Looking like a gigantic spider, the cherry picker is moved around the sanctuary to enable workers to seal sound insulating material.
The interior of the sanctuary has a very different look this week, and it is changing daily.
Plastic sheeting covers virtually every square inch of the room, including pews, floors, light fixtures high above and organ pipes over the choir loft.
It’s protection to catch the fall out from a remediation project to seal tiny flakes of sound insulation material on wall and ceiling tiles. The material is used to enable the room to have a good balance between the spoken voice, musicians and instruments.
Problem is, people have recently noticed little flakes falling whenever the organ hits a particularly powerful low note, or there is heavy thunder.
That prompted the current project. It involved a crane being moved into the sanctuary so that workers can be lifted high above to brush off any loose material, and spray a sealant to permanently seal the tile surfaces.
The work started early Monday, and will be finished by midday Saturday.
“This place will be clean by Saturday afternoon,” promises Steve Felts, Tallowood’s property manager, “but to complete the job we have to remove pews here to relocate the crane, then replace those pews and move others so that we can place the crane in a different spot to treat another area of the ceiling, and on and on.”
It’s a bit like a giant puzzle. But Steve agrees it beats “snowing” inside when the organ shows off.
