‘Moving Slowly’ On Lemitar Church

By John Severance

LEMITAR – It has been more than two weeks since one of the walls collapsed at the La Sagrada Familia in Lemitar.
On Tuesday, Father Andy Pavlak gave this assessment of the church.
“We are moving slowly,” he said. “At this point, there has been a great deal of stabilization work done to the roof and the rear of the west wall. The stained glass window was removed from that portion of the church to protect it just in case there was any more wall failure. Debris has been removed but there is still a lot more to go. As areas are accessible (debris removed) more stabilization occurs.”
Pavlak said the Lemitar parishioners still are in shock about the collapsed wall.
“Mostly shock and sadness, that has been about it,” Pavlak said. “We have gotten calls from all over the country.
“I heard from one of the original Sanchez family members, who built the church. Her name is Margaret Sanchez Cafarelli and she is 90 years young and lives in Tempe, Arizona.”
Pavlak said on Saturday July 17, a mass will be held in Lemitar in the fields in front of the church at 7 p.m.
“We hope to have a goodly sized crowd and lots of donors present to assist with offsetting the costs. No word has yet been received from the insurance company,” Pavlak said.
Pavlak said adobe specialist Antonio Martinez of Santa Fe was at San Miguel on Monday and he took some samples of the adobes from Socorro, Polvadera and San Lorenzo.
“It appears from a quick review of the adobe samples that the north wall of San Miguel has some moisture issues and will need some attention in the not-too-distant future. This is critical,” Pavlak said.
On Aug. 14, Martinez will be back in the area to instruct and guide workers in some tasks needed to address this issue, Pavlak said.
“Workers will be needed to address things that could possibly include: pulling up the carpeting, cutting air vents into the floor, cutting 2-3 foot squares into the plaster walls in the interior and exterior to allow the adobes to breathe and dry naturally,” Pavlak said.
Pavlak said there are a number of factors as to why there is so much moisture in the adobe foundation.
Plasters have been used since the 1950s and the adobes have become victim of the inability to have the cement/silicon products breathe and dry naturally.
“Now, the new plasters hide any adobe damage until, unfortunately, it is often too late,” Pavlak said. “In many cases, what ends up happening with the non-breathing plasters is the adobes deteriorate over years and years of moisture and the adobes turn to powder. Mud-based or gypsum based or lime based plasters that allow adobes to breathe and dry naturally are the only ones that truly ought to be used on these historic structures.
“The problem is, regular maintenance and education on how to use these older materials often is more work than communities want to do. The advent of the cement-silicon based products seemed to be a way to making life easier. Truly, it did for a time and now we have to live with the consequences of those years of ease.
”Also, cement parking lots, asphalt products and similar kinds of things trap water that travels around these structures. When any water comes in the form of rain or well-intentioned gardeners that have things planted too close to the churches, water can seep into the ground, and wick up wherever nature allows it
“Now that we have more information on the technology and the way it affects the old structures, we have to move to save these to the best of our ability.”

‘Moving Slowly’ On Lemitar Church