Egans Church Furnishings Blog

Older churches and places of worship have beautiful and often priceless stained glass windows. Those windows are most often in wood frames and can weigh hundreds of pounds. Over time, those stained glass window frames rot and are often in need of repair. Often the windows need re-leading. In the past, lexan was placed over the windows for protection, and now you want those beautiful stained glass windows uncovered.

What is the process for restoring and repairing these old and often historic stained glass windows at Egan’s Church Furnishings and Restorations?

DOCUMENTATION: After bringing your stained glass windows to our site, we create photographic documentation of the entire window. This ensures that we have a record of exactly how your window was created.

TRACING: Before our team disassembles your stained glass window, a  tracing pattern is created which will be used during the reassembly process to be certain all glass pieces are returned to the original position.

DISASSEMBLY: Then your stained glass window is disassembled and the pieces of glass are cleaned. (All lead is disposed of at an EPA licensed lead recycling center).

REPLACING MISSING GLASS: Our team will carefully match any missing or damaged glass.

TOUCH UP, DAMAGED PAINTED GLASS: Our artists will touch up any damaged or unstable painted glass by using a “cold paint “technique. This follows the correct preservation standards to repair painted stained glass.

NEW LEAD INSTALLATION AND ASSEMBLY: Our crafts people will reassemble your stained glass window following the tracing pattern created at the beginning.
 
RE-CEMENTING THE STAINED GLASS: After the stained glass window is reassembled, our crafts people will then re-cement the stained glass. High quality cementing work is critical to the life of your restored window. Proper cementing will add the strength to you window to withstand decades of weathering.

RE-INSTALLATION: Our team will reinstall your stained glass windows into their original place in the church.

At the same time, we will be glad to perform exterior frame painting and protective covering replacement. For newly designed stained glass windows or to have your existing stained glass windows restored, contact Egan’s Church Furnishings and Restorations.

The pastor of St. Mary's Church in Uxbridge, MA, Rev. Steven LaBaire, called Jim Egan looking for ideas to brighten up the church and sanctuary.

After deliberation and review with Egan's artists it was agreed that with a limited budget, the best place to start the church restoration would be to clean and paint the Reredos with gold highlights to help add some color and brighten up the sanctuary.   It was also decided that we would remove the first 3 rows of pews to allow easier egress between the nave seating and communion stations at the sanctuary step.  
 
Egan Church Furnishings and Restoration’s flooring and sanctuary restoration craftsmen installed a new marble floor. Egan's Foreman worked with Father Steve in selecting the best marble tile to match the red oak furnishings and existing color tones in the sanctuary.  
 
In an effort to work with minimal interruption to the parish mass schedule, Egan's team arrived on a Sunday evening with the materials and tools needed to start work first thing Monday.  In one week we removed the existing carpet in the sanctuary, removed the three rows of pews across the front of the nave, removed the existing wood sub-floor, and repaired the structural beams under the sub-floor.  

We then installed the new 1/2" plywood sub-floor across the sanctuary and aisles, cleaned the church and had the church ready for services the next weekend.
 
After the weekend services, we returned and installed a new marble floor; 1500 sq ft of new 18" x 18" marble tile. Additionally we created wood steps up to the altar stained to match existing red oak in the sanctuary.  The installation of the floor and the clean up of the church was completed in five days.  
 
Father Steve: "The entire Sanctuary is so much brighter and looks outstanding.  The flow of communion is so much better for the elderly, Marko ( Foreman) is a real artist and craftsman, your men were outstanding. Egan’s was able to complete the work, match the colors, have the church clean each weekend and you were finished in two weeks. Everyone loves the changes!”   
 

During this holiday season Egan Church Furnishings and Restorations would like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. Thank you for your business and we look forward to doing business with you in 2012 and beyond.

For all of your church furnishings needs such as altar candles, communion bread, religious statues and collection baskets,  remember that Egan Church Furnishings and Restorations has the finest and one of the largest selections of church furnishings in the US.
 
With our standard of impeccable customer service, competitive pricing and the highest quality products, we would like to be your church furnishings provider. Contact us for information or question you may have for your church renovations, expansions and furnishings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Egan Church Furnishings and Restorations.

Church renovation remodeling or building a church addition can be an expansive and stressful project. Egan’s Church Furnishings and Restorations would like to make that project easier. We are a provider of church furnishings, such as wood, bronze and marble statues; communion bread, collection baskets, church candles and communion ware.

But what’s more, we have experience in restoring and remodeling churches in New England, New York and New Jersey. With an expansive portfolio, Thos. P Egan Inc, Church Restorations brings a full team of experienced church artists and crafts people to every project. Here is a project we are working on in Manhattan, NY.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Manhattan:
 
The scope of work for this church restoration project consists of repairing all of the damaged plaster in interior of the church. We helped advise the pastor and building committee on new color schemes and adding decorative painting so many of the church walls.

We will commence painting the interior of the church using multiple types of decorative painting including, gold leaf, and faux marble effects. You can see in the above image, the section of church painting we completed is on the left and the painting that we have not yet begun is on the right.

But oil painting restoration is also part of what our specialists do. We have been enlisted to clean and preserve five beautiful 25’ tall oil paintings on canvas.

Additionally, we are installing new metal kneelers to all of the church pews.

But the interior of the church is not the only part of Our Lady of Good Counsel that is being restored. As specialists in new stained glass window designs and stained glass restoration, we replaced the exterior protective coverings over the existing stained glass windows.
 
Estimated completion date of this project is March 30, 2012. This date includes stoppage of work for the holidays and any expected delays.  

Let us make it easier for you to furnish and refinish your church, contact Egan’s Church Furnishings and Restorations.