Restoration Update - February 28, 2012

Wedding and front church Door: We are still interviewing prospective contractors to do the work on the doors.

Bell Restoration: We have selected a contractor – Chime Master of Lancaster, Ohio. They are affiliated with Duffy and Sons who worked on the Grace Church chimes in 1973. The Vestry elected to make the large bell (once the Medford fire bell) able to be swung by a rope, in addition to and electrified clapper, so that we can have the experience of manually swinging that bell. Thanks to Wes Foote, Jr, Allison Andrews and Noah Evans who worked interviewing and selecting a bell contractor.

Phase II: It seems that we are on track to begin this work in late spring or summer of 2012. Our Architect is finalizing plans and developing bid documents for this phase relating to mostly the bell tower. We hope to get this out to bid in March.

New Parish Heat System (s): The Vestry has approved a contract for a new heating system for the church and parish house. This system will consist of high efficiency boilers and will reduce our heating bills and carbon footprint. We hope to have the new system installed in the Spring or Summer.

Restoration Updates - January 9, 2012

Phase I: This phase of the Grace Church Restoration program is complete. We are in planning mode for Phase II.

Wedding Door: We are currently interviewing prospective contractors to do the work on the door. The stairs are complete with Phase I.

Bell Restoration: We are in conversation with several Bell Restoration companies about the bell restoration part of the work. We hope to have had a final decision about the bell contractor by mid to late February.

Phase II: It seems that we are on track to begin this work in late spring or summer of 2012. Our Architect is finalizing plans and developing bid documents for this phase relating to mostly the bell tower. We hope to get this out to bid in February.

New Parish Heat System (s): We are currently in conversation with four heating contractors about the new system (s). Grace Church parishioners should be aware of the fact that the heating system for the Church only is in really bad shape, and running about just over half capacity. With winter upon us, there is a slim possibility that the system will not operate to full capacity for Sunday services, especially if we have extreme severe cold weather. We do not anticipate this occurring but in the event the Church is not sufficiently heated, the 8am and 10am services will be moved into the Wiles Parish Hall. We have tested the system with outside temperatures of 15 degrees, and it has been able to keep up, but we do not know if it get colder than that.

If Sunday services are moved into the Parish Hall, parishioners will be notified via email by early Sunday morning. The heating system will be replaced and upgraded sometime in the spring or summer.

Capital Campaign Plaque Dedicated

On Sunday, November 20th, we unveiled and blessed the 2011 Capital Campaign plaque. Names and memorials from many of the Campaign donors were listed on the plaque.

At the time of the writing, Phase I of the Grace Church restoration is 99% complete. The contractor still needs to fix some minor areas. We are awaiting a carpenter to do some final work on the wedding door, and for new ventilation equipment for the basement. We hope those things will be complete in the coming weeks. Planning work is beginning for Phase II, which will focus on the bell tower and bells. We hope that work will begin in the Spring of 2012.

And the works moves to the Baptistery

The work on the back wall moves along. The Restoration Committee decided to do some extra pointing on the back wall which is now complete. The insulation is now in, and the plasterer has begun his work, which will take about two weeks. The new covering over the Rose Window will go up shortly.

The Baptistery is now covered in plastic, and most of the old plaster demoed. Shortly. carpenters and plasterers will work on rebuilding the section. A couple of pews needed to be removed for this, and the work will be a bit more obvious on Sunday mornings, but we hope that it will be done soon.

Construction is taking a little bit longer than expected; now we hope the work will be done by Thanksgiving.

Construction Update - 10/19/11

Construction is progressing, though somewhat slower than was hoped. The Restoration Committee decided to do some more pointing on the back wall than was originally planned to prevent potential leaks. Our consultants have also determined that the center beam under the church is sound and secure, and needs to other work than preventing more water infiltration to it. At this writing, we are awaiting the insulation and vapor barrier on the back wall to be installed and plastering to begin. Please speak to Wes Foote, Restoration Committee Chair, with any questions you may have.

The Construction Sign!

More Restoration Photos - Sep 15

From Restoration Photos - September 15, 2011

Check out the exposed back wall of the church.  You can also see some close ups of the stone work being done to keep the water out.


Peace!