September 23, 2021

September 23, 2021

Dear Friends in Christ, 

Last Sunday after church we discovered a water leak under the sink in the bathroom attached to the vicar's office. We don't know how long it had been there although I was in the Education building last Wednesday and didn't notice anything amiss. By the time it was discovered it had done considerable damage. An inch of water covered the floor of the bathroom, the vicar's office, the storage room opposite the parish hall, and was under the linoleum in the nursery bathroom. There was also substantial mold on the floors, walls and items stored in these rooms. When we tried to turn the water off we discovered that the valve to the bathroom and the valve to the Education building were both damaged to the extent that the only way to stop the leak was to turn off the water to the whole church.  

We immediately contacted our insurance and they sent a water mitigation company out on Monday to assess the damage and leave big fans blowing.  

The damage was even more extensive than we thought. The floors in the bathroom attached to the vicar's study, the vicar's study itself, and the storage room across from the parish hall are pretty much completely compromised. All flooring and baseboards will need to be replaced. There is also some damage to the floor of the nursery bathroom, and they expect there to be more water under the linoleum so we will probably need to replace that. Fortunately the nursery and the nursey storage closet aren’t affected at all. Mold has climbed the walls to about two feet in the vicar's bathroom, about 4 feet in the vicar's study (which for some reason has been particularly badly affected) and to a lesser extent in the storage room.  

Due to the age of the building an environmental assessment company came out on Tuesday to determine there is no asbestos and/or lead before any repairs can happen. We also had a plumber come out to fix the leak so thankfully the water is back on, and we will be able to hold church as normal this Sunday, although parts of the education building will be unusable for some time. The next step is the various agencies will prepare a report for the insurance company who will appraise the damage and how much it will cost to repair and authorize those repairs.  

I want to thank Craig Wirth, Jeanne Virgilio, and Leslie Bemel for helping assess and stabilize the situation on Sunday and avert an even bigger disaster. A huge thank you to Michelle for coordinating with the insurance company, hanging out at the church most of Tuesday; to Susan for joining her and being there Wednesday morning; and to Jakeb for arranging the plumber visit and making himself available to be there for the rest of the repairs.  

Please let me know if you have any questions. Meanwhile, please pray for a speedy and uncomplicated resolution to this problem.  

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Jane+