Busy As A Bee Friday

Two projects were going on Friday November 2nd, 2018 at the same time.

On one hand, workmen from Masonry Inc. finished the work done on the large chimney over the sacristy that handles the boiler exhaust.

The chimney project had begun Wednesday with the entire chimney being tuck pointed, and ladders and scaffolding were set up.

Scaffolding on east side of chimney

The chimney newly tuckpointed with red mortar joints. There is also wood framing on top for the concrete pour.

Water was getting into the chimney because there was no cover. There was also no flue extension above the concrete chimney crown.

This is the old chimney crown that allowed rain to enter the chimney.

So the second part of the chimney project, begun on Thursday, was to add a clay flue extension, hold it in place with concrete formed above the old crown, and then have a cap installed.

The green rebar was added to give strength to the concrete.

The chimney liner is embedded in the new concrete which is sloped to allow for water runoff.

The wire grid keeps birds and other creatures from falling into the chimney and the cap will now keep the water from getting into the chimney.

The finished chimney

Just as the chimney was completed, another work project begun on Friday was repair to the south east corner of the Parish Building wall that had been damaged the most by water before the roof was repaired. The face brick was cracked and broken in many places.

A lot of the face brick had to be replaced with new brick.

Some of the brick had to be cut by a diamond blade saw.

The mortar joints in the face brick had to be ground out and then tuck pointed anew.

While this work was progressing on the courtyard side, Masonry Inc. also did some work on the west side by the Hartrey entrance. They tuck pointed the stone above the entry doors and between the large stone above the doorway, caulked the seam between the door sill and the concrete landing, caulked along the moat wall and then put a concrete sealer on the concrete wall.

Lo and behold, to top off the Friday activity, Nels Johnson Tree Experts chose the same day to show up to do the trimming and pruning of the large oak tree by the church. This work was required because the tree branches had grown down and were touching the tiled church roof. That could have damaged the roof on a wintry winter day when the branches were loaded with ice and snow.

The branches also to be cleared from the Parish Building and some of the lower hanging branches had to be removed.

The finished product.

The tree branches are now well above the church roof and away from the parish building. The workers of Nels Johnson did a nice job leaving the tree very nicely balanced.

These projects mark the end of major building repair work done for the year of 2018!!

Damian Barta

Facilities Manager