Oct. 28--There's a sense of pride in any job well done.
But when Mark Patrick, vice president of Henson Robinson Co. in Springfield, talks about a recent project his company undertook, the sense of achievement is even more evident.
The 153-year-old firm, which was established before the Civil War, recently completed an unconventional heating and air-conditioning upgrade at the home where Abraham Lincoln and his family lived from 1844 to1861.
"It was a real honor to be able to work there," said Patrick, who was the project co-manager with Steve Huddle. "To work in Abe Lincoln's home, that was something."
The job involved replacing a 25-year-old system.
"It was pretty old and it was failing in the summertime," said Sheryle Lindley, chief of maintenance for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. "It was time for replacement."
In many respects, it was a routine job. The bid for the work was put out by the National Park Service's regional contracting office, and Henson Robinson won the contract. But the company needed a hand-selected crew that would be "inordinately careful" with an energy-efficiency project that would help maintain the integrity of Lincoln's home, Patrick said.
The company installed a Carrier central station air-handling unit with electric heat in the basement and air-cooled chiller outside. Two dehumidifiers were added as well, a feature the old system lacked. Existing ductwork was in good condition and didn't need to be replaced. The retrofitting was done in April and May, and the final control devices were added in June. Cost of the project was about $150,000, plus controls.
Typically two sheet-metal workers and two pipe fitters were on the job with an extra crew member on days the work called for it. A safety officer also was on site.
Patrick's company is no stranger to historic work. It has worked on Lincoln's Tomb, the Capitol dome and the Dana-Thomas House in Springfield. The restored home of its founder, Henson Robinson, is three doors south of Lincoln's.
But with this being the home of the 16th president, which drew some 206,000 visitors in the past year, special steps were required.
As part of the project, cooling pipes installed 25 years ago were replaced with more energy-efficient ones. An architect was brought in to monitor the digging in case any artifacts turned up. But none did.
"The only (possible problem) we anticipated was if the excavator turned something up they didn't know about," Patrick said. "How cool would that have been, maybe something Abe threw out the window. It's good in a way nothing was found; 25 years ago they did a good job. But it would have been nice to find something they didn't know was there."
The house also had to remain open while work was in progress.
"(Workers) weren't allowed upstairs in the home. Everything was done in the basement," Lindley said. "They had to take a fence down to dig the trench, pour new concrete pads for the condensing unit."
Work areas were taped off for safety reasons, and tours came through the house undisturbed.
"Visitors shouldn't notice anything," Lindley said. "The house is nice and well kept, and it's cool and comfortable when they go through."
bhageman@tribune.com
