Renovations (Installment #4)
From: Jim Lindner Date: December 11, 2009 |
There is little time left for some kinds of work now that winter is upon us. I have been told that we have been fortunate to have good weather as long as we have this year, and good use has been made of it.
An "assembly line" process has been set up with the removal of the wood and the sanding and finishing going on inside in some cases. We believe that we have dealt with the rot, although an inspection by an engineer has necessitated the replacement of some of the posts in the basement. Most of the posts down below are finished lumber that almost certainly came from the mill that was owned by the builder/contractor and is typical with other timber found in the roof and elsewhere.
Not a touch of rot on some of them, but here you can see why the engineer would prefer a different configuration that was a bit more stable! We will pour concrete pads and put in modern adjustable posts in the cases where the engineer has told us to replace the posts. The wood WILL be saved however and be used elsewhere. As in this entire project we are trying to "recycle" as much as possible by reusing the materials, sometimes in different ways then they were originally used.
As you might imagine the engineer did not like this post - too bad because it certainly has character! We are not sure when or how this post got there, it clearly is not lumber from the original mill - perhaps the original got some rot and they just replaced it with a tree from somewhere. My feeling is "it's lasted this long ... it likely will last longer ... and it has character" but despite the character the engineer suggests other options (and he is right!) But I am sure we will find a place for this post somewhere at some point in the project!
The rear of the church is getting close to completion with most of the clap board having been worked on. Note the new location of the electric service which was moved from the side. The electrical system had a major upgrade. We had to abandon most of the original wiring as expected - but it is still there, just not energized. There is also an electric service line in the front of the building which is not necessary and will be removed at some point.
Now that the tower has essentially been rebuilt due to the rot, work can continue where it left off and the front can be completed. Work has started designing a new bell cradle that will be made of pressure treated wood and also have some flashing so that it will last for a very long time. Design work is also being started for the front stairs. Both sets of front stairs are being designed as replicas of the original ones based on the original picture of the church that we have (below right) ...
... and the detail that we can see from this picture (below left.)
A few things to note - the original stairs (and the replica) were much closer to the building with treads that are smaller than the ones now - and the last step is on granite (and we found the original granite so we can figure out precisely where the steps should go!) The stairs also are very elegant and seem to "float" in the air, and we are hoping to recapture that feeling. We are hoping for exact copies of the balustrade - it was so beautiful!
These old pictures have been very helpful in the work we have done on this building. We are fortunate to have them - I wonder if the electronic photo's that are on this web site will be available as long as these real ones on paper were - I doubt it!
That is all for this installment except for one thing. It seems that there was a rumor a week or so ago that I had died of a heart attack! Not so! I am quite fine! Merry Christmas everyone!!
Jim Lindner
The bell rang again at 9:00 pm on Christmas Eve ... the first time it rang in years. Sorry, don't have a recording to post however here is a short video clip of the lights (provided by Anthony Corkum.) |