Everyone asks “When will the church renovation be completed?” As you know, this has been a rainy, sleet-y, snowy winter and because of this and the domino effect that bad weather has on construction tasks, we are now looking at the latter part of April.
Virtexco and their subs are working on Saturdays in an attempt to make up some time. However, this is also dependent on weather and given the small interior quarters, only so many trades can work at one time. With increased evening daylight, we have witnessed some subs working beyond normal construction hours.
The construction team realizes Easter is coming and is making every attempt to get the scaffolding down (which, due to weather, is costing them a lot of additional money), complete the west and south stoops, re-open the south city sidewalk, and generally neaten the site with landscape repairs, etc. Regarding scaffolding, they still need it for brick repointing and ideally from a safety standpoint for exterior painting.
There continues to be progress, of course. The City just approved the Fire Alarm submittal last week so the fire alarm equipment, strobes and smoke detectors are being installed. The City also just approved the sprinkler system testing and certified the backflow prevention. The City sidewalk work is almost complete as the exposed aggregate concrete has been poured. Brick paver work is underway.
Slate roof work is about 95% complete. The copper chimney cap on the tower has been installed. Tower parapet and minor roof membrane work continues. South stoop re-construction and brick tuck-pointing at the church perimeter/tower is underway. (Since we have to have two means of egress from the church, the west stoop work must wait until the south is complete.) Brick work is about 95% on the north addition although some mortar infill and cleaning are still needed.
Most electrical is in place (including roof top HVAC unit hook-up) but we are waiting for Dominion Virginia Power to perform their work so that the system can be energized. Once that is complete, the current sacristy electrical can be relocated and/or abandoned allowing finish work to take place. Carpentry and finish work (priming/painting/staining, wood trim installation, and tile/linoleum flooring installation) is continuing where possible.
Some prayers for warm, sunny weather would be most appreciated by all!
Originally published in St. John’s Epistle, April 2014.