Roof and windows in 2008

During 2008, Bath High School Preservation made significant progress on the stabilization and maintenance on the Bath High School Building. It was always in the plan to continue the work that David Hoggard and his Double Hung Windows crew, Harold Cutler and his Creekside crew and the army of local volunteers began in 2007.

Double Hung Windows, along with local volunteers and contractors, completed the first wall of windows just prior to Pirate Alumni Day in 2007. At that time, the wall of windows facing the visitor's center in the west wing of the school was completed. On December 4, 2008, Double Hung and local helpers completed the wall of windows facing the inner courtyard in the west wing. In 2007, we only paid for the materials involved in the window repairs. All of the work was donated. In 2008, we opened up our special Restore-A-Window fund and used the donations that had accumulated since 2005 to pay for the project. At this time, all windows in the main part of the west wing of the school are back in service.

We had a much less clear vision of how to handle problems with the roof. We had not yet raised enough money to completely replace the entire roof. The hurricane damaged sections of roof had received 'emergency' repairs that had stopped most of the leaks, but some leaks persisted despite continued patching. Jim Cox, Susan Modlin, Marti Buchanan, Harold Cutler and other volunteers with their fingers firmly on the pulse of the building, in consultation with David Ross Roofing, devised a plan to replace sections of the roof that included the hurricane damaged portions and to paint and seal the balance of the roof. It was an inspired compromise that leveraged the funds we had available to address the more intense problem areas as well as coax the remaining life from the undamaged sections of the roof.

In 2009, the construction and restoration activities will focus on cooperation with the Town of Bath as they move forward with their plan to remove the lunchroom addition. BHSP will be ready to secure the raw window and door openings and to ultimately restore those windows and doors to serviceable condition.