Need Your Help - Work Party

Emmanuel is planning another work party at the construction site at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 11. We will be working on the entry way canopy and various other things on site. Any questions, contact Steve Meyers.



Please, click on COMMENTS below this item to let us know if and when you'll be able to help. Warren and Steve will be checking to see who to expect and when.

Alarming developments

Strobe lights, alarm boxes and smoke detectors -- all part of the fire prevention system -- were beginning to be installed on Monday.

Much of the mess from several weeks of drywall installation was being cleaned up while the final shipment of sheets of drywall, mainly for the kitchen, arrived and taping and mudding continued in the sanctuary.

Construction of a French drain to catch runoff from the playyard got under way. Warren laid out the shape of the new concrete that needs to be poured at the entrance.

And the recent plantings of trees, shrubs and grass are doing fairly well with regular irrigation.

Concrete steps

A french drain needs to be dug by hand this week in the old playyard area, since the ground there will slope toward the building, and the water that drains off it needs to moved into the storm drain system.

Steve M. is talking about a work party on Saturday, July 11 (two weeks from yesterday) to build the awning at the church entrance. More on that later.

By the end of this past week, the terrain around the outside of the church was cleaner and greener than it had been in many months. In preparation for concrete work, much of the construction debris had been removed to the dump or the recycler. And the new grass is growing well. Soon, we'll give it a "booster shot" of fertilizer.

The strip of ground just north of the church building, where once there had been a concrete parking spot and a little grass, has been graded in preparation for a sidewalk and reseeding.

The first -- but not the final -- pour of concrete has been made for the exit porches for the preschool rooms.

The back porch and south veranda are nearly complete. There will discussions about railings in both places and possibly adding another step off the veranda or raising the grade of the ground.

Piers, porches and curb poured

Sue was as busy documenting yesterday's goings on as Warren, Coles, Larry and Paul, plus the concrete crew and the painter, were lifting, pulling, pushing, dumping and rolling.

The photos show the pour direct from the truck for the piers that will support the front awning. Before that the crew used 5-gallon buckets to carry material to build the curb around the fire protection plumbing out near the street -- and after that they used wheelbarrows to dump concrete into the forms for the various porches.

The painter got started on a coat of beige in the top of the clerestory.

Not yet in concrete

Sue had her camera out Thursday at the construction site and shot photos of the forms for the classroom porches, the main entry, a big gravel pile, and work on the third wall of the entry to the utility basement.

Breaking up is hard to do

Sue was over at the construction site Wednesday and captured these series of photos of Warren and Coles breaking up the concrete and blacktop entryway in preparation for new concrete under the new outdoor roof.

She also caught the beginning of the work to take down the old lamppost.

Forms to fill out

At midweek, several of the forms had been built for concrete pours later in the week, including a curb around the new fire protection plumbing out front and porches for several doors.

Larry and Paul and other helpers were replanting shrubs around the foundation of the Matthews Education Wing.

Inside, the tail end of the drywall crew was slowly but steadily taping seams, applying mud, sanding and generally getting ready for another application of sealer to the walls. Here and there drywall was still being installed, mainly in the more complex rooms like the kitchen and restrooms.