Built in 1917, the First United Methodist Church (Napa FUMC), located in Napa, CA, is a large scale, multi-story historical structure. The building is used for worship services, youth services and to provide support for the homeless in the area.

In August 2014, Napa FUMC sustained notable damage from the magnitude 6.0 South Napa earthquake. Portions of the exterior wall separated from the roof, resulting in the building being red-tagged.

The PULLMAN design-build team inspected the building to determine the extent of the earthquake damage and the various factors that contribute to the building’s seismic risk level. The results were used to develop a suitable program of structural repair work, seismic risk, and preventing similar damage in a future earthquake.

A series of winches and cables attached to one of the steel trusses was devised and installed in the area of the east wall separation from the roof. These devices were used to gradually pull the wall back to the roof.

Following realignment of the east concrete wall, crews repaired cracks, voids, and spalling found beneath the exterior plaster coat on the wall. Some traditional crack repair methods were utilized as well as more advanced techniques. Expanded polystyrene pieces were fabricated to replicate the perimeter concrete and plaster segments that extend around the curved portions of the stained glass windows.

Repairs to the scissors trusses consisted of re-establishing connections to the vertical rods that had broken, and stabilizing the shifted members of the trusses. New positive anchorage measures at the supports of the trusses were installed, and the ceiling strong-back supports were replaced, enabling crews to eliminate some of the remaining residual deflection.

The building remained operational throughout the construction process. Extensive shoring and scaffolding was needed on the exterior and interior of the building in order to perform repairs. Just fifteen months after the earthquake damaged the church, the project was successfully completed.