Restoration of the monument and culvert
It is with great pleasure that I announce that restoration work on the monument was completed last May.
The monument was last restored in 2010. At that time, the mortar joints had been replaced by a type of rubber. This rubber did not allow water to drain away, so the humidity remained inside the spire.
Drone photos taken by my brother-in-law showed us that the monument was waterlogged. Water was seeping in through the top of the spire and could not get out through the base. The spire had several vertical cracks. If nothing had been done, the monument would simply have split in two.
The work was carried out by Maçonnerie Murphy, a Quebec City company specializing in the restoration of old monuments.
To consolidate the monument, thirteen (13) epoxy-bonded stainless steel rods were inserted into the spire. Then they sealed the top and removed all rubber from the base joints. They then filled all the cracks and holes caused by the insertion of the rods with a special mortar that is virtually the same color as our limestone. They then re-pointed all the joints with a mortar specially designed for granite stone joints.
Finally, they cleaned all traces of moisture from the granite stones and our plaques on either side. Here are the changes – the most important restorations are not visible, as they are mainly repairs to solidify the Monument.
Another challenge was the culvert. If you’ve been to the site, you’ll know that it’s graced by a beautiful stream. Some time ago, we noticed that the culvert was collapsing. Well, this spring, it broke completely. Following a complaint from a neighbor, the municipality gave us formal notice to make the repairs.
We have no trace of who made the culvert. Line, our secretary, has linked all the association’s minutes. Nothing. We never made the culvert. Curious?
Talks were held with the municipality and they also found nothing. They have no record of having made this culvert. Curious?
Maybe Jean and Marguerite did it? Who knows?
So we hired Les Entreprises Gosselin et Tremblay inc. to do the work. We had a permit from the city to remove the culvert. We opted to remove the entire culvert and return the creek to the way it looked in Jean and Marguerite’s day. However, the city asked us to keep a piece of at least three (3) meters. They also confirmed that they would take care of it for the future, i.e. the part of the culvert that we had to leave behind.
During excavation, we had the unpleasant surprise of seeing buried wires used to illuminate the monument at night. We therefore asked Raymond Drolet, electrician, to come and put everything in order and functional.