requirements of modern building standards, he said.
"We couldn't use unreinforced brick to build today," he said.
Buildings constructed of unreinforced masonry such as bricks, hollow clay tiles, stone, concrete blocks, or adobe will be damaged during earthquakes because the mortar holding the masonry together is generally not strong enough to resist earthquake forces.
"However, the Old Gym building is sound although it isn't up to code," he said.
Many unreinforced masonry buildings and other older, collapse-prone buildings, can be seismically strengthened. The Old Gym could be strengthened.
Whether that would be cost-effective or not would be a cause for further study.
One question that was a strong consideration was how they might deal with the roof of the old building and provide needed repairs.
The portion of the wall which spans above the roofline is called a parapet. Because both sides of the wall are exposed to extreme temperature changes and weather, parapets are susceptible to thermal and water-related problems.
The top of the parapet wall is the most vulnerable area for water-related problems to occur.
Parapet walls expand and contract at a greater rate than the masonry below them because the parapet lacks the dead load of the masonry above to help contain movement. Displacement of the cap and cracks in the masonry can occur.
The tops of the walls have been deteriorating and the parapet walls have had new mortar or sprayed foam applied and, for now, the bricks are secure.
"The building is sound enough that we could install a new roof," McKnight said.
There were also other considerations concerning the value of the old building.
"The engineer made an observation of the Old Gym floor as well," he said.
The Armory, as in the case of the Old Gym, does not meet earthquake standards. The building has been added to and neither the additions nor the building itself meet the new seismic standards set by the Utah Uniform Building Standards Act.
"There are problems with the Armory roof drain system," McKnight said. "There are some unsolved mysteries as to the weaknesses in the Armory drain system."
One of the problems is that the drain disappears for some distance and it is uncertain where the piping goes. Unfortunately, blueprints of the building no longer can be found locally. They were the property of the National Guard and did not come to the city when the building changed hands.
This was another of the times that Cleston Park, who was the National Guard Sergeant who worked at the Armory for many years, said McKnight, was missed because he would have been able to supply the needed information.
Part of the problem with the drainage is caused by the addition added to the building. The roof drain system is known only part of the way and all is behind walls.
"We do have two historic buildings in use and, while they do not meet current building standards, they are still structurally sound for their current uses," said McKnight.
The Old Gym was once the property of the school district and the plans for it had also not been located.
"There may be some drawings for both of the buildings," said McKnight, "but we were not able to come up with any."
Historic buildings are especially vulnerable to earthquakes but a seismic retrofit is possible. Fortunately, there are various approaches which can save historic buildings both from the devastation caused by earthquakes and from the damage inflicted by retrofit procedures.
Buildings do not need to be over-retrofitted. A cost-effective balance can be planned. New technologies, being developed all the time, may have applicability to historic preservation projects.
"As we consider the future of these historic buildings," said McKnight, "we will need to take into consideration what we have learned."
For now, however, the buildings can continue to be used as they are currently.
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