Road Side Chapel

In the return email it was explained to me that in Europe a Road Side Chapel is a common item. They are simply small chapels which folks put here and there for worship and spiritual contemplation the best I can tell. Excuse my ignorance here, I make things out of wood, I'm not a Road Side Chapel expert.

So ... we began discussions about this project and what it may be. I was having a little trouble getting a vision of what the client wanted. The client then did a rough sketch which she then emailed to me. Now, I see where we are going on this.

There are many ways to do such a project and none of them are right and wrong. It was to be her chapel and I attempted to follow here ideas and suggestions the best I could. We talked about various ways of doing this and ended up with the details discussed below. It was a fun and interesting project. I always like to make something I have never made, never seen, never heard of and have no idea of how to make - it's more fun that way.

The client said it would be outside her home in her yard in the weather. Pine was preferable and it seemed appropriate. Over time, the chapel would age gracefully and was made to look like it was to live outside, not all trim proper and painted. Raw wood - no stain, no paint was the desire.

Also, there were to be brackets under a little ledge / shelf type of bottom. I checked around and found the styles and costs of some pre-fabricated decorative shelf brackets. I discussed this option and they style choices with the client and we agreed - good thing for this project. Trying to make such things - too much labor. These pre-made items fit the project well and cost was low.

The back of the chapel - like all other parts, could have been done many ways. Plain boards, plywood, see through parts, etc., you name it. Through email discussions, bead board was mentioned. We both liked that concept so bead board back it was.

The roof: how do you do that? Well, again, many ways. Initially, just some boards were to be up there with the angle you see in the end product. Somewhere down the line it occurred to me that a metallic roof might be nice. Tin, or stainless steel, etc. The client was interested in that also. So I went to the local hardware and project stores. Nothing I saw was to my liking. Most metals were to "stiff". I could not cut and bend the stuff as I am a woodworker, not a metal worker. Other things were too flimsy and became nasty looking when application occurred. Finally, I don't recall how, I thought of Copper.

Copper ages great for this and other outdoor - garden type projects. I'd never done anything with copper but it seemed great. I could not find any resources in my remote neck of the woods so I searched the internet. Finally I found some thin sheet stuff (actually comes rolled up in a little tube) through a craft supplier web site. I had no way of knowing if it would work but there is only one way to find out. I ordered a couple rolls.

When the copper arrived I opened it and could see great possibilities. However, I had no idea of how to do this. Well, that's nothing new. I just cut some sample chunk of wood and some sample chunks of copper. I began bending, nailing, screwing and glueing various tests. I found I could not get the copper on without getting marks and kinks in it. But, seemed appropriate to me. It was pretty uniform in appearance and again, looked like a garden, aged treatment. I discussed this aspect with the client - we were both good with that part of the project.

Now, to adhere the copper, the best test I found was bending the copper to the wood and then removing it, applying construction adhesive and then clamping that into place to allow drying. I informed the client of my methods and she was as good with that as I was - actually neither of us knew any better. So, it was adhered that way. How it holds up over time - only time will tell. I did put a test piece out in my garden. Over time the copper has aged nicely - looks better than when new (to me) but a bit of the adhesive has released - not all. If needed, the copper could be tacked down with nails or screws where and when needed. However, it's not my chapel and it's thousands of miles away now. Not sure if there has been any problems with the roof, but I have not heard of any.

The construction details are all fairly common. The angles of the roof and back panel called for a little precision on making pieces, but nothing too difficult. I adhered the braces to the bottom of the chapel with screws and then covered the holes with plugs.

The cross. The cross was requested all along also, of course. Until late in the project it was to be a wooden cross. I liked the idea of copper, discussed copper on the cross with the client and that is how it was done. I put a little block of wood behind the cross to "float" it off the back surface.

The chapel was complete. Next, it was boxed up for UPS shipment and sent of to Rhode Island. To the best of my knowledge, it is there and leading a happy life. I received a couple of photos back from the owner showing it in it's new location. From the photos I see that the chapel was stained grey and a candle was added, very nice. See photos below!!!