NORWAY — The Lewiston-based company Above and Beyond LLC did just that as it wrapped up a monthlong job Friday to repair the gabled roof and its elaborate millwork on the landmark Gingerbread House.

“They cared,” Norway Landmarks Preservation Society member Albert Judd said.

Members of the Preservation Society were on site Friday to thank the dozen or so workers and Project Manager Mike Mathieu of Above and Beyond with a special luncheon for their work on the 80- by 20-foot, two-story 1861 building.

The company, which does roofing, siding and sheet metal systems, was awarded the project with its bid of $54,370 in March. But Judd said the company went above and beyond what was contracted without charging additional money.

“These little extra things. That’s what’s helping us save it,” Judd said, as he pointed out several noncontracted repairs such as small pieces of repaired trim and other items the company did gratis simply as a way to help push the renovation project forward.

The former wood shingles were replaced with slate-like Hatteras shingles, Mathieu said. The Hatteras shingle is designed to withstand high winds — up to 110 mph — according to the manufacturer’s specifications.

“This was the key to getting it started,” Mathieu said about the new roof that will protect the house while other renovations continue.

The roof of the turret was replaced with copper, and the corbels and iron fencing will now be three inches taller than they were previously to make them an even more striking feature of the building. The iron fencing is raised up rather than screwed directly into the roof as it had been.

At Friday’s luncheon, Mathieu praised a number of key players on his team, including Kevin Chase of Above and Beyond who oversaw the carpentry work, and carpenter Ryan Boies; Frank Robiattle, the sheet metal foreman; Dylon Thierren and Rich German, who reshingled the roof, and Paul Roy of Lebel’s Heating & Sheet Metal in Lewiston, who cut the missing and replaced pieces of corbels from steel plates by hand.

He also cited Scott Prentiss of ABC supply in Lewiston; David Sullivan of Performance Product Painting Inc. in Auburn; Maschino & Sons Lumber of New Gloucester, which supplied the rough-cut lumber; Seacoast Scaffolding in Portland; and Scott Miller from Central Maine Power, who assisted with protecting the power lines while work on the turret occurred.

He had special praise for his father, Rene Mathieu, who fabricated the wood corbels and crown molding and cornices out of rough-cut lumber.

The iron crest above the turret of the 150-year-old Gingerbread House, which Judd calls the crown jewel, will be displayed Saturday, May 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the house at 500 Main St. to help raise funds for its restoration. It will be a one-time opportunity for people to see up close what the repaired elaborate ironwork looks like before it is placed back on top of the turret.

The fundraiser is being held to get sponsors to pay for either a feather finial or a section of railing. Judd said there are eight finials and eight railing sections. The finials would be $100 and the railings cost $75.

The Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, doing business as Friends of the Gingerbread House, has raised money for several years to rehabilitate the 19th century building.

Originally known as the Evans-Cummings House, it is more commonly known as the Gingerbread House for its elaborate trim, added in a late 19th century renovation by architect John Hazen.

In 2008, C’s Inc., a real estate holding company affiliated with Sun Media Group, publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat, agreed to delay demolition of the house if someone could move it. A group of volunteers named Friends of the Gingerbread House, who later formed the nonprofit Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, banded together to save it.

In 2011, the house was moved about 950 feet up the street to a location near Butters Park.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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