Burst pipe wreaks havoc at St. James United
Basement flooding shorts boiler and leaves church without heat
“But because everything is so old, we have to heat it up very slowly, otherwise all the wood
around here will split.”
ALLEN FULLER, DIRECTOR OF RESTORATION PROJECTS FOR THE CHURCH
The bride and groom may have to wear their coats.
The day before a wedding was scheduled to take place there, it was below the freezing mark inside St. James United Church on Ste-Catherine St. W., at the corner of St-Alexandre St.
The iconic church with its signature pink-brick facade had to go without heat Friday, one of the coldest mornings of the season, after a pipe burst on the third floor, causing water to pour down to the main floor and basement. The basement flood shorted out the 125-year-old church’s original boiler and its burner, which provided heat for the whole building. There was also extensive water damage in a hallway in the church’s eastern section, as well as the vestry — a meeting room.
Allen Fuller, director of restoration projects for the church and one of its trustees, said that near 1:30 a.m. Friday, a pipe providing water to the sprinkler system burst in the area between the sanctuary’s ceiling and its roof, where there isn’t much insulation.
“A good Samaritan saw water coming out of the church and called the fire department,” he said.
With no heat, and lots of water damage, salvage workers brought in dehumidifiers and portable space heaters.
“But because everything is so old, we have to heat it up very slowly, otherwise all the wood around here will split,” Fuller said.
While the sanctuary was unscathed, there may be more complications for the church if temperatures dip too low. The church’s organ, which dates back to 1891, can’t be exposed to sub-zero temperatures for too long or its wood will break.
In the basement, water flowed over a four-foot ditch where the church’s heating system is located, and spread over most of the floor underneath the sanctuary. By later Friday morning, the water had turned to ice, making the floors slick.
The boiler is one of two in the church, but the other stopped working several months ago, having been damaged by rust. The church might be able to get a temporary boiler, Rev. Arlen Bonnar said. If not, it will have to make do with portable space heaters until a permanent boiler can be found.
“We’re hoping to get some heat this weekend,” Bonnar said. “But it’s going to be a short wedding — just 30 minutes, so we can probably manage for a short period. There’s only one wedding scheduled for Saturday, thank God.”
He said the church hopes to be open for services on Sunday at 11 a.m., as usual.
The flood comes with the church at the end of a $1-million repair from a 2012 fire on the building’s third floor. Fuller said the church recently commissioned a $150,000 replica of the stained-glass window that was destroyed in the fire.
Bonnar said the church’s experience from the fire repair is coming handy with the current flood repair.
“The fire was a good training school for us,” he said. “We’re approaching this problem from a whole different perspective.”
Because it’s a heritage building, the church must be restored exactly as it was, and construction plans must be approved by federal and provincial ministries of culture. Fuller, who has been managing restoration projects since 2009, said if there is no further damage, he expects the flood repairs to cost about $300,000, and the process will likely last several months. Fuller said he believes the cost will be covered by the church’s insurance company.
The church, a city landmark, was originally a Methodist church, with construction completed in June 1889.
The twin-tower, Gothic style building had been threatened with demolition during the late 1970s, and then was designated a historic monument by the Quebec government in 1980. A three storey-strip mall that had hid the church from view since
1927 was demolished in 2005.