You may have noticed the cage of scaffolding and green mesh at Touchstones museum, but it’s not as exciting as it may seem.
“We’re replacing the shingles on the steep roof and in order to do that safely we had to use scaffolding,” said executive director Leah Best.
She said it’s “funny” because half the budget of the project is going towards the scaffolding, “but it’s the only way to get the project certified by WorkSafe and we want the guys to be safe.”
The shingles were one of the last projects Touchstones had left after moving in five years ago.
“We moved in without replacing the roof shingles in order to bring everything in under budget, knowing that we would have to do it eventually because the roof was at the end of its life,” said Best.
The shingles are being replaced with a product with a 50-year lifespan.
“We have had some people ask if we are going to replace them with slate and the answer is no. That’s far too expensive and only provincial things like the courthouse can really afford a half million dollar roof,” she said.
Due to budget constraints the copper on the Touchstones roof will not be replaced.
Best said with they found the best product available with the money they had and from the road it will look like slate.
The scaffolding will move around the building as work is completed on the roof.