Nearly finished!

We’re still not completely finished (a couple of the sub-trades have been r-e-a-l-l-y slow!) but with Easter almost here things have picked up a bit in the past couple of weeks. We have new furniture in the worship space and the offices have been finished. It’s been quite a while since my last blog post and I’ve taken a couple of sets of pictures since then but didn’t post them because there wasn’t that much of a change from one week to the next. However, enough time has now passed that there should be a noticeable change from the last pictures I posted a couple of months ago.

The main thing that everyone notices is still missing is the baseboard on the curved wall behind the altar. There’s also some additional work to do in the narthex and the doors from the bottom of the basement stairs to the main hall need to be corrected. However, we are slowly getting back to normal.

The pictures I took today (Saturday) are here – Renovation Photos – Group 43. I think the next group of photos and blog posting will be when everything is finally complete!

Pictures – January 26th

After three weeks I thought it was time to take another set of photographs of our renovated church (here – Renovation Photos – Group 40). Progress is slower now that the congregation is using the building on weekends. However there are still some significant differences (especially in some of the trim and finishing) from the photos I took on January 5th … but we’re not done yet. See what you think.

Pictures – January 5th

It seems a bit redundant to be taking pictures of the building now that the congregation is back worshipping in the space on a weekly basis. However, I know there are some followers of this blog who are at some distance from the “action” so I will continue to post some photos from time to time as we finish up the project. The photos I took on Saturday are located here – Renovation Photos – Group 39. Some of them are quite interesting to look at if you compare them to how things looked a couple of months ago, for example here – Renovation Photos – Group 28 – in early November.

Home at last!

Well … we did it (more or less)!

At least we are back in to the building and using it for congregational functions. There is still a lot of work to do – from the elevator to the offices there are major pieces of the project that still need to be completed. However, we got enough of the “public spaces” completed (including the washrooms!) that we were able to hold a “welcome back” party on Saturday evening, a Lessons and Carols service on Sunday morning, and two Eucharist services on Monday evening (Christmas Eve). Pictures from most of these events can be found here – Renovation Photos – Group 38.

I will continue to add blog entries from time to time over the next few weeks as we finish off the things that are left to do on the St. Laurence renovation project.

Organ now working

I was at the church again this evening and finished off connecting the speakers to the organ console. Deb was with me so we immediately tested it and everything worked. Another hurdle crossed. Photo here – Renovation Photos – Group 35A.

So close … and yet …

I was at the church this morning to finish wiring the speakers in the organ speaker loft and took a few photos when I was finished, located here – Renovation Photos – Group 35. I’ve included a photo of the organ speakers after I finished wiring them and a photo of the worship area from the loft. It’s starting to look like this space might actually be ready for a party on Saturday night. However, there’s still a lot of work to do before then! 🙂 So close … and yet still so far to go!

Occupancy in sight

I stopped in at the church on my way home from work today (in preparation for working on the organ installation tomorrow) and took a few pictures, here – Renovation Photos – Group 33. Unlike my other pictures that were taken in day time, this group is taken in the early winter evening (around 4:30 to 5:00 pm) and although the interior is very similar, there is quite an enchantingly different feeling to the exterior of the building in the dark.

It now looks like we will be able to meet our target of having a party next Saturday evening (the 22nd), and services next Sunday morning and Christmas Eve. My job will be to get the organ up and running and I’m reasonably confident that as long as there isn’t too much construction grit in the inside of the console I can accomplish that task before the end of next week.

Of course there will still be some things that will need to be finished after Christmas. For one thing, because we don’t have time to get the elevator inspected before Christmas, even if it is operational we won’t be able to use it until about mid-January. However, we are fairly hopeful that everything else in the interior of the building will be functional for us.

More drywall … less 2 by 4

I stopped in at the church this morning to see how things are progressing and took a few pictures (here – Renovation Photos – Group 32). Since my last visit two weeks ago (I was out of town last Friday) there is definitely more drywall on the walls and less two by four studs visible, at least in the main worship area. However, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done, especially in the addition, but the architect and the contractor are still pushing for occupancy on December 21st (two weeks from today!). I certainly hope that is the case, as parish planning is proceeding on that basis. Encouragingly, the installation of the elevator is slated to begin on Monday and the roofing for the addition should be complete in a couple of days so it is still possible for us to be in the building as scheduled.

Encouraging Pictures

I stopped in at the church this morning and took another group of pictures that show some encouraging progress. The contractor is still aiming for occupancy on December 21 so here’s hoping! See if you think we’ll be in before Christmas … Renovation Photos – Group 31. All I know is that based on the number of workers on site, the architect and contractor are really pushing hard to meet the current schedule.

Schedule updated

A new project schedule has been received from the contractor. I have updated the Project Timeline page, here.