MONTAGUE — The White Lake Area Historical Society hosted a presentation from Dean Evans Jr. of Morden Construction Thursday, June 19, at the White Lake Senior Center in downtown Montague. The presentation reflected the venue and its surroundings - a discussion of the brick construction restoration projects Morden Construction has undertaken throughout the years.
Evans began his presentation with a brief history of Morden Construction as a business, and its journey into this niche field of restoration. When Morden Construction began in 1965, founder Maxwell Morden’s work focused on regular commercial construction projects of concrete and masonry - most notably laying the foundation for local amusement park Michigan’s Adventure. Eighteen years ago, Evans took over the business, and in the last 10 years, Morden Construction has transitioned entirely to masonry restoration.
The company came into the field quite simply by being the only local company willing to take on the challenge of fixing up old brick buildings, quickly forming a reputation for impressive restoration work. Evans cites the tutelage of past master foremen who trained him and his generation of workers how these buildings would have originally been constructed, and in turn, how one can restore them properly. Restoration, even outside of masonry, has been a longstanding interest of Evans’.
“In the winter months when it's too cold to do brick work, I restore old boats…classic trucks…I get a lot of satisfaction out of [taking] something deteriorating and bringing it back to original, or better than its original condition,” Evans said.
The projects Evans shared at the presentation featured historic buildings of the White Lake area and took the audience on a trip starting down Whitehall’s Colby Road and ending in the Mt. Calvary Cemetery of Montague. To provide visual aid and interest, Evans brought an example of the most common variety of brick found in the White Lake area, a Chicago Common brick. These were Chicago-made bricks, commonly used as ballast to stabilize Great Lakes freighters. The ships would unload their ballast at West Michigan ports, load up with timber, and abandon the bricks, which were then recycled to construct our towns.
The issue with the Chicago Common is that, due to their tremendous absorbency, which is troublesome in our particular climate of cyclical freezing and thawing. Given a century of this weather, it's no wonder the Chicago Common is decaying and threatening the structural integrity of the buildings they make up.
When it comes to restoration, these bricks are entirely removed and replaced with lookalikes. Evans gave another example of bricks which are meant to replicate the Chicago Common in looks. These replicas are made with more clay, which is more suitable for the Michigan climate. The Chicago Common are notable for their yellow, tan, or orange color, and were easily identifiable in the many downtown storefronts featured in the presentation.
The climate in general presents significant challenges for masonry. Even without the high absorbency of the Chicago Common, many bricks face degradation from the freeze and thaw cycle. To combat this, Morden implements what are called “weep vents,” ventilated slots in between bricks, which allow moisture to escape from the behind masonry. One of the featured examples of this implementation was in the Home Services of White Lake building.
Another necessary evil of battling our winter weather is salt, which is corrosive to stone, cement, and brick. When showing the extensive restoration of the old Whitehall State Bank, which now houses Fetch Brewing, not only is the salt damage at ground level, but well into the second story of the front facade, kicked up over decades of snowplows. This is another feature which had no alternative but to be replaced. Thankfully, in the case of the State Bank, the distinctive stone lintel bearing its namesake was able to be saved and cleaned, still a part of the structure. The intricate, columnesque piers of next door's Colby Place were not so lucky, and will need to be replaced with lookalikes in the future.
There are instances in which the bricks of a structure are in excellent condition, but which needs replacement of mortar joints. This is another common renovation task, as sometimes the mortar was mixed with too much lime, causing a softer consistency. These replacement tasks are primarily done through removing the degraded mortar and inserting improved mortar through the use of piping bags, primarily used in cake decoration.
Evans pointed out some unique qualities of a variety of Morden’s projects over the years, many of which are made at the request of individuals rather than the needs of the project. Discerning eyes may catch the silhouettes of past windows and doors, which were sometimes bricked up with masonry a different color to the original structure. Sentimental local historians may wish to keep these ghosts of windows past to showcase the history of the building, such as seen on 108 S. Mears Ave., behind the Pitkin building.
Other business owners may want their restored structure to have an eclectic appearance, such as Sawyers Brewing, which requested a skid of every variety of brick Morden had available at their yard. Other unique requests come in the form of weathering replacement masonry to add a more antiquated look, such as for the new concrete blocks on the WWII War Monument, which was achieved through power washing the specially mixed concrete while still wet.
The presentation attracted a large and engaged audience at the Senior Center, many of whom had questions for Evans at the conclusion of the talk. Discussion was had about another notable nemesis of brick - paint - which can trap moisture between the layer of paint and brick facade and cause damage through that. Morden has combated paint through sand-blasting and Evans encouraged the audience to abstain from painting bricks in the future.
WLAHS president Cheryl Lohman recalled last summer’s restoration of the Montague Museum, wherein Morden’s Construction workers battled heat and humidity and had a scare when an exterior wall began to bow outwards. Thankfully in the case of the former, Lohman supplied popsicles, and in the latter, diligent planning and careful work was taken to ensure both the survival of the wall and the safety of the crew, which Evans holds in utmost importance.
“We’ve been able to keep everybody safe for a lot of years,” he said.
Early in the presentation, Evans described how Maxwell Morden spent 42 years building up the reputation of Morden Construction, which had been spread entirely through word of mouth. Evans was proud to say that tradition has continued, even in the pivot to masonry restoration - letting the quality of their craftsmanship, passed down through generations of experienced workmen, speak for itself.
