Mathew’s Cottage is used by several groups including other churches, 12-step groups, and even once a knitting group. It is just perfect for small groups to meet. It is an old building that once was a residence with a shower, kitchen and a garage. It has seen its time. SPUMC was once considering selling the property but there wasn’t enough interest within the church and we liked who was using it. A while back we discovered the floor was failing in the main room and a host of other problems were discovered. After some herculean efforts, the floor was repaired and recovered. The underside was filled in with sand on the South side and had to be excavated. It was a lot of work.
During the recent rains the new flooring was buckling in one area. We determined that the slope of the sidewalk on the South side channeled the water against the building. In addition, several user groups were worried that same dilemma was occurring in the bathroom because the floor was moving. Bonnie and John Severson, Holly Northup, and Gus convened on the Cottage to see what can be done. We bore-scoped under the building and surveyed the front to measure the slope. We decided that the concrete work was outside our limits of strength. The bathroom had a surprise.
We contracted the concrete work with the Tongan group that uses the place. They were amazing by busting out the old concrete with sledge hammers, hauling it away in their truck.
In the meantime, John Holly and Gus pulled the toilet, and then pulled up the old bathroom linoleum, and rotting plywood underlayment, expecting the worst. We then began to rip out the underlayment, thinking we would see dirt below. At first we thought we saw concrete in a small patch. We swept it clean and realized it was another layer of linoleum! We ripped out the remaining underlayment and there was a dirty, stained beautifully sound piece of flooring.
We cleaned it all up and headed to Gahndal lumber in Torrance. We told them what we’re doing and strongly suggested we use Hardy Board ™ instead of plywood for the wet environment. We picked up a couple sheets and some special screw they also recommended. We made a paper template for the room per instructions we saw on a YouTube™ video we agreed upon for this work. We set up saw horses outside and marked the board per the Template. John Severson had a battery operated saw and he quickly got it cut so size. The screws were tougher and we eventually had to use a large 3/8” electric to drive in 50+ screws.
Then we needed to find the new linoleum. We contacted Becky Thompson who is in the flooring business. Becky told us that Linoleum is rarely made anymore and Vinyl flooring is what is used. So off Holly and Gus went to a flooring store. Holly was instrumental in choosing the pattern because Gus really has no artistic taste(He laughs but knows it is true). They had just what was needed and off they went.
The paper template was rechecked for accuracy and the vinyl was cut. It fit perfectly! Some vinyl glue was used on a special trowel was spread and the vinyl was down. We reset the toilet and hooked up the water. That works.
In checking the sink, we discovered it had several leak points. Gus chose to remove it to see what could be done. It was a mess. It was believed that the leaking sink was one of the culprits of the bad floor.
After clean up, lubrication and new seals, the drain was reinstalled and everything works perfectly. A new threshold piece, trimming on the door and it was all looking great, nearly as good as new.
In the meantime, out front, our Tongan friends were putting the finishing touches on the new, properly sloped, concrete front on the ENTIRE front of Mathew’s cottage. It looked beautiful.
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