ABOVE: The sanctuary at St. Paul Lutheran Church this week had five levels of scaffolding put up, with a protective sheet over it, so that workers can access the bricks on the wall to repair or replace them. A temporary altar can be seen at the front.

FAIRMONT– The congregation at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fairmont is taking big steps to ensure that the church will be around for many more years to come. It’s engaged in a project called Brick by Brick for a Firm Foundation, appropriately named as stone and bricks on both the exterior and interior of the church are being repaired or replaced altogether.

The church was formed in 1883 and has always been in the same location on Budd Street, however the current church was built in 1950, making it 75 years old.

Aside from being built, this project is the biggest it’s undergone both in terms of cost and depth.

“There’s a lot more to it than probably we’ve ever tackled as a church,” said Josh Laven, a trustee.

He mentioned a few other projects that have taken place over the past few decades, such as the organ console project and some roof repairs, both of which costed around $200,000 and the new parking lot project which costed about $100,000.

The church is raising $800,000 for its current project.

Back in 2012 an initial report was done that identified a number of deficiencies in some of the exterior cornerstones and rock veneer that were noted by a structural engineer.

Then in 2013 a repointing project was done where the grout was ground out on the exterior stone and redone. At the time, it was thought that that could help address some of the moisture problems that were apparent on the inside of the church.

“For a number of years there’s been significant cracking that’s been noted internally on the walls,” Laven explained.

The cracking is due to moisture problems that have been there from the beginning.

“When this building was built in the 1950s, the mortar and brick was not designed to grow and shrink with the season changes,” Laven said.

Merle Boesch, another trustee, added that the technology was not around back then.

The exterior work is the first phase of the project and began on Oct. 8th.

As of last week, there have been 55 cornerstones changed out and 260 square feet of repointing done on the East side alone.

ABOVE: Crews access the exterior stone on the East side of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fairmont. Work on the outside of the building started in October and was expected to wrap up this week before work on the inside starts.

The second phase, which will start this next week, is taking place inside the sanctuary.

The work is fairly invasive as five levels of scaffolding had to be put up so that workers could reach the top bricks that need to be repaired or replaced.

The structural engineer has advised that expansion joints be put in so on both the North and South walls there will be expansion joints cut from floor to ceilings.

“The goal is to dampen that seasonal movement by the expansion joints and hopefully ensuring we don’t have any cracks going forward after all of these are repaired,” Laven said.

During the work on the interior, a number of defaced bricks on different walls will be replaced. All efflorescence white from other bricks will be cleaned.

Speaking to the importance of the project, Laven said, “If you choose to do nothing, there’s a real risk that the whole veneer would fall.”

While needed repairs and improvements are being made, continuity and familiarity are at the forefront of the project.

When asked what the differences will be visually, Laven said, “hopefully you’re not going to see a lot. Hopefully they’ll blend nearly perfectly. There shouldn’t be any cracks anymore.”

The only addition will be the expansion joints, which will be noticeable, but the bricks were picked out carefully to find a match.

“They worked really hard on that. There were probably 10 or 15 samples and they got it really close,” said Mike Schroeder, a trustee.

The stone and bricks come in a few different textures, as what was originally picked out when the church was built 75 years ago.

As for funding the $800,000 project, the budget and finance board looked at avenues to finance it and determined that some funds out of reserves would be used and a loan would be borrowed from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

“It’s going really well. There have been a lot of donations so far,” said Schroeder.

He noted that while the work has long been needed, when it was finally decided to do it, things started moving quickly as the quote for the project was received in August and brought it to the congregation in September for approval and work started in early October.

The goal is to pay off the project in just three years.

The work, and the money needed to fund it, has been communicated out to current and former congregation members in a variety of ways including in the weekly bulletin, newsletters and by mailings.

Pastor Anthony Bertram said there was a big concern when the project was proposed on whether people would still be able to worship in church.

He said the construction company, McGough, has been helpful and very mindful of the times that the sanctuary needs to be used, such as during chapel for the students of the attached school during the day.

“We’ve had a really good working relationship with them,” Bertram said.

Since the scaffolding has been put up, it’s very apparent some serious work is going to be done. However, Boesch built a temporary altar for use moving forward so that services can continue as normally scheduled.

“We lost use of the whole front space but we’ll be able to use the sides where the pulpit is and the lectern is for the sermon,” said Bertram.

He, like the trustees, noted that a big goal has been not to change the look of anything in the church, but rather keep it looking the same as it has while gaining assurance that problems long in existence have been addressed.

“People that are long-time, lifetime, multi-generational members of the congregation, there are still some that remember when it was built and their parents were very involved in helping to pay for it. Their concern was that it would get changed,” Bertram said. “There’s a lot of pride in it.”

He added that people are proud of the church and he noted that it’s often complimented by visitors for its aesthetics.

“When people come into our church, they know that it’s a church,” Bertram said. “The work and the commitment and the sacrifices that were made 75 years ago when they were planning this, we get to enjoy it, but it also gives us responsibility. We have stewardship over it. It’s been left to us to care for so future generations can come in and be able to worship here and enjoy the sacred space.”

All of the work is expected to finish up by the end of the year. In addition to the brick and stone work, new carpeting will be put in at the end of it though it remains to be seen what color it will be.

Throughout the process, those involved haven’t forgotten what the project is for.

“It’s all for the people. It’s not a museum, it’s a working church and it’s where the Gospel is preached every weekend and five days a week for chapel when the kids come in and use the church as well,” Bertram said.

More information on the church, and a link to donate, can be found online at splfairmont.org.