WEST ORANGE, NJ — The professional engineer hired by the International Federation of Chaplains to inspect the former St. Mark’s Episcopal Church building following its New Year’s Day fire has revised his design plans for shoring up the structure, adding a few minor details at the request of the township.
Guy Lagomarsino, the principal of Optimized Engineering Associates, told the West Orange Chronicle that township construction official Tom Tracey had asked for additional information mainly relating to his recommendations for the bell tower and church floor after Tracey reviewed his design plans submitted Feb. 8. As a result, Lagomarsino said he clarified his suggestions so that the shoring needed to stabilize the remains of the severely damaged structure can begin.
In his revisions, Lagomarsino said the bell tower does not need to be shored, explaining to the Chronicle that it is stable enough on its own. He did, however, suggest that anchors could be placed in the stone walls to tie back the bell and prevent it from falling.
Once the bell is secured — and above all, once the building’s walls have been shored — the engineer’s revisions dictate that the debris inside the church and tower can be removed from the top down. After that, the revisions say the floor must be removed by hand one section at a time.
Lagomarsino said the township was particularly concerned about what would happen once the flooring is removed, but he said no issues should arise if his shoring plans are followed.
“Once the walls are shored up, then we don’t really need to have the floor system in there,” Lagomarsino said in a March 4 phone interview. “If you have the walls shored, the walls can free stand because they’re going to be braced with lateral bracing.”
In his revisions Lagomarsino also advises that additional support may be needed for the structure since a full freeze and thaw cycle has taken place, meaning new movement may have occurred. All window openings must also be cleared of existing metal framing, the engineer said in his revisions, before the open perimeter is braced.
Additionally, in his updated plan Lagomarsino states that the walls’ top stones are deteriorated and therefore must be removed after shoring takes place. Mortar can then be applied to the top perimeter of the walls to keep water from seeping into the masonry, which could cause the stone to crack.
Lastly, Lagomarsino stated in his revisions that the rear-area micro-laminated beams will be secure in the center with a vertical beam leading to the concrete block floor slab laid on the ground.
Overall, the engineer said his revisions should put everyone on the same page, clearing the way for shoring to begin.
But before that can happen, Tracey must approve the revisions, which were sent to him via email. Tracey said he needs a hard copy of the revisions, signed and sealed by Lagomarsino, before he can sign off on them. Once Tracey approves the revisions and all necessary permits, shoring can begin on the nearly 200-year-old historic structure.
As Lagomarsino already outlined in his original design plans, the shoring process will start with placing lateral braces on the church walls roughly 5 feet up and 12 feet up. Lagomarsino said stabilizing beams called rakers set 15 to 20 feet away should then be placed diagonally against the wall at a 45-degree angle, anchored to the braces. Lastly, he said the rakers should be held in place on the ground with concrete blocks.
This setup should happen around the building — Lagomarsino said he recommended putting two in the front, four or five on the sides and a few in the back. He said this will prop up the church walls enough to prevent them from falling outward. Once that is done and workers are able to climb onto the structure, he said beams should be placed across the tops of the walls to stop the structure from collapsing inward.
The federation, which purchased the property in March 2015 for the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church to use, did not respond to a request for comment.
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