Construction at St. Paul's
Recap, Status and Schedule
August 30, 2007
As anyone who has been around St. Paul's this summer or has been back this fall will know, St. Paul's is undergoing significant construction.
Recap: Last year the Church School building was experiencing major water leaks on every second floor outside wall. Paint was blistering and the window sills had puddles on them during hard rains. We did some investigation in October including removing the bricks over a window and discovered water was getting into the walls and the metal beams were rusting. We did some patch work on the roof to get us through the winter although the rooms were not pretty and the leaks continued. John Bero, parishioner and architect; Joanne DeMarle, Bero architect; and Bob Frank, Vestry member and Property Chair did a complete evaluation of the entire complex in early spring and compiled a list of 28 items that needed work. Based on these findings we prepared several bids for the critical items and awarded the major contract to Frank J. Mariannaci. Other contracts were awarded to Leo Roth for slate maintenance, Steven Jordan for window repair, Pike Stain Glass for stain glass maintenance, Baker for lightning protection, and Verdin for clock tower repair. St. Paul's House Committee is also working on church school furniture and fixtures.
Status: As of late August Mariannaci's work on the church school building is progressing with the parapets and the walls dismantled to the tops of the second floor windows. This was done to expose the metal beam around the top of the structure so that the rust can be cleaned off and the beam painted for further protection. In removing the brick it was discovered that the vertical beams on the Vick Park B corners of the building were extremely damaged, losing their structural soundness, and need to be replaced. Replacing the beams will be done in September.
Damaged Metal Beams
Once the two vertical beams are replaced and the top horizontal beam is cleaned, the walls will be rebuilt and the entire roof replaced. Mariannaci is also replacing the roof under the bell in the bell tower, the imitation slate over the former offices, imitation slate over portions of the day care, and the roof over the day care entrance. Pointing the stone on the sanctuary walls and the brick on the parish hall, church school and Wainwright Hall, as well as painting trim and installing new storm windows in the church school and parish hall building, is also part of the contract. Mariannaci will also be replacing some of the decorative finials on the exterior of the sanctuary as well as work on the East Avenue sanctuary parapet.
Damaged Finial
Roth has completed maintenance work on the sanctuary slate and replaced a small roof on the Vick Park B day care bay window which was also leaking.
Steven Jordan is repairing the windows in the second floor of the church school and the third floor over the parish hall. This work includes making all windows operational and stripping any lead-based paint. He is almost complete in the church school. Some rotting has been found on and around the window sills that will be repaired as well.
Rotting Wood
Once much of the major construction work is completed, new lightning protection will be installed on the sanctuary, and maintenance work done on the stained glass windows.
As you can see the work on the facility is comprehensive and major. Without completing this work the church school rooms could not be used and the structural soundness of the building would be in question. We are making up for decades of deferred maintenance.
Schedule: It is expected that the work will be completed late this fall with the exception of the church school. Once the upper walls and roof are replaced the interior of the church school will be painted and refurbished. The extent of the refurbishment is still being determined by the House Committee. The second floor of the church school building - the class rooms - is scheduled to reopen around Thanksgiving but this date could slip untill after Christmas. The Vestry and Clergy thank you for your patience during the construction and the inconvenience of not having the church class rooms available this fall.
If you have any questions, please contact Bob Frank or the Wardens.