The Second Wall-raising

Sue sent me the photos below last night. Here's her description of what is going on.

When Paul and Larry arrived at 10 AM Thursday the workmen had already raised the wall in the northwest corner. [See previous blog entry.] About 1 PM I was there to see them raise the next two segments along the north side [of the classroom wing]. ...

The architect, Terrell, and Lauren, his main person on this job, were there. Warren and they were consulting on the plans. They also helped with the walls. The walls were very heavy, so everyone there helped with the raising.

Larry and Paul took down the organ speakers and platform. Later, they helped raise the south wall for the nursery. It's beginning to look like a building, except for the very muddy floors.

In the last photo, Terrell and Lauren are between Larry and Warren.

Our first wall

The north wall of the offices at the front of the new building is standing, and the crew is hard at work on two more walls. One looks to be the north wall of the classroom wing. And one may be the south wall of the nursery, although that will need to tie into the sanctuary building in the narthex area.

Meanwhile, all those big ditches around the perimeter of the buildings have been filled in. Still muddy, though.

We've been framed

Stop by the construction site Wednesday after noon, and, Warren says, you ought to see the first framed wall of our new building standing upright. Vitaly, the chief framer, was working on the wall all day Tuesday with the frame flat on the decking,

Meanwhile, the rest of Steve's crew has nearly finished the decking on the new classroom wing, once known as Bruce Hall. Then, they'll be doing more framing.

Around the foundations of the building are two drainage systems: At the bottom, perforated plastic pipe sits in gravel ready to drain ground water away. Above that - and also in gravel - is a system of non-perforated plastic pipes connected to the downspouts. This takes all the rainwater off the roofs. Warren and Edgar got that installed and mostly covered with gravel Tuesday before the rain hit, turning the site muddy. The Bobcat they were using to move the gravel (see the bottom slideshow in the previous post) doesn't work in the mud. The final bit will be moved by shovel and wheelbarrow.

Next, Warren will put some bales of hay around the piles of dirt on the street side of the sanctuary to absorb muddy runoff. Then, he'll start some demolition in the narthex to figure out just how it will tie into the new construction. Then, it's on to meetings with electrical, plumbing and HVAC subcontractors to nail down prices and timing.

But, Warren says, we are now out of the ground without major problems and that's a very good sign.

Slip, sliding away

Sunday after service this is what the new building's just completed floor looked like, thanks to an overnight snowfall. The shine on the floor doesn't come from wax. It was as wet and slippery as could be. And really cold. Warren announced during Sunday worship that the dance was postponed temporarily.



Undeterred, Warren went back after church to try to use the Bobcat to continue backfilling the drain ditches. Here's a video.

Ditches, decks and kitchen sinks

Saturday, Jan. 24, was a busy day at the construction site. The Exodus team led by Dan Carey and Mary Ann Gibbons were getting the next to last loads of stuff out of the sanctuary building.



On Monday, or thereabouts, Warren will start stripping the sheathing off the frame of the narthex so it can be tied into the new framing. Steve's crew could begin that as soon as Monday.

Also, Saturday, Steve's crew was out in full force finishing most of the decking.



In addition, Warren and Edgar were installing drain tiles, catch basins and gravel in the drainage ditches dug during the week.

Ditching the dirt

This past Thursday, Jan. 22, the church rented a mid-size power shovel and operator to come in and dig the remaining drainage ditches we needed. Mostly these were around the sanctuary building and extending out from it. Footing drains were already in place around the new construction, but some serious digging was needed to drain rain completely away from all the buildings. Steve's crews continued work on the decking.

On deck

Here are a few pictures from Monday afternoon showing progress in getting decking down on the front part of the new building. The photos show the main floor in counter-clockwise views from the northwest corner of the building around to a shot looking back across the decking toward the northwest corner. The last image shows the pony wall supporting the I-beams that will support the new nursery off the narthex.



Here are some photos from Friday. They show Warren finishing the concrete floor for the utility basement.