The 1988 Renovation
The Basement
The basement houses fireproof vaults with temperature and humidity controls to keep records safe. Only about one-third of the building had a basement prior to the 1988 renovations. "We dug out the basement completely and poured a floor down there, poured concrete walls. We suspended the main walls with steel, then poured concrete on the second floor to totally enclose the basement," explained Light. (Robert H. Light, president and chairman of the board of Light's General Construction Inc. of Oxford, who gained the general contract in this renovation.) "It was a real unique job," he added. The basement took nearly three months to dig with 11,000 cubic yards of dirt hauled to different sites. "We had to suspend the building while we were digging it out because we had to go under the walls. We built temporary supports, suspended the walls on the temporary supports, dug it out and put permanent steel in," Light said.
The First and Second Floors
The first floor was completely stripped except for the four outside walls and what Light calls "the two main load-bearing walls." The floors were torn up and new concrete poured. New walls were established.
On the second floor the judge's chamber and jurists' conference rooms were torn out and redone. "We're taking [the Superior Courtroom] back to the original condition, which means refurbishing the punched tin ceiling and complete re-plastering. We took out all the old windows, reworked them to original condition and repositioned them to original positions," Light said. A pressed metal ceiling and round wooden ventilation system were hidden under the dropped ceiling. Wild (Mitch) said the tin ceiling was probably put in during the 1891 renovation because tin ceilings were not used in 1840 and the first ceiling was probably plaster.
On the second floor the judge's chamber and jurists' conference rooms were torn out and redone. "We're taking [the Superior Courtroom] back to the original condition, which means refurbishing the punched tin ceiling and complete re-plastering. We took out all the old windows, reworked them to original condition and repositioned them to original positions," Light said. A pressed metal ceiling and round wooden ventilation system were hidden under the dropped ceiling. Wild (Mitch) said the tin ceiling was probably put in during the 1891 renovation because tin ceilings were not used in 1840 and the first ceiling was probably plaster.