On August 30th, Session voted to approve the Trustees’ recommendation regarding Phase One of a two-phase church building repair project.

By way of background, the Trustees engaged Brookline Historic, Inc., a historical building expert, to carefully examine the exterior of the building and make appropriate recommendations.  An extensive 79-page report was issued in April. This report included numerous photographs documenting extensive exterior building deterioration. The issues identified included rotten crown moldings; damaged louver frames and sills; leaking masonry “projecting bands;” rotted steeple bell tower corner boards; and extensive roof disrepair, including over/under nailing and flashing inadequacies.

After considerable deliberation, the Trustees elected to prioritize the expert’s recommendations. We focused initially on those repairs necessary to prevent further water intrusion, rather than risking further interior damage to both the front of the church building and the sanctuary ceiling near the balcony. The Phase One repairs include remediation of the three louver frames and the accompanying sill on an outside wall beneath the bell tower. The corner boards on the bell tower will be replaced.  Finally, between 25 and 30 areas on the roof will be sealed or re-shingled, and new flashing at the base of the bell tower is to be installed.

Phase Two will be addressed next spring and will include replacement of the upper crown moldings and gable end crown moldings as well as repairs to the “projecting bands”.

The Trustees obtained detailed estimates from Brookline Historical, Inc., Lancaster, BLS Roofing, in Gap, PA and Simple-Smart Solutions in Nantmeal Village. With Session’s concurrence, the Trustees have engaged Simple-Smart Solutions and BLS Roofing to perform the Phase One tasks, estimated to aggregate $19,225.  The remediation, expected to begin by mid-September, should be completed by early November. Church access shouldn’t be compromised by these efforts.

We anticipate mounting a capital campaign to help defray the large unanticipated investment required to repair and fortify our church’s steeple, roof, building front and interior damage.