Wood Siding May Be Saved at Old St. Ignace Museum
By Karen Gould

Frank Pompa, a historic preservationist and Mackinac Island cottage owner, has volunteered to help the City of St. Ignace with its restoration of the Museum of Ojibwa Culture. He attended the March 14 Downtown Development Authority meeting and stopped by the museum to collect a piece of siding for paint analysis. Mr. Pompa is pictured with Shirley Sorrels, museum director.

Aging wood siding on the Museum of Ojibwa Culture may not need to be replaced after all, members of the St. Ignace Downtown Development Authority learned March 14 after consulting Frank Pompa, a historic preservationist and Mackinac Island summer resident, who examined the siding and has volunteered to help the city restore the building. Mr. Pompa took samples of the siding and its peeling paint for laboratory testing to help determine the reason it repeatedly peels away.

By restoring the building's wood siding rather than replacing it, Mr. Pompa told the DDA, the city would save money, retain the historic integrity of the building, and the work could serve as a benchmark for other area restoration projects. The restoration also could be considered for the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.

"They don't need to replace it," he said as he examined the siding following the meeting, although some sections may have to be replaced. "I can already tell that by looking at it. This definitely does not need new windows or new siding."

A licensed builder, Mr. Pompa of Detroit has made a career as an auto engineer and recently completed a Master of Science degree in historic preservation from Eastern Michigan University. There, he specialized in restoring and preserving original building materials.

With temperatures too cold for some tests, he took a sample of siding, which he will test in Detroit. He has since determined that oilbased paint has been covered with water-based paint, which, because the two paints expand and contract differently, can cause peeling. When the weather warms, Mr. Pompa will also test the building's moisture content, which he believes is contributing to its inability to hold paint.

Often when paint is peeling on a building, he said, moisture is migrating from inside the building through the wall cavity. As moisture comes through the wood, it lifts the paint.

The building has been painted three times in the last 18 years, said Gene Elmer, who chairs the DDA, and in each case the paint quickly peeled.

"Buildings can be rehabilitated," said Mr. Pompa. "Rehabilitation means you are trying to preserve the best of what was there in the past, and, yet, maybe have a new use for it."

The museum is housed in a 171- year-old church building.

"You have to try to save as much of the original fabric as possible," said Mr. Pompa.

The first option is to try to save and repair the wood, he said, although if the siding is rotted and there is no way to repair the piece, then it should be replaced. Replacement should be with a similar material.

Wood siding today, said Mr. Pompa, lacks the quality of siding in the past, made from old growth wood. The quality of dense, old growth wood does not compare to today's weaker, fast-grown pine siding, which is farm grown. Even if it were primed, painted, and prepared properly, new wood siding likely would last only about 50 years.

"I really want to help you do everything possible," he said, "and save the wood that's on the building. It's going to save you money."

The steps to restore the siding will include stripping off all the old paint, hand cleaning the siding, and letting it dry. When moisture content is low, a clear wood preservative is brush-painted onto the siding, followed by two coats of oil based primer, and then two coats of acrylic enamel paint. All layers should be brushed on using about a gallon of paint for about every 350 square feet of siding. This process, he said, has been tested around the country in various climates and the paint lasted more than 10 years. At the same time, the moisture should be controlled inside the building by a dehumidifier.

Adding soffits to help reduce condensation and drain tile covered in gravel along the building's drip line, to direct rain water from the roof outward, would help reduce the moisture problem, he said.

"I think we're going to have an awesome project," said Shirley Sorrels, director of the museum, "that's going to be done the right way from the beginning to the end. This advice is just invaluable to the success of our restoration project."

The project may take longer to complete than initially expected, DDA Director Deb Evashevski estimated. She suggested signs be posted explaining the restoration project to summer visitors and seeking donations to help pay for the work.

Mr. Pompa is preparing a report on the condition of the building, which will include his recommendation for restoration.

"This is a wonderful old building," he said.

The windows and siding are not original to the building, but are about 80 to 100 years old, he estimates.

The DDA agreed to have Rick Reichlin of Reichlin Painting of Cedarville restore the windows rather than replace them, as planned. Mr. Reichlin is painting the interior of the museum. He attended the meeting and agreed to prepare an estimate to restore the arched windows that line both sides of the building.