Structural Evaluation, Molino De Los Duranes, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico

Druc Engineering

From executive summary: "This Condition Assessment and Preservation Plan has been prepared for the Taos County Historical Society through a National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund Grant in partnership with the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The Molino de los Duranes is located in Ranchos de Taos on Camino Abajo de la Loma. The mill was built around 1850 and was abandoned in 1938. The Taos County Historical Society has been working with the owners of the property which have expressed a desire to restore the mill in its entirety. The Preservation Chair of the Taos County Historical Society, Charles C. Hawk, has provided a description of the historical background, the structure's status on the state register of historical properties, and the archeology of the Molino. Druc Engineering was hired to conduct a structural evaluation of the existing structure in order to document the existing conditions and provide recommendations for potential restoration and preservation strategies. The Molino de los Duranes was built in similar fashion to other mills in the area and consists of a main floor built on grade and a raised floor where water previously flowed under. The structure is partially bermed into a south facing slope with stone walls laid in a cementitious mortar on the northeast side and partial stone walls on the southeast and northwest sides. The existing structure is approximately 321 square feet with a square building footprint of approximately 18'-0" x 18'-0". The mill is a flat roofed timber frame structure with cut log walls supported on wood log posts and stone walls and piers. It is likely that the wood log posts are original and that the stone walls and piers were built at a later date as they include a mortar consisting of some type of cement mixture. The walls are made up of rectangular wood log members laid on top of each other and lap jointed at the corners. The raised floor is made up of rectangular wood members butted against each other with an earthen finish floor on top. The roof is made up of round wood vigas and 2x4 latilla decking. The roofing appears to have been originally an earthen roof which has since been covered with some type of asphalt roofing membrane. The mill is currently in poor condition. Extensive settling is present along the southwest side of the Molino. The roof is in very poor condition and is nearly collapsing due to a deteriorated roof membrane and roof joist failure. The roof is temporarily being covered by plastic sheets as an emergency measure to prevent further deterioration. This report includes a description of the existing site conditions and includes a site plan to orient the reader about its location and general site layout. As the structure itself consists of a single space, the report includes a detailed description of each building component, i.e. foundation, walls, roof etc. Each building component's existing condition is described along with applicable recommendations for preservation and/or restoration... The purpose of this report is to provide guidance to the Taos Historical Society for immediate and long tern stabilization measures to preserve one of the area's last surviving mills." Project funding was provided in part by a 2013 Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office (project number NM-13-031, grant number 35-13-51938) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Structural Evaluation, Molino De Los Duranes, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico

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