Slater_ECR_full_building_for_bidding_A_and_E.pdf

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Existing Conditions Report

Slater Hall

Completed Fall 2022 e2

This report was prepared for:

Greenville County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism

Report prepared by:

Preservation South, LLC

PO Box 1595

Greenville, SC 29621 preservationsouth@bellsouth.net

770-894-2981 mailto:preservationsouth@bellsouth.net e3

Report Background

Preservation South was engaged by the Greenville County Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism to undertake an assessment of the current condition of Slater Hall. The assessment is meant to provide background and guidance for the County to fulfill their stewardship responsibilities for this important historic resource. This assessment was conducted to determine the condition of the building’s historic fabric and to guide future restoration and upgrades. This information allowed the creation of the accompanying financial estimates so that they may be addressed in a proactive and systematic manner.

Finally, the report was to provide recommendations on the correct treatment of historic materials in order to avoid incompatible repairs and future maintenance issues.

Survey Methodology

In order to provide a baseline for the assessment, the Existing Conditions Report was created based upon historic research of the building’s use and alteration over time. This information then guided onsite analysis of the building and its various elements. The background information and on-site evaluation allowed the identification of character-defining features that were authentic, and those that were not. The building’s historic elements were then methodically assessed for condition issues such as water damage, inappropriate construction techniques, etcetera. Recommendations for treatment were then provided based upon the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The standards for rehabilitation are the most commonly used of the four secretary’s standards and allows for flexibility in materials used in the repairs while maintaining the historic visual character of the building. Please refer to page 39 for a full list of the rehabilitation standards. The information gathered was then organized by category into the following report with accompanying cost estimates to implement the recommendations.

Survey Scope and Limitations

This report is focused on Slater Hall and its immediate surroundings that directly affect the building and its components. The report provides a brief general description of the condition issues identified herein and provides recommendations based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

This report does not utilize any invasive assessment techniques. This report is a basic assessment of the building’s needs and estimation of potential costs to address those issues in the most direct and cost-effective way. The consultant did not survey the building for asbestos, lead paint, mold, or other hazardous materials. The findings and cost estimates are based on a preliminary investigation and should not be considered as binding. The as built plans included in this study were prepared from previous architectural plans for the building but are not construction documents.

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Site Background:

Slater Mill was founded in 1927 as a textile manufacturer of rayon. The mill was originally constructed as two separate buildings. In addition to the mill the company constructed a brick mill office, and mill store and 140 mill houses to house the mill workers and their families. In 1934 H. Nelson Slater donated

Slater Hall to the community to serve as a church, school, community meeting place, and recreational facility. The mill grew throughout the twentieth century, in 1946 it consisted of 185,000 square feet with 1,200 spindles and was purchased by JP Stevens & Company. Slater manufacturing played a primary role in the space missions of the 1960’s by providing the primary material for the space suits.

As the mill community grew and the needs of the residents changed the use of Slater Hall adapted to meet them. The goal of this report is to allow Slater Hall to continue to meet the needs of the community while restoring more of its architectural integrity.

Image 1: 1947 Basketball team in front of Slater Hall.

Cover Image: Earliest known photo of Slater Hall e5

Exterior Site

Slater Hall is sighted at the high point of the Slater Mill community, and it seems clear that the company purposefully evoked the “Temple on a Hill” aesthetic in the location and design of the building. Historic images indicate the long sidewalk leading from the mill store and office up to the portico at the front of

Slater Hall was meant to catch the passersby’s eye and impress them. Over the years new trees have been added along the walkway which obscure the building. Additionally, the annex was constructed next to the building with the rear façade facing to the front of the site which distracts from the historic building.

Recommendations:

Remove trees that line the walkway to open up views of the building. Replace with conifers that frame and flank the front façade of the building and screen the annex building. See historic images for inspiration.

Given that the top floor of Slater Hall has more square footage than the annex the county should consider removing the annex to save maintenance costs and declutter the site.

Image 2: Slater Hall obscured by trees while the non-historic annex is a significant intrusion on the site.

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Foundation

The building sits on a continuous brick foundation set in common bond. Vents consisting of five openings in an X pattern are distributed around the building to allow the crawl space to breath. The foundation appears to be in good shape with only minor settlement issues at the porches. The concrete slab is held by the building but the foundation below has settled causing a horizontal crack at the mortar joint. This settlement is likely exacerbated by the water from the downspouts which currently dump out at the foundation and are not directed away from the building. Even though the site is a hilltop the addition of sidewalks, especially on the playground side of the building are serving as dams and causing that water to pond at the foundation instead of running off. The brick has been painted red (including the rear chimney) at some point in its history, which is not good for the brick because it held water in the masonry.

Install drainage to divert downspouts underground and away from the buildings to the far side of the sidewalks.

Repoint the separated mortar joints with Type N mortar that matches the original in color and texture.

Remove the red paint from the brick using a peel away product for historic masonry.

Image 3: Downspout discharge at foundation e7

Image 4: Red painted brick foundation with horizontal cracks below the porch slab e8

Siding

The building is clad in wooden lap siding that was originally painted but later was covered in aluminum siding. Based on the removal of the aluminum on the front façade the siding underneath is in good condition though that façade is protected by the portico. The rest of the siding is likely not in as perfect shape but the repairs should still be minimal.

The aluminum should be removed from the exterior of the building including the underlying Styrofoam and nailers.

Rotten, split or deteriorated siding should be replaced with new siding that matches the original in dimension and profile.

The siding should be prepped following the recommended treatment for lead-based paint and then primed and painted.

Image 5: Façade covered in dented aluminum siding e9

Image 6: Original siding exposed during front façade restoration

Windows

The building’s windows have been refurbished in recent years which included the replacement of the glazing compound and repair and repainting of the wooden sash elements. These windows are a character defining feature of the building. The previous work has extended their usable life in relation to weather but does not address potential damage from recreational activities and needs for increased energy efficiency have not been addressed. In addition, there are two windows that have been enclosed (one in each support room off the stage) and covered with metal louvers.

The historic windows should be retained and protected.

The sliding door on the west side of the building should be replaced with a new paired wood window that matches the original windows on the building. The surrounding wall should be repaired inside and out to match the original siding and plaster/ casing.

Interior storm windows should be added to all the windows in the building not only for greater energy efficiency but also to provide protection for the gym windows from impact from balls etc.

The sun damaged casing and windowsills on the outside of the building should be replaced with new wood that matches the original in profile and dimension.

Fabric awnings should be added to all of the windows on the east and west sides of the building to shield the interior from summer sun and protect the historic windows from weather and slow deterioration. (Note: there is no photographic evidence showing the building ever had fabric awnings though they were popular in the period. This recommendation is made as a way to protect the historic windows in period appropriate way.

Image7: Sliding door replacing an original paired window opening

Image 8: deteriorated casing on the upper floor and around the side entry door

Entry

A recent renovation of the primary façade has restored the entry to its historic appearance. On the sides of the building the two primary entry doors are protected by cantilevered gabled porticos. The original wood doors with glass in the upper third have been replaced with metal doors and enclosed transom. Additionally, there are two side doors from the gym that lead out onto the two side porches.

These doors have also been replaced with metal doors. The doors from the wings to the side porches have been covered over with the aluminum siding and their access steps removed.

The awnings should be retained, and the paint removed utilizing lead abatement practices.

Replace the metal doors and the infilled transoms with new doors and transoms in sapele.

Install an automatic door opener on the left door of the east double entry door off the wheelchair ramp.

The hidden doors to the stage wings should be restored to operable condition.

Image 9: Original door casing and transom opening

Image 10: Historic image of Slater Baseball Team showing original side entry with transom

Roof

Slater Hall has a large gabled roof covered in three-tab asphalt shingles. The roof drains into large metal gutters running the length of the building which do not have a leaf guard on the top despite the overhang of the trees on the west side.

The gutters should be cleaned out and have gutter guards added.

The three-tab shingles should be replaced with a true standing seam metal roof that does not utilize fasteners on the face with rubber gaskets.

A ridge vent should be installed to allow the attic to be ventilated foam air channels should be installed between the rafters to allow the sheathing to breath against the insulation.

Image 11: West façade with trees overhanging the roof

Interior Floors

The floors throughout the building, excluding the main restrooms, are wood. In many areas it is painted but where it is exposed it is maple. This flooring material is extremely hard and would hold up well to the wear the community building takes. Overall, these floors appear to be in good shape except for a couple of small spots on the upper floor where the roof or sprinkler pipes leaked. There is also a patch in the first-floor hallway. It was patched using oak instead of maple and the joints were not woven.

The original floors should be retained and refinished with a minimum of three coats of poly.

Where the floors are damaged or improperly replaced, they should be replaced with maple that matches the original in dimension and profile. This flooring could be salvaged from where the bathrooms are added on the upper floor.

Image 12: Deteriorated wood floor on the third floor of Slater Hall

Image 13: Incompatible wood floor patch

Walls

The interior walls of the building are made of plaster and have a heavy textured finish. It is not clear if the finish is original or was added at a later date to cover up damage to the plaster. There are a few locations where the walls have been damaged and inappropriate patches are in place. There are signs that the lower portion of the walls were painted dark green as a way to hide damage and dirt.

Given that some of these textured coatings have asbestos in them it is best to leave them in place and repair with new infill texture where needed.

Recreating the historic paint scheme will add to the historic character of the building and will also serve its original purpose hiding dirt and scuffs.

Image 14: Poorly executed wall patches on the upper floor

Image 15: Green painted wainscot under the staircase

Image 16: Painted wainscot showing through later overpaint

Trim

The interior trim in Slater Hall consists of tall baseboards, wide board casing with a back band and beadboard wainscot in the gymnasium. This trim was originally stained a dark walnut color popular in the period that the building was constructed. The majority of this trim remains intact with the exception of the wall between the hall and the gymnasium that was rebuilt without the beadboard wainscot and the baseboard. On the mezzanine floor the doors from the staircase have been replaced including their casing. The upstairs hall had a wood chair rail that has been removed.

The existing original trim should be retained and repaired where necessary.

Where the original trim is missing it should be replicated to match the original trim in dimension and profile.

All of the trim should be painted in a walnut brown color that matches the original stain color. SW

6069 “French Roast” in semi-gloss recommended.

Image 17: Later replacement casing with outline of earlier casing in the wall coating

Image 18: Panelized beams in gym showing signs of warping in the various elements, possibly due to the close proximity of the HVAC ducts.

Image 19: Beadboard wainscot in gym showing the underlying stain

Interior Doors

The original doors in the building are solid wood with five horizontal panels. These doors remain in most of the locations throughout the building with a few stored on the upper floor. The doors leading into the former cloak rooms for the masonic hall have had metal plates applied over the door.

The original interior doors should remain and the ones currently in storage should be remounted.

Where new doors are necessary, they should be solid wood and be a 5 horizontal panel design.

Image 20: Original horizontal panel doors

Image 21: Replacement six panel doors

Fire Rating

Slater hall is primarily a frame building with a steel frame supporting the third floor over the gymnasium.

The building contains a fire suppression system in the form of a dry sprinkler system on all floors. This system appears to have undersized pipes on the end of each run. The ceiling of the gym is made of plywood and does not have a fire rating. This will limit the sorts of activities that can take place on the top floor and elsewhere in the building. A sliding steel fire door has been added at the top of the staircase and is mounted against a plywood wall. Two metal fire escapes have been added to the building - the first off the northeast corner of the upper floor provides secondary egress from that floor.

This staircase is now blocked by the new air handling unit behind the building. A second emergency stair was added on the west side of the building to provide egress from the mezzanine floor through a sliding door that was added to the building where a window once was.

The existing fire suppression system should be inspected by a qualified professional to determine upgrades to the pipes that may be required. The air compressor should be relocated to the crawlspace to limit disturbance

It would be advisable to relocate the sprinkler system into the attic to feed the top floor so that the pipes cannot be accessed by the public as they are now hanging from the ceiling.

The rear fire escape should be replaced and reoriented to avoid the fenced area that contains the HVAC unit.

The side fire escape should be removed.

The sliding door and plywood wall at the top of the stair should be removed and replaced with a fire-resistant glass wall and framing assembly that blocks radiant heat.

The gym ceiling and the complete interior of the stage and penthouse should be coated with a fire retardant paint (intumescent coating) before being top coated with a traditional acrylic paint.

Image 22: Sprinkler pipe on the upper floor that is extremely low and too accessible.

Image 23: Sliding fire door and plywood wall at the top of the stairs

Image 24: Emergency stair that is blocked by the HVAC enclosure

Stage

The gym also served as an auditorium space and has an elevated stage at the north end of the building.

The stage has a large fly or stage house allowing for backgrounds to be hoisted up during productions but there are no stage lights or sound system installed. The stage has two support wings on either side which are largely taken up with duct work for the building’s HVAC system.

A new stage curtain with motorized operation should be installed for productions and to limit heat loss into the stage penthouse.

The stage needs a light and sound system for its full use.

The gym needs panels applied to the ceiling and the south wall to help deaden the echo created in the room. This will allow the sound system to work better in the space.

The duct work should be rerouted to allow the wings to be fully utilized.

Image 25: Poorly arranged duct work in the gym

Image 26: Duct work in the middle of the stage support rooms

Image 27: Stage penthouse underutilized

ADA

Slater Hall is elevated off of the surrounding site by approximately three feet and a wheelchair ramp was added to the building on the east side and terminates on the porch. The doors from the porch do not have an automatic opener which means a person in a wheelchair must manually open the door while navigating the small porch and avoiding the adjacent stairs. For anyone that cannot navigate stairs this provides access to the main floor, but there is no access to the rest of the building.

An automatic door opener should be installed on the left door of the entry at the top of the wheelchair ramp.

A new elevator should be installed in the southwest end of the corridor to provide access to all three floors of the building.

Image 28: Original staircase to access the upper floors

HVAC

A single commercial air conditioning unit provides heating and cooling to the gym and restroom facilities on the first floor while the remainder of the building has no climate control. The unit sits behind the building and the duct work enters the building through the crawlspace and then comes up through the wing rooms flanking the stage and then over the door out into the gym. In the gym the duct runs along the ceiling and then steps back down to go across the hall and end in the bathroom. Staff report that the restrooms remain hot in the summer and cold in the winter while the gym is impossible to heat in the winter.

The existing duct work should be rerouted to come up through the floor along the sides of the gym. This will help alleviate the heating difficulty by dispersing heat at the floor and allowing it to rise naturally instead of diffusing it at the ceiling where it will stay.

The installation of brand name “big ass fans” in the gym will allow for greater circulation in the space and can push the heat back down where it is needed.

The two restrooms and the rooms on the mezzanine should be heated and cooled using mini splits which will provide greater control of the temperature for each room.

The top floor can be heated and cooled using two HVAC systems mounted in the attic. One of these systems can heat and cool the vaulted masonic hall while the other can service the rest of that floor.

The attic needs to be insulated with the insulation of fiberglass bat insulation in the rafters under the roof sheathing. Air channels should be installed against the sheathing to allow heat to escape to the ridge vent.

Image 29: Paint marks left from the original radiators

Image 30: Large HVAC unit the currently serves the entire ground floor

Image 31: Rollercoaster of duct work flanking the gym

Electrical

It appears that the building was rewired during a previous renovation and new breaker panels were installed with wire in flexible conduit. These appear to focus on the first floor and mezzanine while older wire was observed in the ceiling of the top floor. Original lighting was provided by brass schoolhouse fixtures. The gym is currently lit by industrial fluorescent fixtures that are not dimmable.

A licensed electrical contractor should inspect the existing wiring to ensure it is up to code and that no unsafe conditions exist.

If the wiring on the top floor has not been replaced it should be completely updated.

Lights in the activity rooms on the upper floor can be provided by recessed can fixtures which will limit visual clutter on the ceiling. Lighting in the corridors and public areas should be provided by replica schoolhouse lights.

The gym light bulbs should be replaced with dimmable LED tubes.

Image 32: Original schoolhouse light fixture without its shade

Image 33: New electrical service panel on the upper floor of the building

Plumbing

The ground floor restrooms have been replumbed with plug in water heaters which do not warm the water in a reasonable amount of time and are inefficient. These restrooms are also covered in tile with unsealed grout joints which are now impossible to clean. On the upper floor of the building there is only a single restroom that has not been updated in decades and a kitchen space with a porcelain sink. The original pipes for the kitchen are galvanized and are prone to failure. The steam pipes for the now gone radiator system remain in the gym and take up valuable space.

The kitchen should be renovated to serve primarily as a warming location and to serve basic cooking tasks but not commercial grilling or frying.

Two unisex ADA bathrooms should be added to the top floor of the building.

A gas tankless hot water heater should be installed to provide more consistent hot water to the kitchen and the new bathrooms on the upper floor.

The plumbing on the upper floor should be piped with copper or pex. All galvanized pipe should be removed.

The radiator pipes should be removed in the gym and anywhere else they exist. Floor and ceiling penetrations should be patched in kind.

The two current restrooms should be renovated and rearranged to accommodate the elevator and finished in products that can be kept clean and low maintenance.

Image 34: Galvenized pipes inside the wall

Image 35: remodeled bathroom with stained tile and electric water heater hanging under the left sink

Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation

1. A property shall be used for its historic purpose or be placed in a new use that requires minimal change to the defining characteristics of the building and its site and environment.

2. The historic character of a property shall be retained and preserved. The removal of historic materials or alteration of features and spaces that characterize a property shall be avoided.

3. Each property shall be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or architectural elements from other buildings, shall not be undertaken.

4. Most properties change over time; those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved.

5. Distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.

6. Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture, and other visual qualities and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features shall be substantiated by documentary, physical, or pictorial evidence.

7. Chemical or physical treatments, such as sandblasting, that cause damage to historic materials shall not be used. The surface cleaning of structures, if appropriate, shall be undertaken using the gentlest means possible.

8. Significant archeological resources affected by a project shall be protected and preserved. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken.

9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.

10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.