The shiny new top roof is almost complete. There was a little more work than initially predicted – this seems to be a commonly emerging theme… Although we were lucky with the rafters and most of the woodwork, nearer the edges of the roof there were a lot of rotten boards. Where the guttering was so poor the facia was letting in a lot of water and so this whole area needed repairing and new boards. Due to the need to replace all the slates, this gave us the opportunity to apply a very modern and efficient insulation under the new slates.
Here is a photo of the top roof, almost complete, the strip remaining on the north side is to enable to scaffolding to the bell tower to sit across the roof and prevent damage to any new slates.
The roofers have now moved onto the chancel, and its going great. Have a look at the before and afters…
The chancel took a long time, they needed to carefully bend the battens around the curve of the roof and then cut each slate to size exactly in a triangular shape. A very time consuming and skilful job.
While the roof work was taking place we had people in to mend the worse parts of the stone work, as you can see there were gaping big holes in some of the stone. Some of this damage has been done by subsidence, which looks like it occurred due to 150 years of very poor draining causing the ground to move. Some of the damage is just wear and tear, and in other areas, the damage is due to the plant life, trees and rot growing through the stonework.
Here is a nice little before and after shot on the repair to the large split at the front of the church caused by subsidence…
WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT?
We are still waiting for the windows to be manufactured. The glazers are now unsure if they will be able to use the tower scaffold to fit the windows as they feel this is too unstable. After doing some calculations, our floor cannot take the weight of a scissor lift so I will have to have another think around this problem and come up with a solution.
In another slight surprise turn of events, the relationship has ended with the company we were working with to oversee the project in terms of project management. Richard, the owner of the company has retired quite suddenly without us knowing, and Chris who was doing weekly site visits and assisting us with problems has another job and is leaving this company. This has come quite out of the blue, and means I will now be officially project managing for the time being.
WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT?
We are still waiting for the windows to be manufactured. The glazers are now unsure if they will be able to use the tower scaffold to fit the windows as they feel this is too unstable. After doing some calculations, our floor cannot take the weight of a scissor lift so I will have to have another think around this problem and come up with a solution.
In another slight surprise turn of events, the relationship has ended with the company we were working with to oversee the project in terms of project management. Richard, the owner of the company has retired quite suddenly without us knowing, and Chris who was doing weekly site visits and assisting us with problems has another job and is leaving this company. This has come quite out of the blue, and means I will now be officially project managing for the time being.
PRAYER POINTS
PRAYER POINTS
- The work to the stonework seems endless, pray that the work which has been done is good and will last. And the work we have chosen to leave for now will hold up. Please also pray that the Lords wisdom was present when deciding what to do and what to leave.
- Ongoing manufacture of the windows, and that everything will come together in time for the scaffolding being lowered.
- Pray for me as I take on more responsibility for the site, and running, as our relationship with our former project managers changes.
- The work to the stonework seems endless, pray that the work which has been done is good and will last. And the work we have chosen to leave for now will hold up. Please also pray that the Lords wisdom was present when deciding what to do and what to leave.
- Ongoing manufacture of the windows, and that everything will come together in time for the scaffolding being lowered.
- Pray for me as I take on more responsibility for the site, and running, as our relationship with our former project managers changes.