When it rains, they pour--some of it

Topping off the retaining wall.

From truck to form.

It's Thursday, it's May and it's rainy. That didn't stop with pouring of at least some of the concrete. Sidewalks were scheduled to be poured, but it is too wet for that. The workers did go ahead and pour the retaining wall. It will be easier to keep the water off this form than the sidewalk. It looks like sidewalks will go in next week.

 

  At Tuesday night's Men's Group, we did our usual "walk-about". Eric J. discovered what he perceived as a problem in the area leading from Fellowship Hall to the bridge going to the Chapel. There just didn't seem to be enough space for the door to open and people on the sidewalk (when it is poured) to get through. In other words, a real bottle neck. We looked at the plans and discovered that the present configuration was altered from the original plans. Talking to the contractor, that will be resolved and we will get our 5' sidewalk all the way along the back.

Less Dramatic

Form for retaining wall between Fellowship Hall and parking lot.

Car decking on the roof.

 

The construction this has been less dramatic than some other weeks, but still "Stepping Ahead".

As you can see from the top picture, they have built the forms for the retaining wall that will abut the sidewalk between the Fellowship Hall and parking lot. The crew is expecting to pour concrete this Thursday (5/23), which means no access to the Chapel for at least a day. It will be ready for the AA meeting on Friday night.

 

   Workers have started to lay the car decking on the roof. This will match up with the interior ceiling and extend to the edge of the roof on the outside. The windows are still scheduled to be installed on Tuesday, May 28th, after Memorial Day weekend.



Another Monday Progress Report

Fellowship Hall looking toward the kitchen.

The kitchen with the steel support.

Kitchen from a different angle.



Looking through the "pass through" window into the
kitchen.

One of these days I will figure out how to format this page.

 

   So today they have been working on outside walls and shoring up the beams in the kitchen. All of the unnecessary supports have been removed and you can get an idea of what the new kitchen area will look like. They are also working on the roof transition from Fellowship Hall to the Chapel. It will be interesting to see how that comes together. The architect, Chee Tung, assures me that it will be beautiful.

 

  On Sunday, one of the Elders of the Marshall Islands UCC asked when we are going to dedicate the new space. They want to come celebrate with us and I assured him they will get an invitation.

 

   Tune in again on Thursday or Friday and I will have another up-date.



Monday's Progress

 

   Things were not real hectic today, but steady progress is being made. The top two pictures show the glue/lam beam that has been installed for support of the kitchen roof. You can also see that they are starting to frame the kitchen.

   The bottom picture shows the end-caps that have been welded on the steel beams. I think the worker has one more cap to weld and he will be finished. Once the welding is done, HHJ can really start working on more of the framing. By this coming Sunday (5/12) you should be able to get an even  better picture of how it is going to look.

Worth Another Blog

   The top picture shows Fellowship Hall with the scaffolding down. I'm not sure if the fork-lifts have been moved off the slab yet, but that should happen soon. They are starting to do some framing.

  If you look closely at the framing in the bottom picture, this is the wall at the kitchen end of FH. It is not easy to make out, but there is an opening for the pass-through window. I didn't want to get in the way of the workers. Maybe Eric Johnson will stop by with his camera and post some better pictures on FB.

  Anyway, that's what things look like this afternoon.

The Final Beam

   Today, May 1st, at approximately 2:45 pm, the final steel beam of the project was lifted into place.
They need to bolt it to the existing wooden beam and put the end supports in. The next challenge will be to get their fork lifts out of there. I think they have a plan.

   From here, HHJ begins to frame in the walls and the scaffolding will be removed. The other major beam(s) to go in will be some glue/lam beams in the kitchen.

  So here is the good news/bad news scenario. I did get some good video of the final beam being unloaded and hoisted into place. The down-side is that the video is too long to download to FB or You Tube. If you happen to be in worship on Sunday, we can have the video set up for you to watch in the Memorial Lounge or we may even take time during worship to watch it.

   Any way you look at it, progress is being made. Let's keep "Stepping Ahead".