Laurels & lances: Building and rebuilding
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Laurel: To a timely restoration. Spring is the season of rebirth. Easter is a holiday of resurrection. That makes this the perfect time to announce a construction project.
In 2018, St. Mary of Czestochowa in New Kensington celebrated 125 years of worship and fellowship in the largely Polish parish. It was one of those churches where the people seem to claim it as a part of the family.
In April 2020, the 109-year-old church building was struck by a tornado. Winds as fast as 100 mph caused extensive damage. The twisted wreckage of the ripped-off roof was dumped outside the church’s front doors.
“Compounding the devastation of this tragic storm was its timing,” Greensburg Bishop Larry J. Kulick said. “The tornado damaged the church during Holy Week of 2020, a time when most of the world was locked down due to the covid-19 pandemic.”
The diocese announced Tuesday that restoration will begin shortly. The $2.1 million project will be paid with insurance money. There is no time frame for the completion, but the work will be extensive, including replacing the roof and rebuilding the destroyed bell tower.
It may have taken a year to get to this point, but it is a positive step forward and perfect timing.
Lance: To sky-high prices. If you have wanted to build a fence or a treehouse or anything else that requires a bunch of wood, you have no doubt realized that the prices are higher than normal.
Escalating lumber costs have pushed the cost of a new house up by about $24,000. Ouch.
While it is tempting to blame everything on the coronavirus pandemic, the spike is a lot more complicated, experts say. First, there was the 20% tariff placed on Canadian lumber, instituted in 2017 and not rolled back to 9% until December. Then there was supply and demand, as quarantined homeowners took advantage of their down time to work on lots of projects like decks and additions.
Then there were the other factors, like bottomed-out real estate inventories, lumber production that halted when much construction shuttered and financial issues that stretch all the way back to the collapse of the housing market in 2008.
Will it end? It’s expected later in the year, maybe by fall, but that means spring and summer projects could be hard to nail down.