Western Specialty Contractors Performs Restoration of Historic Church

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Overlooking the shore of Corpus Christi Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas, stands the historic First United Methodist Church with its towering steeple and monument to Jesus. When the 53-year-old masonry and concrete church started to show signs of weathering, Western Specialty Contractors was called in to assess the damage and restore the landmark church’s façade.

Due to its limited accessibility, Western crews and facility engineer Manny Gallardo had to get creative with how they surveyed the damage to the church’s 150-foot-tall steeple.

“We used a telescope and stood across the street to try and view all of the different concrete spalls in the tower. We were actually able to gather a large amount of data by using a drone with a video camera to fly around the building and get a close-up of all the conditions,” said San Antonio Branch Manager Dan Wicht.

After the assessment was complete, construction crews determined that 100 percent of the mortar on the church’s brick facade (approximately 11,850 square feet) would need to be replaced, concrete would need to be repaired, and all sealants would need to be replaced with silicone.

Additionally, the original steel brick ties supporting the masonry steeple had completely rusted away due to the salty air and were no longer providing support to the brick wall. Western crews would have to install 2,000 Helifix 316 stainless steel wall anchors to re-anchor the brick wall to the steeple’s substrate.

Due to limited access to the tower’s upper sections and the amount of time and money it would take just to gain access to the tower, church officials elected to use all top-of-the line materials to prolong the life of the steeple’s restoration work.

Once the tower was made structurally sound, construction crews performed a complete restoration on the church, which included removing and replacing all exterior sealants, performing 7,500 square feet of tuckpointing, replacing any broken or cracked bricks and performing detailed concrete repairs. In order to maintain the church’s historical integrity, construction crews created custom mortar and concrete colors to match all new materials to the original work.

Engineering support on the project was provided by David Day with CASA Engineering.