An emergency EDC meeting was called on Wednesday evening to discuss and consider necessary action regarding the immediate repair to the brick wall at the 100 and 108 Main street demolition project. 

According to Larry Snodgrass (president) of Eri Consulting the concrete covering on the brick columns along Main street and the alley which are common with 112 Main were specified to be removed. When the contractor attempted to remove this concrete damage to the brick occurred so operations on site were suspended. Once on site Mr. Snograss attempted to do a small area himself and determined that it was impossible to remove this material without substantially damaging the brick and structural integrity of the brick column. The concrete material in this area was left in place.

The plaster coating along the wall common with 112 Main was previously unknown. This material was behind a wood stud and wood paneling wall. The specifications called for all materials to be removed from the brick wall. However, the wall is in such fragile structural condition that the plaster material must remain in place. Removing the material would irreversibly damage the structural integrity of the brick wall.

It appears that the mortar used in constructing the wall had very little, if any, cement or lime used during the original construction. So, now there are multiple voids along the brick face. These voids will only get larger and endanger the wall more as time goes by.

Fire Chief Don Chambers contacted three different companies to get quotes on a quick fix on the wall. He contacted Monolithic Constructors, Mr. Escamilla (contractor) and George Brown (contractor) of Red Oak.

The committee decided to go with Monolithic Constructors to spray 1 1/2 inches foam to fill in the voids and “glue” the wall together. Chief Chambers would contact Monolithic Constructors and work out the details on this emergency repair.