Church Tuckpointing Project

History

Our church building here at Nativity of Our Lord has had a history of water intrusions that date almost to the beginning of the Parish.

While parish leadership has attempted varied methods to solve the problems, including spot tuckpointing, full façade tuckpointing, and adaptations to the interior environment, most have not had the long-term effect of eliminating the water intrusion for significant periods of time. 

 

Recent issues

Most recently, we have been experiencing water intrusions primarily on the east side of the church, specifically during rain events with wind driven out of the east.

In order to address these issues, our Building and Grounds Committee invited Building Restoration Corporation in the fall of 2018 to perform various tests that included removal of granite, spraying water over the outside walls, and observing if the water made it past the granite.  

BRC reported profound failure in the mortar between granite pieces. These leaks in areas around the windows and along the columns were allowing water to intrude into the interior of the church, causing spalling of the stone around the windows and extensive plaster damage.

 

External repairs

The recommended solution is tuckpointing mortar joints, grinding out areas around the pilasters and replacing the mortar with caulk, and redoing the failing areas around the windows.

Because of the inherent cost of the project, in the spring of 2019 the Building and Grounds Committee engaged Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. to review BRC’s observation report and opine if the proposed solutions were appropriate.  WJE is a well-known engineering firm with extensive experience in building restoration. WJE reviewed background information, interviewed various facility personnel and made extensive inspections of interior and exterior spaces. WJE developed a report with a list of recommendations to consider.

There are two key things that we have learned:

1. Selection of mortar is key to the long-term success of a tuckpointing project that involves a granite building.  Granite is NOT an absorptive material. This makes it very difficult to adhere mortar to the stone and allows cracks to develop easily.

2. Diligence in future observations and monitoring the building is also key for long-term success.

The Building and Grounds Committee received an updated proposal from BRC incorporating some of the recommendations from WJE, and we have accepted their bid. We now plan to move forward with work in the spring — March of 2020, weather permitting — to be completed later in the year.

 

External repair cost

Building and Restoration Corporation’s bid for external tuckpointing totals $696,697.

 

Internal repairs

After the external walls of the church building are reinforced, then we can properly address the internal damage, which will require repairs to the interior walls and windows of the church. We hope to begin (and complete) this interior work in 2021.

In the meantime, plastic has now been installed around the affected interior windows to prevent falling debris until full interior repairs can be completed.

 

Funding

The cost of the tuckpointing repair project exceeds the scope of the annual budget and thus will have to be covered by other means. If you would like to help underwrite the cost of this project, you can donate online here, or contact the parish office at info@nativity-mn.org or (651) 696-5401.

• Donate online now