February 25 - Siding the East Walls

The daily floor watering ran its course this week.  Despite faithful douses, nothing grew, so we went outside to work.  Maybe we need to give it more time.  I'm sure if we wait long enough, benches will sprout.

Installation of exterior trim and siding continued this week.  The crew was rained out one day, and then for the other days, the temperature went down and wind went up.  Saturday was a beautiful day. 

Although the days are getting longer, during the week daylight disappears early in the evening work shift.  Out come the headlamps and work lights and the work continues.  The average headlamp is a fairly weak beam of light that is generally sufficient to work by, but a few guys sport exceptionally powerful headlamps.  Here, Eric installs lap siding on the front east wall.

Meanwhile, some shady characters do the same on the east sanctuary wall.

Saturday came, bringing a good turnout of guys.  One crew of guys finishes up the front sanctuary wall, another works on the east sanctuary wall, and here another gets set up on the back of the sanctuary.

Walking to the back of the church, I saw Loren, who appeared to be looking for a sign in the heavens.

Or possibly he was communicating to the guys in the lift.

The ground around the outside of the church was looking more and more like a landfill, so Merja took matters into her own hands and began the cleanup.  At the end of the day, the whole crew broke off a bit before quitting time and joined in the cleanup effort.

 Loren sprays some primer onto the freshly cut piece of siding.  Not sure if he was successful in avoiding getting overspray on his sunglasses.  I wasn't.

 

Saturday lunch.  

The best part of Saturday lunch is meeting the cheerful hosts who bring it.  Today, it was Elias and Diane.

 

Here Bob demonstrates how to not safely use a tablesaw, while his daughter observes closely.  I confess, Ed once caught me cutting freehand on the tablesaw and wagged his finger and tsk'd appropriately.

 Tim is trimming out the back mechanical room door.

 

While Tim takes a breather, Zeke and Lars keep tabs on Pat's progress in striking a plumb line on the wall.

This picture was taken near day's end, from the southeast corner of the church.

And this one from the northeast corner.

There's a lot more to go, but it's a good start!

February 18 - It's Saturday, Go Outside and Play!

With the new floor inside not yet ready for lots of construction traffic, no work is happening inside the building - except for the daily watering of the floor.  Why water the floor?  I believe the theory is that newly poured concrete cures more slowly when kept wet, which results in a stronger slab.  Orders are to water the floor down once a day for a week.

While the main focus of the week was to get the floor poured, work continued outside.  Installation of siding had started the previous week and continued this week.  Here, Bill, Phil, Greg, Ed, and Bob plan for greatness on the side wall.

Ed, looking better than ever, takes a break.

Aaron and Ben at work on the front wall, while Bill, Phil, and Aare are right around the corner on the east wall.

Aare's irritated with me.  Take your camera and go for a hike!

February 17 - Pouring the Floor, Part 2

Pouring it On
Sweatshirts and jackets came off as the morning wore on, the temperature rose, and that heavy concrete hose was dragged all over the church.  When I returned to the church at about 11:30 that morning, I saw the last of the concrete truck parade.  One truck was emptying its load, another was cleaning up, and a third was pulling away to return to home base.

Inside was a surprise -- the floor was almost finished!  The last of the narthex, office, coat room, and mechanical room was being poured.  Here you can see the power screeding machine in action again.  The reference laser it uses can be seen in the distance, fastened high on the door jamb leading to the sanctuary, visible just above Brian's head.

By now, everyone seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it.

The pump outside is controlled remotely by Jeff Wikman, via the yellow control box he's holding.  While Mark directs the hose, Jeff monitors the progress, ready to stop the pump if need be.

During the pour, the tubing in the floor has been pressurized with air.  If at any time the pressure gauge goes to zero, you know the tubing has been punctured or cut somewhere.  Patch kits are on hand in case this should happen.  This manifold is one of several throughout the building.

A good sign -- still holding air.

I noticed Daniel still at his post.  Since the pouring is happening right near the front entrance now, not far from the pump, not too many men are needed on the hose anymore.  I thought I'd take a picture of him smoking a heater, but he busted me before I got the picture taken.  "Don't let my wife see that picture!"  I promised I wouldn't say anything. 

There needed to be a bulkhead in place at the entrance where the slab would stop.  While the pour creeps toward the entrance, Matt and Bob work to install the bulkhead.

Troweling against the newly installed bulkhead.

The pouring is done now, good opportunity to take a breather.

Inside, the guys from the concrete company are doing the finish work.  Some of the finish troweling is done by hand, on hands and knees.  Most of the floor is covered by one of the several power trowels.  Here, one guy operates a walk-behind style, while his colleague is riding on another one in the background.

One of three such power trowels, the operator glides around the floor in what kind of looks like a hovercraft, except he's not hovering.  The rotating paddles on the bottom smooth the concrete and simultaneously propels the machine across the floor.

Meanwhile, outside, guys start cleaning off the equipment before the residual concrete on it sets up.  Some guys take their work more seriously than others.  Loren and Aare are cleaning out the hoses.  I wonder what is in the end of that hose?

There are three riding power trowels on hand.  Here, one of the concrete company guys and Ken and Bob use the forklift to plunk the second one inside the back door, where a concrete finisher will hop on and join the troweling brigade.

Here's looking in the southeast sanctuary door after the finishers are almost...well, finished.

The wet concrete floor puts off a lot of heat and moisture as it cures.  Ken and Bob mount a big fan in the back doorway to get some air circulation going.  

Later in the day, when most of the crew has gone home and the evening shift of volunteers arrives, the last concrete guy cuts the new concrete slab.  As a new concrete slab cures, it will crack.  The cuts made in the floor will encourage most (hopefully, all) of the cracking to be at the cut and not some zigzag pattern across the floor.  At the same time, the operator needs to be careful not to cut too deeply and damage the tubing in the slab.  While the cutting goes on, Dave Wuollet sweeps the floor.

The big walk-behind concrete saw can't get into tight corners, so Phil and Glen get the angle grinder out to finish the cuts.

At the end of the day, the floor looks amazing!

February 17 - Pouring the Floor, Part 1

Planning
Thursday evenings are when the crew leads and their assistants get together to plan the next week's activities.  This meeting, however, on the day before The Big Floor Pour, focused on the next day's activity: pouring the concrete floor.  That's Glen in the camo jacket, Brian on his left, Mark to his left (can't see him), then Phil, Ken, and Bob.

The Big Floor Pour has been in the planning stages for over a month.  A special crew of volunteers who can be there all day on a Friday have been organized.  Concrete specialists have been recruited.  Concrete, 140 yards of it, has been ordered.  Specialized concrete finishing equipment has been requested.  The driveway has been prepped for the beating that a dozen cement trucks will do to it.  Meals have been ordered.  Prayers have been made.  What else could possibly be done?

Friday Arrives

Friday morning arrives, a beautiful day.  Workers have been here since before 6:00am.  The first truck was scheduled to be on site at 7:00am.  When I arrive at about 7:30, there's one truck backed up to the building and another waiting its turn.

The concrete truck will empty its load into the hopper of a concrete pump, which pumps the concrete through the 4" pipe.  The driver's waiting for the word to start dumping his load.

Inside the building, the pipe turns into high pressure rubber hose, which snakes into the narthex and over to the far end of the sanctuary.  The hose is a collection of short sections which are coupled together with clamps.

Inside the sanctuary, I see a group of guys ready to go, but no concrete is being pumped.  Everybody is looking serious.  The volunteers stand ready, waiting for a command or opportunity to do something.  Equipment and tools sit idle.  The experts bustle back and forth along the hose.  I can sense a palpable level of tension in the air; something's wrong.  Loren Hillukka is conveniently standing nearby.  "Psst, what's the deal?"  I find out that the end of the hose is plugged and no concrete will flow through it.  When you have a carefully coordinated series of concrete trucks on the way, all with fresh concrete that is getting harder by the minute, this is Not A Good Thing. 

Finally, the hose is cleared and the concrete begins to flow.  I'm pretty sure I saw a few smiles at this point, but you can't see them in my pictures since everyone's attention is on appreciating the growing pile of fresh concrete in the corner.

Once the mud starts flowing, everyone goes to their assigned place.  The hose is very heavy and needs to be moved around often to evenly spread concrete over the floor.  As the man on the end directs the flow, the rest of the gang moves the hose around as needed.  They must be careful to not damage the radiant floor tubing stapled to the foam as the hose slides across.  As the concrete flows, pulses of high pressure from the pump cause the hose to move around somewhat.

Here, Daniel Hillukka demonstrates the technique.  He's pulling on a loop of rope around the hose near a coupling that joins two sections of hose together.  The coupling sits in a "turtle shell", which helps to keep it from ripping up the tubing and wire mesh.

An attempt to capture the whole sanctuary scene.

Once the mud starts flowing, it comes quickly.  In minutes, there's a good-sized section covering the northeast corner of the sanctuary.  The guys pour concrete across the front of the sanctuary, working their way toward the back.

A guy from the hired concrete company drives a laser guided power screed up, ready to start screeding when a large enough area is ready for it.

Time for screeding.  The four-wheeled machine has a giant screeding attachment on the front but yet is light enough that it can be driven over the tubing without damaging it.  The screeding attachment has two tall outriggers that detect the laser mounted on the wall at the back of the sanctuary.  Once the proper height it set, the power screed can accurately level the concrete throughout the whole building as it's poured.  This machine is a huge time saver and does a great job.

The way it works is the operator drives it into the concrete just poured, sets its screed at the right height according to the laser, and backs up.  As the machine backs up, it leaves a smooth surface behind.  Dale Muhonen keeps a close eye on the operator's progress.

After the power screed moves on, a finisher comes behind and makes the concrete surface even smoother.  After this, the concrete is left alone for a while to set up.  Once firm enough to walk on, the floor will be power troweled.  A walk-behind style power trowel is perched on top of the sump basket in the background.

As the pour progresses along the north wall of the sanctuary, someone realizes that if they don't cover the windows quickly, they're going to get covered with concrete splatter.  Here we see Brian Johnson hustling off to find some foam to provide protective cover for the windows.

Mark directs the hose while Dale and Aare look on.

Eventually, the first truck runs out of concrete.  A break in the action while the first truck leaves and the second truck pulls into position at the pump gives the men on the hose time for a breather and a chance to look around.

I had to leave to go to work at this point, but this action would repeat throughout the day, truck after truck.  The floor was looking good!