Bat removal slows renovation of historic Gregg-Link building

By BETH FOLEY
The Palestine Herald

PALESTINE May 09, 2008 01:57 am

— Weathered plywood sheets have come down and screen-like hardware cloth has gone up on the windows of the Gregg-Link Building, in an effort to evict the colony of bats living inside.
Wood restoration contractor Paul Priestner, owner of Nostalgic Timbercraft in Tyler, has been replacing the old plywood over the second and third-floor windows with the hardware cloth in the historic structure on the corner of Sycamore and Spring streets, and also installing devices to serve as one-way exits in cracks and openings to allow the bats to leave the building but not return.
Until the bats leave, visitors touring the inside of the building can hear them squeaking inside the walls and see oily patches on the interior walls where they’ve entered and exited over the years, rubbing over the bricks or wall covering as they’ve squeezed through the small openings.
Priestner said one incident opened his eyes to how big the building’s bat population might be.
“I got up to the third floor and started to pull boards off the windows,” he said. “As I started banging around in one room, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was like a hornet’s nest with bats swarming around.”
Removing the plywood and moving around inside has annoyed some of the colony enough to leave already, said Priestner and building owner Timothy Triplett.
“With all the activity, we’ve concentrated them down to two main areas,” Priestner said.
Once the building is sealed with the hardware cloth and the excluders, the bats should move on elsewhere and the restoration work will continue.
In addition to making sure the bats cannot work their way past loose plywood, the hardware cloth also allows the humidity level inside to match the outside air, brighten the interior and let the building to air out as breezes blow through.
Keeping the humidity levels equal will be important for the wood restoration to fit properly, Priestner said, otherwise the windows and doors might expand or contract after being hung and no longer fit correctly.
Much of the interior wood remains in good shape despite its age and the building’s years of disuse, he said.
“Really, the building’s in terrific shape,” Priestner said. “As far as the meat and bones, when you look at the condition of the wood when you pull the boards off, it’s really in good shape.”
Plans call for the windows to be restored to working condition, able to be opened and used as originally intended, Triplett said. Priestner has begun setting up equipment in one of the first-floor rooms to continue wood restoration while other work takes place outside, including cleaning paint off the bricks.
“I’m absolutely amazed, not just with the quality of the building but with how stable it is,” Priestner said. “You won’t find settling cracks. It’s just beautiful, beautiful brick work.”
While the overall restoration work on the building has not come close to the schedule Triplett originally envisioned, he said he’s come to appreciate the building’s character more.
“One thing I’m learning, when I entered this project, I thought I could set a schedule and control things,” Triplett said with a laugh. “I’m finding you can’t set a schedule. The building knows what its schedule is and we’re learning it.
“It’s like walking through a swimming pool. Either you walk through and enjoy the water or you try to run through, fighting and getting tired, and you get there at about the same time.”
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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

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