June 10 - From Pillars to Porch

A Day of Concrete Progress - 


Two professional concrete guys from neighboring congregations were here to provide expertise and professional skill for the project. We are grateful to Sonny Johnson of the Minneapolis congregation and Jon Parks of the Cokato congregation who provided much appreciated energy and skill on this hot, windy Saturday.

The very visible, decorative pyramid-shaped pillars that support the portico was the object of Sonny's attention. Earlier in the week Sam was visiting with Sonny on the phone, picking the expert's brain for tips on assuring a professional look to the pillars. After considerable time spent explaining, Sonny finally said, "Tell you what. I will come to the church Saturday morning." Sam did not protest and Sonny came.



Jon Parks has spent his entire working life in the concrete business. He poured his talents and energy into guiding the back porch floor.
Thanks to both of these brothers for their expertise and diligent efforts. Concrete work is heavy labor.

The ready-mix truck was a little behind schedule so Sonny had a chance to entertain the assembly with stories. Here he is holding court from his pickup bed.









Then the truck is sighted. Let the fun begin.

Concrete pours are exciting. The trucks rumble in, the mud slides down the chute and bodies scramble hither and thither to either move the mix where it needs to go or get out of the way.
The truck arrives on the scene and the workers are ready and waiting.

Sam oiled the inside of the forms for the pillars. This will release the form when it is time to remove it. Just like greasing a cake pan, I think. I hope it works.

Sam holds the rebar frame in place, the mud avalanches down the chute and Brent uses his long ago developed butter churning skills to ram the poker through the thick ooze, encouraging it to fill each nook in the form.

Bob crawls around tapping on the form with a mallet, further inspiring the mud to get into the proper spaces. The expression on Brent's face reflects the ease with which the wooden prod glides up and down, in and out of the gravel, cement and water mix.

After the concrete has set up sufficiently, Sonny and Sam carefully remove the mold from the topmost piece of the structure.

Sonny then uses a mix of portland cement and fine sand to stir up a thin batter that is applied to the exposed side walls. Watching Sonny's dexterity with the small hand trowel makes me certain that he could have succeeded well icing cakes.



Out Behind the Building - 

When the mud starts to flow, many hands and feet are needed to quickly get the mud wither it needs to go. Mark is guiding the chute and flashing hand signals to the truck driver. Sam, Brian and Eric rake the mix into place. After the first section is smoothed out, the operation shifts down one more section.

Pouring a slab the size of the back porch requires significant planning and careful setup.
The far end of the floor is already in place and is at the proper height. The pipe in the foreground is resting on wooden stakes that were planted the night before such that, when the pipe is placed on them, the top of the pipe is at the top-of-floor height. Those wooden stakes have a couple of nails driven in on an angle to keep the pipe in place. Jon, on the far end of the long 2x4 screed, works with Brent to level the concrete at the proper elevation. Watching Jon makes me think that this line of work likely develops excellent core muscles and probably would be a good workout for ballet dancers and gymnasts. Sam and Brian push, pull and otherwise cajole the concrete in place so the screed operators have enough mud to get to height but not so much that they cannot move the screed efficiently. The concrete mix is heavy and does not go running into place without a lot of muscle.

While the chaos whirls around him, Sam the multi-tasker adds a phone call to his immediate attention. This time he actually took the luxury of using one hand to hold the phone rather than just leave it poised on his shoulder while he shoveled concrete.

Tall Sam uses a hammer to intimidate the concrete. A former workmate of mine used the phrase 'pounding sand' to describe effort expended on unprofitable activities. This experience came to mind as I watched Sam flail away at the mud. Actually, he is making the wooden pipe support stakes disappear, driving them nearer China.



Fighting the Wind -




Saturday was windy. Very windy.
Leaves, dust and assorted debris blew into the porch even as the concrete was being poured.

Jon not only oversaw the pouring operation, he also headed up the cleanup, scraping the junk off as carefully as possible, then smoothing the mud again.

Bob tried fighting wind with wind. Jon is doing some final troweling, not being forced to kneel facing the corner as punishment for bad behavior.












Meanwhile on the Inside -

Kevin installed insulation. Some of it he had the opportunity to install several times as the insulation did not want to adhere to the glue he had applied. He persevered, however, and eventually the insulation behaved properly and stayed in place.

Levi and Mark were among the insiders who also applied insulation.

Friday evening Glenn was insulating water pipes - the hot water lines to keep the water hot and the cold water lines to keep them from sweating in humid weather.




















Before Logging Off - 

The evaluation of pew concepts continues. Another possibility is being considered.