Roof Repair on Thomas Chapel
The History Taskforce, which has been restoring the 125-year-old State Landmark building Thomas Chapel UMC in Willis for over 2 years, has almost completed the repair on the metal roof. The current roof, which is at least 25 years old, had many rusted fasteners that needed to be replaced. Gulf Storm Roofing and Construction company estimated over 20,000 fasteners would have to be replaced, as well as the flashing on the south and west sides of the bell tower. Additional work remains to be done, but this is a major step in making the building watertight. Because of the steepness of the roof, the workers had to work in harnesses for safety reasons.
In addition to rusted fasteners, the workers also found that at some point in the last 25 years, a bullet was fired into the roof. From the angle of the entry and exit holes in the metal roof, it appears that the bullet was fired from the street level into the west side of the roof and exited the east side of the building at a higher angle. The roofing supervisor said that they often see this kind of damage in Houston on metal roofs, but it is usually just one hole in the roof. He suggested that people who fire guns to celebrate holidays usually fire into the air and the bullets come down somewhere and make only one hole. This is why police and city authorities tell people not to fire guns into the air on holidays, because you cannot know where they are going to come down. Often people are injured and/or killed by these stray bullets. We have no way of knowing when or why this particular bullet was fired, but fortunately no one was injured here.
More work needs to be done on the roof and major work remains to be done to repair the siding on the front of the building. We are urging people to support this project by donating to our GoFundMe account below.
In addition to rusted fasteners, the workers also found that at some point in the last 25 years, a bullet was fired into the roof. From the angle of the entry and exit holes in the metal roof, it appears that the bullet was fired from the street level into the west side of the roof and exited the east side of the building at a higher angle. The roofing supervisor said that they often see this kind of damage in Houston on metal roofs, but it is usually just one hole in the roof. He suggested that people who fire guns to celebrate holidays usually fire into the air and the bullets come down somewhere and make only one hole. This is why police and city authorities tell people not to fire guns into the air on holidays, because you cannot know where they are going to come down. Often people are injured and/or killed by these stray bullets. We have no way of knowing when or why this particular bullet was fired, but fortunately no one was injured here.
More work needs to be done on the roof and major work remains to be done to repair the siding on the front of the building. We are urging people to support this project by donating to our GoFundMe account below.
|
|
