Foundation work

I stopped by the construction site on Saturday and to my surprise Warren and Larry were there working.

Although work has gone slowly during the holidays and the big snowstorm, several forms for the concrete foundation walls are started. Besides, Warren has finished excavation under Bruce Hall and concrete demolition and excavation under the sanctuary, both of which are necessary to pour some new concrete footings.

Much of Warren's effort the past couple of weeks have gone to controlling water. He set up a sump pump in the utility basement area under what will be the new restrooms. Water from all over the site drains into it. From there, it's pumped out to what's left of the Bruce Hall lawn.

One night, however, the drain hose slithered over to the foundation for the new room off the narthex and dumped its water there. That area, of course, drains back into the utility basement. The sump pump became a recirculating pump and by morning we had a several-foot deep Lake Emmanuel. Warren pulled the drain hose back onto the lawn, tied it to a concrete block, and Lake Emmanuel was soon merely a memory.

The concrete forms and additional rebar should be finished this week. Then, as soon as the temperature will be above 40 degrees for a couple of days, the concrete can be poured. After that, a work crew will be needed to install drain tiles all around the outside of the foundations, old and new. And then framing can begin.

Here's a look at how things appeared on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009.