By Bille Howe
Associate Editor
Sacred Heart Catholic Church at 407 N. Main St. in Chariton is receiving a much-needed, ver nice looking new roof. TD Roofing, which is based in West Des Moines and in southern Iowa, began taking off the old roof early Tuesday morning. The owners of TD Roofing are dean Scieszinski: who is from Melrose, and Joe Thomas, who is from Albia.
Workers began taking off the old roof at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. The old roof was a basic 25-year three-tab roof according to Scieszinski and Thomas and it had been on the church for 15 years since 1997. The new roof being put on is a 50-year asphalt architectural shingle roof and it should be completed sometime late Wednesday or on Thursday this week. On Tuesday, the old roof was torn off and the underlayment was put on. The new shingles were put on Wednesday.
The old roof had some curling problems with shingles on it . According to Sacred Heart Parish Priest, Father Christopher Pisut, the old roof deteriorated quickly because it was made of something similar to a recycled paper product. "The hail storm we had in April shredded the roof and it became imperative that we replace it," Father Pisut said.
The new roof has been made possible through the generosity of Sacred Heart parishioners. The amount that need to be raised for the new roof was approximately $23,200 and so far $18,748.37 has been raised through parishioner donations. The remain amount will be from parishioner donations as well.
Photos taken by Ken Lee
Update on the article: Three families from outside the parish have donated to the roof fund.