Tribal House 65% complete

Tuesday and Wednesday brought clear skies to Wrangell and a couple coats of stain to the North and South walls of the Chief Shakes Tribal House.  Walls have been up for some time, the roof is halfway done and the adzers are doing everything they can to keep the Cedar flowing to the island.  Project Manager Todd White took a few minutes away to walk me around the house and give me an update on the progress.

Photo by Greg Knight

"If I had to put a number on the total project, I'd say we're about 65% done," said White. "We expected to salvage about 30% of the existing Tribal House, but that number turned out to be 7%, creating some extra work.  But even with those additions, we're still on-time and will have everything ready for the 2013 re-dedication."  

The East half of the roof is nearly complete. The old roof, put together in 1939, consisted of Cedar planks and shakes ... that's it. The new and improved Tribal House roof will still have the Cedar planks and shakes, but White's throwing in some 3/4" plywood and a layer of Water Shield rubber membrane. Paired the new roof with the new foundation, this baby should be water tight.

"It's just awesome to see it all coming together," continued White.  "The project has been the most challenging I've ever taken on, but also the most rewarding.  It's great to come to work and see everyone on the job really enjoying and caring about what we’re trying to do here, not just picking up a paycheck."

"I feel like once the roof is done, we own it. We're home with nothing but finishing work ahead of us.  I'd like to see the finishing work wrapped up by the first of the year so we get the artwork back in there and start working towards raising the totems again."

The crew on the island is taking a few days off from the roof to tackle some other projects on the island, like staining, but they're also doing it to let the adzers gain a little ground.

"We've been really busy, but doing our best to keep up with whatever the crew asks for," said adzer Susie Kasinger, standing in a sea of Cedar chips inside a carving facility not built for warm weather.  

"It took us a week to finish the planks for one half of the roof.  It's a little overwhelming to see them looking for more Cedar after just four hours.  That's how fast they're putting it back together. I just try to keep checking the island, checking the progress. It helps us carvers stay pumped up."

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