Update on Church Repairs

July 18, 2019

Update to Church Repairs

Rev. Peter Hofstra

                Mold Remediation:  We are continuing with the mold control protocols in the church.  The Auditorium and the Sanctuary are separated off from the rest of the church with plastic barriers and the scrubbers continue to do their work.  This will progress into next week.  We have had a couple of rain events now to test the tarps on the roof.  As of Wednesday, they seemed to be holding well.

                Heat in the Church:  Now that the mold problem is under control, this work can begin.  Among the various issues, we had iced pipes in two locations in the Narthex this past winter.  The one was in the corner of the room, where we had it some years ago.  The other was-we now know-under the tower.

                It is now safe for the plumbing diagnostic to go ahead.  They have found where the second ice break occurred, under the bell tower and out of reach except for a long crawl beneath the sanctuary floor.  We have also uncovered damage and staining to the carpet in the Narthex.  Removing that is going to be one of the necessary steps forward to mitigating the water damage as well as allowing the leak to be repaired.  It will NOT be possible to crawl under the building to get to it.  The floor in the Narthex will have to be opened up to allow the repairs. 

                Additionally, the plumbing diagnostic has plotted out where the various heating zones are in the Sanctuary wing, the system has been pressure tested and, unfortunately, a couple of other leaks found, and a general survey of the condition and safety of the heating system is under way.  Some corrosion has been found, some of the bleeder valves are in need of replacing, but a full safety inspection and report will be issued at the conclusion of this work.

                My continued thanks to our adjuster for helping us find the right people to do this survey and preparation work for the church.

                When the diagnostic work is complete and we have confirmed that the mold control efforts have rendered the Sanctuary space safe, we are going to set a couple of times to walk interested members of the church through the space so folks can see what is being done.  These times will be set after our next meeting with the mold control folks, early next week. 

                Community Notification: Our first steps were to notify the members of the church community as to what is taking place in the church.  You are our first line of response to inquiries from friends of our community, to folks you know in the neighborhood.  A second step was to meet with Harborview and, based on what we have shared, a letter was put out to the parents to let them know that this is a safe environment for their children and that work goes forward to make it even safer.

                The worst possible outcome of what we are doing is when ‘tidbits’ or ‘juicy nuggets’ get passed along to people whose imaginations fill in the rest.  That leads very quickly to rumors overblowing what is really happening here.  It leads to rumors that the church is covering things up.  It leads to rumors that the leadership of the church-including the pastor-are using their ‘power’ to hide things or manipulate things.  None of this is taking place.

                It is the responsibility of this entire church community to be on the same page with what goes on in our church.  It is the Session, the governing board of our church, that is ultimately responsible for what happens here.  We shall be transparent with what is happening with full and proper information.  These blog posts are here to serve as the first line of information.  It is the responsibility of anyone using this blog information who does not understand something to be in contact with the church office or with me to get clarification.  If there is information that we do not have, because only Jesus is perfect, we are not, no matter how hard we try, it is the responsibility of those who know to get that information to us.

                When will we be returning to the Sanctuary?  At this time, we do not know.  We are still in a diagnostic phase.  Once we know what steps need to be taken, we will be in a position to better answer that question.