Le Sueur Theater
Donation protected
Raise the Roof for Le Sueur Theater is the starting point to bring this historic theater back for this community. The building sat vacant and abandoned for about 12 years, the roof was leaking badly before the previous owners walked away. There was clear evidence of garbage cans strategically placed to hold water coming in. 12 years is a long time for a building to leak but the saving graces are the structure is extremely sound being built mostly from brick, block, cement and extremely good, durable wood. A team of individuals put in over 640 physical man hours just to clean the building out of debris. There was over 70,000 pounds of trash removed from the building! This huge task made it a clean slate for an engineer to get 20-30 feet in the air to measure the supporting beams and to perform scans of dimensions. We now have an engineers report and are ready for a new flat roof!!
By bringing this building back for this community, we will be giving back in more ways than you can dream! This theater building was a social gathering place for more than a hundred years. Can you imagine how many memories this building holds? From past to future, this building is needed by this community to add a source of entertainment and social aspect which was lost many years ago.
The money being raised will be used for a complete roof replacement. The current roof was last repaired in the 1980's. The layers go as follows: decking, deteriorated foam, rock and asphalt roof then rubber roofing over that. Can you imagine the tremendous weight on top of the structure? One roofer estimated there is approximately 12 pounds per square foot on the roof. A new roof design would take the weight down to 1-2 pounds per square foot!! The new roof is a foam system which will work well in our Minnesota winters but also stand up well to hail. The roof comes with a 15 year warrantee and is designed by 4" of foam with sealants over the top. Another saving grace is the roof beams are already pitched to scuppers so we just need a complete tear off and this new foam system. Minnesota is the land of all weather extremes! In Minnesota there is a very tight window for installing this new foam roof. We need to raise enough funds by July to have the roof installed. The roof installation with take approximately 2 weeks so there is enough time to dry the original decking and see just how much needs to be replaced. We hope in July there will be a rain free window to make this happen. This building has sat too long and if it sits another winter, there might not be a chance to bring this back.
The support for this building has been absolutely overwhelming! I purchased this building with the only thought, "How can I help bring this back for this community?" I knew nothing about the building or history but have since fallen in love with it and want this to happen even more for the people supporting the efforts! There are so many individuals who want this to happen. There has been so much outreach through the website and Facebook Page. Your help and support wouldn't mean the difference just to me but to an entire community that has been patiently waiting for this building to make a comeback! Together, you and I can make a difference in this community and bring this building back!
By bringing this building back for this community, we will be giving back in more ways than you can dream! This theater building was a social gathering place for more than a hundred years. Can you imagine how many memories this building holds? From past to future, this building is needed by this community to add a source of entertainment and social aspect which was lost many years ago.
The money being raised will be used for a complete roof replacement. The current roof was last repaired in the 1980's. The layers go as follows: decking, deteriorated foam, rock and asphalt roof then rubber roofing over that. Can you imagine the tremendous weight on top of the structure? One roofer estimated there is approximately 12 pounds per square foot on the roof. A new roof design would take the weight down to 1-2 pounds per square foot!! The new roof is a foam system which will work well in our Minnesota winters but also stand up well to hail. The roof comes with a 15 year warrantee and is designed by 4" of foam with sealants over the top. Another saving grace is the roof beams are already pitched to scuppers so we just need a complete tear off and this new foam system. Minnesota is the land of all weather extremes! In Minnesota there is a very tight window for installing this new foam roof. We need to raise enough funds by July to have the roof installed. The roof installation with take approximately 2 weeks so there is enough time to dry the original decking and see just how much needs to be replaced. We hope in July there will be a rain free window to make this happen. This building has sat too long and if it sits another winter, there might not be a chance to bring this back.
The support for this building has been absolutely overwhelming! I purchased this building with the only thought, "How can I help bring this back for this community?" I knew nothing about the building or history but have since fallen in love with it and want this to happen even more for the people supporting the efforts! There are so many individuals who want this to happen. There has been so much outreach through the website and Facebook Page. Your help and support wouldn't mean the difference just to me but to an entire community that has been patiently waiting for this building to make a comeback! Together, you and I can make a difference in this community and bring this building back!
Organizer
Katherine G Elke
Organizer
Le Sueur, MN