Throughout her 104 year history, the Hotel Charbonneau passed through many hands. Unfortunately most of those hands paid little attention to the structure of the building and concentrated renovation efforts on cosmetics. Although the old lady has good bones, she is in dire need of structural work which will stabilize the building for generations to come.
The floor systems have started to sag and separate from the walls of the three-story tall, balloon-framed stucco side of the building. Floor joists with 16 foot, unsupported spans have almost as much bounce in them as a trampoline. The brick side of the building has not been retrofitted to meet current provisions for seismic and wind standards and the entire building has zero insulation (with the exception of the new roof). The current owners retained BC Engineers, Inc. who drafted an engineering plan that would address the multiple structural issues the Hotel Charbonneau currently faces.
So far the current owners have been able to implement several of the projects called for in the engineering plan such as the excavation and installation of drains in the basement as well as the full tear-off and replacement of the roof which included fastening the roof system to the structure to protect it from being torn off in high winds. The roof was replaced with an EcoWhite membrane that reflects the sun and reduces the need for auxiliary cooling of the building. The roofing membrane was placed over two layers of poly-iso insulation that was removed from another job and donated by a local contractor (thanks Pete!) which also significantly adds to the efficiency of the building.
New foundation footers are needed in the basement which will support columns and beams that will shore up the sagging floors from the basement all the way up to the 3rd floor. There was also a fire in the basement some time in the 1950s which damaged several of the support beams and have not since been repaired. Amazing they are still holding up the three floors above them!
All of the mechanical systems in the building need to be replaced. It is the current owners intent to do all of this in a manner that will eventually win the building a LEED rating.
As part of it’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Hotel Charbonneau is encouraged to follow renovation and preservation standards as set forth by the National Park Service which will preserve the historic detail of the building for the future. An example of this is the preservation and rebuilding of the original wood windows throughout the hotel. With proper stabilization techniques, application of weather stripping, and use of storm windows, the original wood windows can be rehabilitated in a way that makes the original 104 year old windows more efficient and durable than current replacement windows. The old growth wood those original windows were milled from no longer exists and is a superior material to any wood product that is in production today.
100 years of paint was removed from the wood facade and repainted with modern, low VOC latex paint.
Local Master Mason “Gary” replaced 5 courses of brick that were missing from the parapet wall at the roofline. The replacement brick had to be matched and sourced from a brickyard in Spokane who had matching original reclaimed brick in it’s stock.
A “before and after” shot of one of the rebuilt and restored original windows. If you look closely you can see the replaced copper weather stripping installed between the upper and lower sashes… just like they did in the old days. This window was actually in excellent shape compared to many of the others awaiting restoration.
Restored front entrance to the hotel. The cue for the color of the copper trim was taken from the first layer of paint uncovered when 100 years of paint was stripped. Restoration of the doors alone took over three weeks.