Demolition of Church Begins

This information was published in the  restoration news center on March 13, 2012:

Reminder - The team from CHK Architects will be with us on Sunday, March 18, following the 10 o’clock worship service in the auditorium. This will be a great chance for everyone to meet the team, learn about the process and progress of the project, find out how to be involved, and to see how we are all part of the team that will rebuild the Meeting House.

Today there are workers beginning the demolition of the Meeting House rubble. Since this morning they have been working to make a clear break between the part to be demolished and the part that will remain. If one looks carefully, a distinct opening is visible. A couple of additional dumpsters have been brought in to receive the stuff that will be hauled away. Janice Morton, chair of the Artifacts Committee, has spoken with the gentleman in charge of the demotion and has found him to be very cooperative. He will be keeping an eye out for anything that might be meaningful, for instance the brass and marble plaques that were in the narthex, sanctuary and foundation room. The heat of the fire (as much as 1200 degrees and more) pretty much destroyed everything, so there is not a lot of hope that anything significant will be found, but it is good to know the demolition crew is aware of our attachment and the importance of securing artifacts.

Last week the asbestos removal was completed in the Bugbee Center and office area, and the sheet rocking crew got right to work. The installation of insulation and sheetrock has been virtually completed, and the painting crews will be moving in to begin with later this week or early next week. We have had Green Construction Co. hire local paint contractors. It is our intention to use, whenever possible, local people and to purchase needed supplies locally. The rooms in the Bugbee Center will be painted an off white color, but other colors that were used by the Sunday School and the Preschool will be matched. Water and heat have been restored to the Bugbee Center.

The Building Committee has met several times with the architects and is in the process of gathering information and input from members of the congregation. They will review all of the suggestions turned in on the survey forms, and they will be meeting with several groups in the church. Today a very productive session was held with several people who had insight and suggestions about a new church kitchen.

The organ committee has met on a regular basis and is nearly ready to make recommendations to the building committee about placement of the organ. They also will be suggesting an organ builder. It is important for the organ builder to be able to provide input to the architects as early in the design process as possible.

The Insurance committee is continuing to deal with all the aspects of coming up with a settlement from the insurance company. They have been working with the Public Adjuster to deal with all the contents that needs to be replaced, and with the Estimator, with whom they are fine tuning the estimate for the cost of replacing the Meeting House. All of this is tedious and time consuming work, but vitally important to the ongoing process of rebuilding.

Please remember that the whole facility is an active construction site and is still off limits to people for the most part. It is also a hard hat area, so if someone does enter the facility, they must be wearing a hard hat.

The Board of House and Grounds is installing new signs in the next day or two, making it clear that the former church entrance driveway is now to be used only by construction vehicles. The former exit has become two-way. Of course everyone is urged to use extreme caution entering and exiting the church parking lot.