low_priority LOW PRIORITY or CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS by David Lawyer 1993-6 SUMMARY LIST of low_priority (or controversial) projects: 1. Put Throop Hall Bulletin Boards on "hinges" or the like. 2. Exhaust fans for restrooms 3. Paint roof white or silver for energy conservation. 4. Slope flower beds away from building (Del Mar). 5. Permanent fix for flooding under Throop Hall 6. Skylights: restore. 7. Bells, chimes, or loudspeakers for tower. 8. Electric outlet on N wall of tower room 9. Window screens: restore 10. Downspout piping clogged 11. Drip flashing for windows facing patio 12. Restore patio garden lights 13. Spotlight for Montessori School sign 14. Repair and restore green Carrier air washer in basement. 15. Redesign heating system for energy efficiency. 16. Sound-blocking drapes for Fireside Room 17. Earphone jacks in Sanctuary for hearing impaired 18. Sodium lamps for parking lot 19. Repair posts on W. side of Henry House 20. Fix hole in Sanctuary door by parking lot 1. Suspend bulletin boards in Throop Hall so that they may be more readily reversed. One method is to make them hinge at one end so they may be rapidly flipped to the other side (like turning a page in a book). The "hinge swivel" could slide in a rail guide (= traverse rod) above so the location of the board does not change after being flipped. 25hr$100 2. Consider installing exhaust fans in existing restroom ventilation ducts. Some ducts go from rectangular to round in the attic. Men's room duct is all rectangular and exits thru louvers in sanctuary balcony exterior gable wall (put "silent" blower here). Due to restroom smells, air should not flow from them into the rest of the building. 40hr$400 3. Paint church roof white or silver to conserve energy. 30hr$200 4. Slope flower beds E. of Del Mar steps so no water accumulates at edge of building. Only needed if rain gutter leaks or if sprinklers left on. Need fill dirt. 10hr$50 5. Flooding under Throop Hall. In past years (it's now been temporarily fixed) water welled up from dirt floor of an old crawl space entrance and flows over foundation cut-out below patio S. door. A 1 inch rainfall put 2 in. of water into sewer trench so roof drainage from patio downspout was getting into crawl space. Rainwater may imperil foundation and post supports under Throop Hall. Fixed May '94 by Jim Stiver and Dave Lawyer by 1. Repairing break in patio flagstone edging; 2. building a dam by fire escape stairs to keep water out of garden. In Mar. '03 observed a lot of water flowing over the top of this "dam" so raised it about an inch highter. Other fixes that could have been done: 1. Chisel drain trench in stairway landing and drill a hole in patio-to-walkway wall. 2. Put more dirt into the garden so as to slope away from the building. 3. Raise the low spot in the flagstone or install an underground drain pipe. 4. Close the old hidden crawl space opening floor with concrete. 30hr$100 6. Investigate possibility of restoring 3@ skylights: tower room, upstairs maintenance room, archive room. The tower room one has a shaft thru the attic, but the others have no such shaft. Roofing paper and plywood cover some of the roof skylight windows. Where are the glass frames stored? 20hr 7. In tower: Install bells or chimes or loud speakers for tape playback. It's legal in Pasadena provided that the noise is not too loud or unpleasant. A major problem is that of finding recorded chime music. Pasadena Public Lib. took it as a research question (1992) and could not locate any. There is no electric outlet in Belfry Room but none may be needed if an amplifier is located say in one of the tower rooms (a 2nd tower room is located directly above the carpeted tower room). Many other local churches play recorded chimes (or other music). For example: Westminster Presbyterian, Holliston Methodist, and St. James Methodist. It may be possible to copy their tapes. 30hr$300 8. Fix outlet wiring on N wall of Tower Room since the neutral feed comes from the conduit (look in switch box near it). 4hr$5 Disconnected by DL Dec.'94. 1hr. Outlet is too high on wall and other outlets exist so low priority to fix. Should pull white wire thru conduit. J box may be in attic above downstairs Janitor's closet. 9. Replace/repair missing window screens (mostly on 2nd floor of Parish House. Old wood ones were in storage in N. room closet. Do only after window sills are repaired. 60hr$300 10. Some downspouts underground drains on Del Mar side clogged. Can't run water thru them to street but during a long rainstorm some water comes out at street. There are holes near downspouts where water gushes out. Doesn't do any damage since ground slopes away from building. 50hr$100 11. Install drip flashing above windows high above patio. 20hr$40. 12. In 1993 some patio garden lights were missing reflectors & lenses. They don't sell the reflector separately. Kids frequently vandalized them. 8hr$60. More vandalized by Oct. '95: 15hr$200. By 2002, most all had been vandalized and were apparently removed. Restoring them would be good if we could solve the vandalism problem. 13. Install spotlight on N aisle roof edge to shine on Montessori School sign 2hr$15 14. Repair and restore green Carrier air washer in basement. Set up a feedback system for regulating humidity in building with this washer. C20hr$500 15. Redesign heating system for energy efficiency. When rooms are only partially occupied, less ventilation is needed so either the blowers should run slower (variable speed) or the blowers should cycle on and off when on vent. For the upstairs, only those rooms occupied need be heated. Variable speed cost C60hr$800 (best solution). Inverters (for variable speed) cost about $200 @ in 1992. Automatic dampers would cut off heat to unoccupied rooms and reduce fan speed & gas flow. Or reinstall small gas heaters in certain upstairs rooms. (No estimate of cost yet.) 16. Get new drapes for Fireside Room that will block traffic noise from street. Use 2 sets of drapes with air space in between. 30hr$500 17. Wire existing earphone jacks in the Sanctuary for the hearing impaired or install inductive loop or infrared system. C20hr$50 18. Install sodium lamps to illuminate parking lot. C3hr$150 19. Repair posts "supporting" roof overhangs on W. side of Henry House (next to parking lot). The existing posts are mostly rotten at the bottom (and may have termites) giving little support. But they are primarily decorative. The plans for Henry House do not connect them to the beams in the roof and apparently they were never connected. So at present all that's needed is a sign on the roof telling people not to put say over 1000 pound load on the overhangs. 20. Plug round hole (for lock) in sanctuary door by parking lot. 1hr$2