Replacing the Perimeter Beam at the Entrances

There is a 12" x 12" hardwood beam that runs on the inside perimeter of the Cathedral walls.  Where this beam passes under the doors at the three entrances to the Cathedral, it has disintegrated.  This is due to their exposure to water because they are intact everywhere else .  We are therefore replacing them with steel reinforced concrete beams at the door entrances only. 

The remanents of the perimeter beam are shown above, right where it passes under the door sills of the South entrance.

The placing of the steel reinforcement is shown above.  The men are standing next to the metal decking where the new aisles will be poured.

Restoring a Cathedral With One Dollar

We have launched an email campaign to raise funds for the Restoration.  We are asking as many people as possible to donate just $1.00  If we get this campaign to become viral, we could raise all the funds we need.  Please double click on the promotional flyer below to zoom or select full screen from the menu bar below.
 

 

Online donations can be made by pressing the "Donate" button on the right.

Floor Works

The backfilling under the pews for the Southern half of the Cathedral has been completed.  The pictures below show the pew areas in the South transept and nave that have been back filled and compacted. 

South Transept

Nave under South balcony

Nave

Nave under balcony looking from West to East

Closeup of South Transept

 

The metal decking for the aisles has been placed.

Nave under South Balcony looking to where the War Memorial Chapel was

South Transept

South Transept

Nave under South balcony

 

 



The floor will be reinforced with half inch diameter steel bars.

 

1/2 inch steel rebar

 

The 12 inch perimeter hardwood beams disintergrated at all of the door entrances.  We will replaced the beams there with steel reinforced concrete beams.  The picture below shows where the remenants of the partially disintergrated beam was removed from the South entrance.

 



Channel for new RC beam at South entrnace

Foundation Cracks Repaired

The foundation cracks have been repaired.

Before

After

 

Before

After

 

Before

After

 

 

The cracks were repaired with a colourised, epoxy grout.

On Eagles Wings

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  Isiah 40:31

 

 

 It has been a long hard wait.  Finally, we have gathered our resources and will start the floor in the next week or so. 

 

The Gospel writers all have animal depictions.  St. John the Divine's is the eagle and the Cathedral has two statues of an eagle in different locations.  On 1st October, after a long and difficult wait we shall mount up again.  God is with us.

 

 

Sanctuary Roof Complete

The Sanctuary roof is now complete.  We decided to replace it with a concrete roof.  We removed all the old timbers under the roof and replaced them with new lumber.

The old metals sheets were reused but just as part of the formwork for the concrete.  The steel reinforcement ties into the gable wall beam.  The stones in the parapet wall were cracked and loose in places so we cast a short wall behind them to hold them together.

This was a relatively small pour and a little more intricate.  Therefore we could not pump the concrete up there as we did before.  Concrete was mixed in the yard and hauled up the old fashioned way bucket by bucket.

The new sanctuary roof complete with new drain.  This drain runs down the walls in between the stained glass windows into a small channel down the main aisle.  It joins the other drains at the intersection of the main and cross aisles.  This will all be restored with PVC pipes.

Once we complete the drains the Cathedral will now have a completely new roof and drain system.  We thank God for this, we thank all who worked on helping us achieve this and we thank God for them.

Restoring Our Cathedral

Here is a look back on the last two and a half years.

Another Reason for the Restoration

It has occured to me that a visitor to this blog might never have seen pictures of the Cathedral before the restoration began.  I have made a post of a panoramic shot of the interior (Panoramic View of Cathedral Interior) but I feel now that something more is needed.

Spirits are low right now on this restoration.  In spite of the significant milestone we have recently reached, (Roof Complete) the road ahead is still quite long. 

So I gathered a number of pictures with which I have been blessed and made a video slideshow.  The accompanying music is a much beloved Anglican hymn, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling."  This beautiful rendition is done by the Wells Cathedral Choir.  I have emailed this video to the vestry and clergy in hopes that it will inspire us all to continue to push on this project. 

The pictures include some old black and white ones of the Cathedral exterior in the 30's and 40's and of the interior in 1914.  I post this video here so that you may behold yet another reason for this restoration.

East Gable Wall Beam

The concrete has hardened and the forms have been stripped away.  Due to the stiffness of the concrete we were unable to get it to flow to the top of the beam.  Any addition of water to facilitate this would affect the strength.  Therefore we will cast the beam in two sections.  We will cast the top section when we complete the sanctuary roof.

East Gable Wall Concrete Beam Pour

We cast the reinforced concrete beam today.

Beam boxed and ready for concrete

Concrete Boom Pump Truck arrives

Concrete Boom deployed

Concrete truck arrives

Boom operator places boom end in final position

Boom in final position and ready to pump

Concrete pouring into pump truck

Concrete beam half filled

Traffic diverted during pour

East Gable Wall Works

We are fixing the bending beams in the east gable wall (East Gable Wall, East Gable Wall II).  Our solution required the insallation of a steel reinforced concrete beam.

We built a wooden platform to faciltate the works and removed the wooden beams as well as two layers of stones beneath the arched openng.  The wooden beams were replaced and the steel reinforcement for the concrete beams was installed.

East Gable Wall showing wooden platform and steel reinforcement

New wooden beams

Steel reinforcement inside concrete beam

Concrete beam formwork