Spires prepared for Renovation

The restoration of Holy Family Cathedral continues. The current focus is on preparing the internal structure of the spires for an external facelift.

In 2006, similar work was done in the lower parts of the Cathedral. Workers replaced aging wooden attic floors with new metal ones. The three benefits are: resistance to fire, greatly improved structural integrity, and increased longevity.

The scaffolding next to one of the towers allows easy access to the spires. Construction workers will install additional metal floors inside the spires. These new floors will allow for the safe removal and replacement of the wooden parts of the spires.

Once the floors are in place, work will begin to remove rapidly deteriorating wood decking. The current shingles are anchored to the wood decking.

This phase of the renovation will likely draw the most attention from the general public because it is the most visible. The aluminum shingles installed in the late 1950s replaced the original red roof. The next set of shingles will be copper, the classic cathedral roof material.