February 2007 : Restoration needed for the Imperial tower of at Race Rocks

These pictures were taken before restoration of the Race Rocks Lighthouse in 2009-2010

The Times Colonist ran an article on the problems of the deterioration of the heritage light tower at Race Rocks.Jack Knox and Deborah Brash pay a visit to the tower at the end of January 2007. The following article appears in the Times Colonist.

A beacon of hope for Race Rocks
Carney tries again to win protection for prize lighthouses now withering away, Jack Knox, Times Colonist, Tuesday, Feb. 06, 2007.

The Condition at RR	February, 2007

Inside the tower, on the way up the stairs, the walls become pockmarked with condensation blisters	Near the fog sensor, which is set into a south facing window, moisture has caused the wall surface to crumble	The flaking is extensive in the top third of the tower	When the stairs are not swept, there is a continual rain of sand and paint chips.

Near the window where the counterweight is stationed, the crumbling is particularly obvious.	Looking downstaters at the same window. The yellow flag denotes the top of the stairs.	Even the inside of the lantern room has condensation from the windows loosening the painted surface.The light in the foreground is state of the art in low energy consumption.	Outside at the base of the windows, caulking has deteriorated, allowing driving rains to send moisture inside.

Wherever iron is exposed, rusting and deterioration sets in.. this is at the base of one of the windows in the lantern room.	Moisture builds up even behind recent painting.	The metal straps underneath the lantern room which help to anchor the top in place are rusted and partly detached from the decaying sandstone wall.	A crack in the lantern room window apparently appeared years ago when the Coast guard was doing blasting for construction on the island

Crack width on tower Sept15, 2007	Corrosion of steel on railing around lantern room, Sept. 2007