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July 2006, Page 6.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
(July 2006)
Ring-O-Bells?
WEB Cluster,
Ethics,
Building work,
The Lord's call.
Quinquennial Inspection
The word “Quinquennial” means five-yearly: every five years a parish church building has to be inspected by an architect to check for any serious maintenance work which may need doing. Our inspection is in progress at the moment.
We still need an electrical inspection at £300, and work to the lightning conductor at £350.
Part of the inspection was recently carried out by a timber specialist who came to look at the roof supports and other timbers in the church. The roof seems in fair condition at the moment, except for two damp spots at either end of the choir vestry which indicate some leaks above.
However, the inside timbers for the main roof can’t be inspected as it turns out the joists are about 12 feet apart and there is no walkway to walk between then. The risks of falling through the ceiling mean that we need to install a walkway before the inspection can be completed. The cost of this is £1210.
The other main problem area which has been identified is that there is rising damp in the west end of the church: the exterior wall, the porch, toilets, foot of the gallery stairs, and the back wall of the narthex (the glassed-in area under the gallery). The work to be done involves taking the radiators off and rolling back the carpet, removing the skirting boards and the plaster up to a height of one meter, drilling the walls and injecting with a water-resistant chemical so as to create a damp-course; and then fitting new skirting boards, replastering, and replacing the radiators.
Obviously this is our opportunity to redecorate the narthex, and while we’re doing so, to investigate getting a new carpet and improving the lighting. So the PCC has appointed a small group to do this: Hilary Murdoch, Ian Parsons, Marie Small and Jim Ryder. (The vicar is NOT on this group, as it is well-known that his sense of colour-matching is abysmal!)
We hope (but we don’t know for certain) that the work might start on Monday 24th July and last for 3 weeks. We will keep people informed via the web site and weekly notices.
What will it cost and where will the money come from? We don’t know yet, but we guess:
| Radiators | £ 250-ish |
| Skirting Board | £ 477 |
| Plaster | £ 1405 |
| Drilling & Injecting | £ 560 |
| Decorating & Carpet | £ 3000-ish |
| TOTAL | £ 5700-ish |
| Repair Fund balance | £ 1482.18 |
| From Day Centre | £ 3300-ish |
| We may be asking for | £ 900-ish |
These are very much ball-park figures, and we’ll put more accurate calculations before you when we know more.
John Hartley