Roof renovation completed

On December 16, 2010 the restoration process on the roof over the 18th century building was completed. The building is used for drying paper, and is a part of the Museum of Papermaking building complex. The title of the project was: “Duszniki Zdrój, Museum of Papermaking building complex: renovation and restoration of the roof construction and the exchange of the wooden shingles and sheathing of the drying building – faze II”. The restoration works, worth over half a million zlotys, were financed by the grants from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and from the Lower Silesia Voivodeship Government, as well as from the Museum of Papermaking’s own funds. The renovation project was made by the Projects and Expertise Office CCI, LLC from Długołęka near Wrocław. Lech J. Engel, Eng. D. was the author of the project. The work was executed by the Castellum, company from Wrocław, specializing in renovations of historic objects. The supervisory inspector of the project was Maksymilian Gutfreund M. Eng., and on the museum’s side the project was supervised by the vice-manager Joanna Seredyńska M.A.

Initially the rafter reinforcement was planned to be an exchange of some of the beams and all of the shingles. During the work, it turned out that from the southern side, the ridge – one of the most important elements of the building construction – is almost completely rotten. The replacement of the 18.8 meters long beam running through out the whole building turned out to be a very complicated and time consuming operation. It was impossible to completely remove the beam, therefore it was divided into four parts. Each fragment after removal was immediately replaced with a new one, and than the next section could be done. After taking out the first segment, the decayed part proved to be a suitable environment for wasps that arranged a large nest for themselves over there! Another factor that made the work difficult was the weather conditions – very unfavorable this Autumn.

After the completion of the renovation the Museum of the Papermaking building complex has got reinforced roof rafters and a replaced roof covering. We hope that the investments worth about 1.5 million zlotys (the roof on the paper mill was renovated for almost 1 million zlotys in 2009) will secure the objects for near decades. The durability of the new shingles chipped from larch will depend on the correct conservation, therefore the next year we are going to cover the shingles with proper impregnates and fireproof measures.

It is worth mentioning that the renovation works done in 2010 did not limit the tourists’ access to the expositions, and the museum was operating like usual. During this time, all enterprises took place as planned (3 temporary exhibitions were prepared and a large conference was organized). It was a great achievement of the museum employees and the contractor’s team.

Maciej Szymczyk

Manager, Museum of Papermaking