Hello all.
Now that our first part of the electrical work is completed, we are looking for your feedback on a couple of other items.
The bell tower louvers-spacing, color, and type (drainable or not)
I’ve attached pictures of the tower as it was in 1895 and as it is today. Notice that in 1895 the louvers spacing was about 3″ instead of 6″ but remember this is before we had a bell. I believe sometime after the bell was installed in 1913 the spacing was changed Also notice that in 1895 the louvered area matched the trim on the corners, windows, and doors. We would propose that we keep the 6″ spacing (so as not to block the sound from the bell and keep the current look) but change the louver color to match our existing stained glass window trim. Specifically, the green metal as we are looking to eventually wrap the window sills with a matching green metal (as seen on the ramp entrance window) to lower maintenance costs. We think the darker color on these flatter surfaces will be less likely to show stains or other imperfections over time, and would still be in keeping with past traditions.
Also, louvers come in two types drainable and regular (like we have now). The drainable type tries to catch the rain that is driven into them by wind and channel that water into internal grooves that act like a gutter system to channel the water to the sides and then let it drain out at the bottom. When it’s raining really hard and windy, this prevents all the water from the upper blades running off of those blades and onto the lower blades, where the wind tries to drive it into the building again. The more water on the blades, the more likely some will come in. So drainable ones have been shown to be better at keeping rain out. I was concerned that in certain Copper Country winter conditions, these might ice up and the ice could damage these channels with freeze/thaw cycles. But it seems that this isn’t really an issue from others I’ve talked to and the manufacturer says they have thousands in place without anyone reporting this as a problem, so I’m thinking we should probably take advantage of this option. The biggest issue others report is snow completely covering them, which 6-inch spacing should make harder to do. The drainable type adds about $500 to our total cost. With all that in mind, we lean towards getting the drainable louvers, in green to match the windows, with 6″ spacing, at a 45-degree angle, for about $6700 for all 6 units shipped. They would have a 1-year basic warranty and 20-year coating warranty. If anyone has thoughts on why we shouldn’t go that way, let me know as we hope to order them within the next week for fall installation.
Also, for those of you who asked, all of these are rated for up to 100mph wind loads, which I’d hope would be fine here, even after they age a bit. The heavier welded frame type would go to 125mph, but I don’t see the cost as worth it in our situation (~$3500 more)
Website
We are reviewing the first year of our new website in action. If anyone has suggestions on anything they would like to see, how things work, etc. we are looking for your feedback. We anticipate doing some minor tweaks in the wording and functionality so any additional thoughts or things you noticed would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
David