August 27 - It Rained and We Poured

Thursday Was Sunny and Bright -
The remaining inside footings were poured Thursday afternoon under bright sunshine. Steve, Dan and Phil guide the concrete into the form and TMITYH follows up with a screed and a trowel.


 The firewall footing also got poured. Here we see Joe adding the
finishing touch.

Watching TMITYH operate with a tool in each hand reminded me of an experience from my youth. The teacher was illustrating the word ambidextrous without using that word. He said there was a ball player who could throw equally well with either hand. One kid jumped right in and said, "He's ambiguous." Another kid popped in to correct saying, "No the word you want is amphibious."
I wonder how it goes with TMITYH. I think he is ambivalent.









Saturday Was Not Sunny and Bright -  

The view out the car window when I arrived at the site in the morning. The concrete pumper was there, the crew was there and the rain was there. The concrete had not yet arrived.

Soon the concrete showed up and the rain eased off. And the big pour, to fill the walls, began. The rain returned a couple of times during the morning but the work continued all the same.

Sam and Brian managed the pipe from the pumper truck. With the aid of a flashlight, they peer down into the foam bricks and decide when to move the hose. The entire wall cannot be filled at one time. The pour was done with three complete laps of the building, filling roughly a third of the wall on each lap. This approach is necessary to prevent the joints between the foam blocks from buckling either to the inside or the outside of the building.
In total, 86 cubic yards of mud were dumped into the walls. One truckload is about 10 yards so there was a steady stream of trucks arriving to feed the pumper.

A new tool was brought into play, a powered vibrator. There were both a corded model and a smaller battery powered model used. Here Randy operates the cordless job. The probe gets dropped into the mud where it vibrates and shakes itself about, to help settle the mud. The long, flexible shaft allows the probe to reach well down in the wall, into the fresh, soft concrete. At the same time, the wall beaters are attacking the walls with boards and hammers. All this effort to eliminate the voids in the final, dried concrete.


The third time around, Sam got tired of just watching the concrete muddle its way through the foam blocks and decided to make mud pies. Well, maybe he was adjusting the very top to make all the top layer of blocks evenly filled.

Work on the High Wall -

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Watching the work on the high wall was fascinating. Naturally, with a peak in the wall, the scaffolding becomes multi-tiered. Pictured here are a vibrator operator, a poker-prodder, and a spectator on the top level. Pete is waiting in the middle level for the concrete hose to come back to fill in the blocks under the window. On the floor level we see a person in transit and Bob, who traded the yellow hat for a yellow slicker, checking the wall for bulges.

All of the bucks that were not resting on concrete from the previous pour, had to have slots cut in the bottom board in order to get concrete into the blocks below the buck. Here Brian and Pete are working the hose into position to fill below the big window in the sanctuary. The corded vibrator (with an orange handle) is visible between the workers. Sam is making his way to the other side to take the hose when they are done with their task. Working the scaffolding on this wall required a little more agility than the other walls. It made for very interesting watching.

Pete descends from on high using the back side of the ladder with an enthralled audience looking on.This is  a non-traditional approach for humans but one that I have seen very effectively used at the Minnesota Zoo. Maybe that is where Pete got his education on these matters.

Battling the Bulges -

Bob went about with a long level, checking the walls for bulges as the concrete was being poured. He checked outside and he checked inside, Around and around the building he went, occasionally changing direction or starting a new course, but never stopping. When the dastardly bulge was encountered, a new brace was immediately put into place. Here we see a long horizontal board with four 2x4 bracing boards applied and we cannot see all of them in the picture.

A bulge is found. Ken applies the board. TIm awaits the word, and then swings mightily into action.

Bob continued his war on bulges as long as the concrete was being poured and probably for a while after the last truck left. And wherever Bob went, the bracing was sure to follow.

As I circled the building I began to feel a little sorry for the bulges.The poor things had no chance against the bulge fighter, who had an abundance of 2x4s and a mighty supply of labor.








A Sign for the Day -

There are perhaps more things to report about the big, wall-filling pour but they will have to wait for another post. I was touched by the sight of the sign out near the road and the building in the background. Our church is becoming a reality.

August 23 - The Inside Story

Walls near full height -
The gable end in the sanctuary is nearing full height. The window buck for that wall in in place. An orange string shows the final block height on this wall.

No more foam bricks beyond the orange line.

Kevin and Pete build towards the peak.

Pete, ever concerned about productivity, brings his son Gabe along to take care of his phone calls while he works. I admire his dedication.

The Writing on the Wall -

Still today, as in ancient times, the future is foretold by writing on the wall.

Unlike the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers of Babylon, Ken and Ben are able to interpret the writing. 

We will find out if their interpretation  is correct if the footings end up in the right place.

Then, seeing this hand come through wall, I couldn't help but wonder if this hand might be responsible for the writing on the wall. Well, I suppose not, but I do wonder.

Holes in the Walls - 

Brand new walls and many holes have already been punctured. In addition to the windows and doors, holes have been made for HVAC ducts, exhaust pipes for the furnaces, piping lines for the air conditioning condensers and probably more things.

Brian Byykkonen and Pete are not playing peek-a-boo. They are collaborating on installing a buck for a ventilation duct.

More Footings for More Concrete -

The firewall, which will be the back wall of the sanctuary, will be continuous from the floor to the roof. The wall is starting with this footing form. The block of concrete, the corner of which is shown here, and its twin, shown below, are the footings for the four posts which will ultimately hold up the roof on the main entrance side of the building. 

Sam says the large concrete masses are also there to help hold the roof down, as if gravity may be slipping a little. The structural engineer says that a wind of 90 or so miles per hour directly on the side of the building could potentially tear the roof off. So, these blocks, which are connected through various linkages to the roof, will provide additional weight to keep the roof from blowing away. So, these concrete footings will keep the roof up and also keep it down,  

Dan and Joe carry a size large, heavy footing form into position. As they gingerly step into the recently wet, now semi-dried mud, crew chief Ken calls out, "Be careful so you don't lose your footing."

Markus Lohi moves some dirt so forms can be built in their proper homes.

Steve Wikman puts a hole in a brand new footing. 

Steve tests Adrian Pirness's aim with the hammer by holding the rebar that is pounded into the newly drilled hole. The rebar will anchor the footing to be poured with the existing slab of concrete. In a similar fashion on the outside wall, crew chief Ken removes the foam so a new footing can be anchored into the outside wall.

August 22 - Chronicler's Clearance

Whether it shows or not, I have tried to construct posts that have, some internal cohesiveness. But I end up with some photos that don't quite fit the current theme so they remain in inventory, unsold and unused. Well, today I am going to dump some of the inventory. The result may be less coherent than usual. So, if that is bothersome, you might want to wait for another post (which could be even less coherent).

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Panorama -

I am standing about in the center of the building. The left end of this picture shows half of the main entrance. As you move to the right in the photo you see the back wall of the kitchen. Continuing to the right there is the back wall of the building where the restrooms are located. Picking up where Paul with his red shirt gives us a good landmark, we move into the sanctuary and the wall with the big window (just a notch in the wall here). Finally at the far right we are back to the main entrance. I am impressed that the panorama came out as well as it did considering the photographer and it being hand held. There are six or seven separate images merged together. Too bad it is so small on the blog. It looks better when you can scroll the image across the screen. All of these words describing things you can't see reminds me of one Bible class lesson when the projector did not work.


Sixteen Legged Scaffolding Relocation Device -

This is quite a display of coordination. Even more impressive was an earlier day when the eighteen legged model was used and a corner was turned. No casualties reported in either instance.

The Drive-thru Window in the Kitchen -

 TMITYH is cutting an opening for the drive-thru window in the kitchen.

Here he is waiting for his first customer, who showed up with the mobile fork lift.









The Breakroom -

As designed

As used

As weathered

As repaired

Denise and Andy Make Big Bucks -

The Bosses Make a Pit Stop -

The Sandhill Cranes Make a Flyover -

I have seen sandhill cranes flying over the building site every evening I have been there. One of these days I will be ready with a longer lens and capture a better image of these big, beautiful birds in flight. If they do come to services, however, we will not use them as song leaders. 

August 19 and 20 - Who Can Control the Weather?

The rain comes, then stops and then comes again. The work continues in spite of the rain. Weather dictated that the concrete pour to fill the walls be rescheduled for next Saturday.

Water, lots of water - 

While the rain does somewhat slow the work, and get the workers a little wet, the puddles left behind give us a chance to reflect a bit on the work being done.


















Mark Hillukka works on the window while
Levi Keskey patrols the scaffold.




With much work remaining and footings to be poured this coming week, the water needs to go.

Paul Wuollet digs a drainage ditch, directing the water towards the back wall of the church where there is a reservoir.

Sam Wuollet, Troy Huhta and Paul are working to get the pump going to drain the reservoir. Sam pours in the water to prime the pump. While the motor starts up and runs, no water comes out of the far end of the hose. After several attempts at restarting the motor and again priming the pump they begin to suspect a mechanical problem. Troy is a mechanic and knows the pump must be taken apart to find the problem.

Troy studies the broken impeller and shattered housing. Immediately he understands the difficulty. When it was working, the pump moved water very well. As a rock grinder, however, it failed miserably. And after trying, it no longer moves water.
Some smart phone internet research and a phone call or two and replacement parts are located. Troy leaves the site in hot pursuit. As of the end of day Saturday, however, the lake remains and no pump is in sight. Stay tuned to find out when and how the water is evacuated.

Fortunately there is no rain in the forecast for the next several days. If the pump is not repaired, sponges and mops may be an alternative.








Other work carries on - 


Meanwhile, on dry (drier?) ground
 and up on the walls, work continues. Nine workers in this picture are busy at various activities inside the building.

Kevin Hendrickson is putting up metal scaffolding studs, ably assisted by his son Victor. Nate is up on the wall overseeing the work.
















Full wall height rebar is dropped in the wall all around the structure as Jacob Byman is doing in this picture.

Nate sights the outside of the wall and gives Tim Sturos the word on which way to turn the screw to adjust the wall. Straight and vertical. Straight and vertical. Straight and vertical. There is a lot of attention paid to these ideas.

Even though there are no holes in the wall, patches are applied in seemingly random locations on both the inside and outside of the walls. I knew there must be a reason for this activity so I asked Sam Roiko, a man of science, why he was applying these patches. Being a man of science, he knew the answer. Foam filled gaps between the blocks, fine for the finished wall, are not strong enough to withstand the the concrete pour. So, tack up some reinforcement material to assure the integrity of the wall. The straight scoop from a man of science.

Safety First - 

Another oddity - a lean-to built over rebar pieces. Bob Niemela, who traded his yellow hat for gray boots on Saturday, put these on the two footings outside (and foam blocks over the metal brackets protruding up from the large footings inside the building). He called these structures
'anti-impaling' devices, noting that with all the people and activity going on, making potential hazards less hazardous was an easy safety precaution. Maybe this is another reason he has the big bucks job.