Wednesday, March 8, 2017




Our time capsule has been placed in the void between the gender neutral restroom and the rear wall of the sanctuary. Now that all the plumbing and wiring have been installed throughout the new addition, crews will begin to focus on installing drywall, and our time capsule will soon be sealed in. I believe our successors will enjoy discovering our messages to the future. What are the chances the computer will operate 100 years from now (yes, there is a laptop in the box, but with no battery) or people will know what a USB drive and CD-ROM are? 

The wing of the church that was demolished to make room for our new addition was built starting in 1920. The youth group saved the safe that was hidden behind a panel in the RE office, and several architectural artifacts were rescued, but no secret hiding place with historical information was found. The internet has, however, yielded a treasure of historical photos of the Roush mansion being built. 


The design of the Roush mansion was modified after this model was made.












Our historical building was constructed largely of terracotta block, a predecessor to concrete block. The dining room and front entrance remain. The north wing was demolished in September.







Ninety-seven years later, this photo of our new addition was taken at about the same stage of construction as the 1920 picture.











In this view of the west facade, the demolished wing is to the left.


The west facade of the new addition is dominated by windows that will flood the sanctuary with light.













The mansion's former garage...
...found new life as a home, now 12 Sunnyhill Drive. The home has a patio in the rear yard that is a remnant of the original landscaping done by the Olmsted brothers. The only remaining connection between the two buildings is a shared sanitary sewer. Our sewer runs across a corner of the property and joins with their sewer before connecting with the township sewer system. 

This was the view from the back yard in 1920.






 
And this was the view looking north on Washington Road. Our front lawn is on the left of the photo. 



Getting back to today, the drywall on the west end of the sanctuary has been hung and is ready for taping and finishing.
The east wall of the sanctuary is also ready for taping and mudding. The four rectangular holes about 11 feet up the wall are for HVAC vents. Emergency lighting and fire alarms will also adorn the wall. The large rectangle on the left is the window to the crying room. Because the side walls of the sanctuary are dominated by windows, this will be the where we will display our quilt tapestries and other artwork.




If you look closely at this photo, you can see that the HVAC vent and the electrical box in the ceiling of the crying room have been extended down a few inches. This will allow the ceiling to be clad with four layers of 5/8 inch drywall to meet the fire code. In a nutshell, when the fire resistance of the rear wall of the sanctuary was upgraded, the window of the crying room had to be upgraded, too. Fire resistant glass is very expensive; the window would have cost about $6,000. So, in order to keep the window and save money, the decision was made to include the crying room in the fire zone with the sanctuary. That means upgrading the ceiling and the walls of the crying room to the same standard as the sanctuary, which is four layers of 5/8 inch drywall on the ceiling and all walls. The door will also be upgraded to withstand fire for a longer period. 

This picture was taken standing in front of the door to room 22, which is now part of the attic and no longer usable as a meeting space because of the fire code and the difficult access. The opening on the left goes to the dormer with the door to the flat roof. Straight ahead and to the left is the main HVAC room. The hallway will have a ceiling and insulation.





This drop ceiling is in the main HVAC room. Note the size of the vents that go through the roof.












This photo was taken in the vestibule to the sanctuary looking up through the return air ducts into the attic.







In order to accommodate R-38 insulation batts, the rafters in the RE-Choir room have to be furred out. The six rafters on the right side of the photo have already had furring strips attached.




Foam insulation has been added between the cement block and the studs in the well that will accommodate our stairs to the basement. The steps will go down on the left, turn 90 degrees to the right against the wall and turn another 90 degrees to the right to reach the basement level. 








These windows were formerly doors to the hallway, left, and to the closet, right. The white areas at the top and bottom will be paneled with oak and stained to match the window seats. These windows will look into the stairwell seen above. They will be above and to the right of the ladder.






(This is a correction from the earlier post.) Finally, a test of the brick accent under the windows is being conducted. The gray scratch coat is seen in this photo. Behind the scratch coat is metal lath, a drainage mat, two layers of waterproof building paper and 1-inch rigid insulation. Behind all that is the Tyvek building wrap and the building structure.






A brick veneer will be attached over the scratch coat. Our stucco will have the same base, but instead of a brick veneer, stucco plaster will be applied and troweled to match the current stucco. Wikipedia describes modern stucco as an exterior cement plaster wall covering. It is usually a mix of sand, Portland cement, lime and water, but may also consist of a proprietary mix of additives including fibers and synthetic acrylics that add strength and flexibility. 



1 comment:

  1. I'm proud of you for renewing the church. It was clever of you to turn those doors into beautiful windows. The vents in the HVAC room look massive. I'm sure the church's congregation is going to love the benefits of all that air. The photos and informative blog post have me excited to see the end result of your efforts.

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