volunteer project

[Beap52 2,465]

A small church in our association is needing some work done to it's one hundred year old building.   I was asked to lead a team to start repairs.   Helpers has been pretty sparse so most of it was done by me.  I didn't attempt to work on the gable ends without someone there to help with the 28' ladder.  

 

There are three pictures.  

 

One is the back of the church after I scraped the paint. 

Two is finished paint on the back--window is still needing paint removed from glass.--Helpers don't seem to have steady hand to cut-in paint but I'm appreciative of the help. Notice how far from level the side room's ridge is.  The 2x4 rafters on the main building probably have an 8" (or more) belly.  The last two paint jobs were done by folks who left overspray on the windows and storm windows.  A church member believes it has been fifteen or more years since last paint job.  The window sashes were almost bare of paint so it's likely been 25 or more years since they had any freshening up.

Three is me power washing the front of the building. I scraped the paint, Power washed, spot primed bare wood then top coated. The helpers mainly focused on windows and yard work and helping me move ladders and tools. 

 

In addition to painting, I've made several repairs.  From replacing siding ( that I made out of cedar), making new metal window drip cap, replacing three window sills. I'm doing my best to make the building more resistive to water invasion.  I found it interesting that none of the windows has sash locks.  In other words,  until the storm windows were installed, all a person had to do was raise a window to gain entry. 

 

Interesting side note:  The church is getting new roof because of hail damage.  The roofing supplier loaded the roof pretty much at the the top of the valley where the side room is attached to the main roof.  With the belly in the main ridge, If I was the roofer, I probably wouldn't have allowed the supplier to load in one location only.  At least spread it over a larger area.   A member and I measured the ceiling to floor height after the shingles were placed upon the roof.  Once the new roof is installed.  We'll measure to see if there was any deflection in the ceiling to floor measurement. 

[ri702bill 12,966]

Nice! But those cornices are a natural hiding spot for flying, stinging insects. 

I used to work with a guy whose family were house painters that specialized in 3 story Victorian tenement houses. He was the runt of the 5 brothers and always got the job of painting the eaves at the peak. This often required lashing a wood extension ladder to a 40 foot wood lower ladder. Not my idea of fun...

[953 nut 69,031]

Thank you for preserving one of Gods homes.

[lynnmor 9,036]

With the paint falling off so often, I suspect that you have a moisture problem,  painting the interior with a vapor barrier product might be worthwhile. 

 

[Handy Don 17,432]

15 hours ago, Beap52 said:

One is the back of the church after I scraped the paint. 

Two is finished paint on the back

Brings back memories of two HS summers as a house/barn painter.

Hard, honest work and well paid. We had a 40’ ladder that I used often and could handle myself--ah, youth!

Boss was a real character but he taught me a lot about how to paint and how to be a good worker that I’ve used ever since.

[Beap52 2,465]

10 hours ago, lynnmor said:

With the paint falling off so often, I suspect that you have a moisture problem,  painting the interior with a vapor barrier product might be worthwhile. 

 

I agree that moisture is a problem.  For one, there are no gutters  and the water on the uphill side can make it's way under the foundation.  I have  suggested they make a swale to help re-direct the water.  I don't think the building is heated except on Sundays and then they are using two of the wall hung ventless heaters--huge producers of moisture.  

 

The building is not insulated, except for 4" fiberglass batts in the dropped ceiling.  Based upon my experience, not having insulation in these type of wall helps with longevity of the paint. Years ago we were working on a house with clapboard siding.  After a rain, we were able to observe that the redwood siding had moisture on the backside.  The house had blown-in insulation in the sidewalls and in cavities that failed to get insulation, the paint held better.  I think that the insulation held the moisture and the siding could not dry as it normally would. 

 

I really don't know a solution for this small community church.  Actually, I suspect the damage has already been done.  Hopefully my work has added a few years to the building.