Sunnyhill New Home

The photo below of Craig Frye, Peg Hart and Michael Hennessy was taken at 8:43 a.m. on September 6, 2016. That was the day TEDCO arrived on site to begin construction of our new home. One week later demolition of the the north wing of our historical building began. Today, eight months later, we are one month away from what architects and contractors refer to as substantial completion, which is scheduled to be June 12. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) defines substantial completion as the “state in the progress of work when the work or designated portion thereof is sufficiently complete in accordance with the contract documents so the owner can occupy or utilize the work for its intended use.” Substantial completion is the point when the owner, architect and contractor put together a punch list of items that need to be corrected or completed and act on it. For Sunnyhillers, it is the time when we can pave our parking lot; attend to landscaping; clean, repair and paint areas that were not part of our new-home contract; and move new and old furniture into our new and rehabilitated spaces. It will be an exciting and busy time.

Craig Frye, Peg Hart, and Michael Hennessy pose for a photo on the first day of construction, September 6, 2016.

Over the next month, work will continue at a dizzying pace, but here's what has been accomplished in just the last week.

Columbia Gas finally connected our new three-inch gas line to the main. Here an employee is boring a hole through our tap into the gas main.

Once the new line was connected, our new meter was installed and the pipes were painted to match the meter. The gas arrives from the main through the pipe on the left and enters our building through the pipe on the right. Once the wall behind the meter is re-stuccoed, we will repair and replace the beautiful trellis and landscape the area.

The trench was back filled.

The area was rough graded to the top of the water meter vault.

The old meter was removed.

And, thanks to excellent planning by Craig, without damaging Vijay's beautiful peonies, which are about to bloom.

Inside the building work continues on the HVAC system. This is a wide shot of the mechanical room in the basement. Believe it or not, even more pipes will be added before the work is complete.

These pumps will circulate hot water through our radiators in the two heating zones in our historical building.

This Rinnai tank-less, on-demand water heater will supply hot water to the new restrooms, the infant-toddler room and the janitor's closet. Based on the expected use of the restrooms in our new addition -- high demand on Sunday mornings and during group events and low demand on weekdays -- on-demand heating is considered the most energy efficient method of supplying hot water. The kitchen and the small bathroom in the old basement will be supplied with hot water from our current water heater in the room below the kitchen.

Other plumbing progress includes installing protective covering on the walls of the janitor's closet...

Installing the ADA compliant water fountains...

Installing toilets and a urinal in the men's room...

Installing toilets in the women's room...

Installing a toilet and sink in the gender-neutral rest room...

And, to show how far along they are, there is water in the bowl.

The control for our new fire alarm system was installed in the basement room at the foot of the steps from the kitchen. New smoke alarms and pull-boxes are replacing the old units in our historical building.

Our old sanctuary has been patched and painted and the carpet has been removed to prepare the floor for the new. In this photo you can clearly see where the original 1920 building ended (parquet flooring) and the 1994 addition (plywood flooring) was added at a cost of $366,000 ($606,064 in 2017 dollars). The jog in the floor is where the original fireplace was located.

Looking east toward the main entrance to the church reminds us of how much work was done by the members of Sunnyhill who had the vision to acquire this old mansion for $92,000 ($558,084 in 2017 dollars) in January of 1971, and turn it into a church. A lot of the work required to make the building meet code was done by Vijay Chandhok. He reversed the swing of the doors to the main room so they would open out, converted several doors (now gone) to fire doors by adding steel plates to them, removed the bookcases at the back of the room to make more room for seating, and much, much more. Thank you, Vijay.

The parquet floor was removed from the section of the floor with a deformation -- a hump. The edges will be feathered to level the floor as much as possible. When sections of the sub floor were temporarily removed, the cause of the deformation of the floor became obvious. A steel I-beam runs across the floor in the center of the cutout area. Floor joists had tenons cut into the ends which fitted between the flanges of the I-beam. Over time, possibly due to the heat from the pipes that ran below the beam, the wooden floor joists deformed and settled. This caused the flooring that sat on top of the I-beam to buckle upwards and create a bow in the floor. The only way to fix it properly would be to remove the ceiling in the basement and shim up the joists to their original position. Because the deformation is relatively minor, and can be corrected to some degree, it's not worth the time and expense to shim the joists.

When Sunnyhill was built, cut nails were used to attach the flooring. Cut nails tend to be brittle and often break off when they are pulled out. The original parquet flooring, under the nail, is only 1/2" thick.

Saving the best for last, finish carpenters are installing the baseboards in the sanctuary. Millwork is one of the last elements of construction. In addition to baseboards, the finish carpenters will install windowsills, steps and banisters to the basement, steps to the stage, and a window seat in the infant and toddler room.

A small wood shop was set up in the sanctuary. This miter saw with a fine-tooth blade and a dust-collecting hood is used to make straight, angled and beveled cuts.