July 15 - Picking Rocks, Mudding the Walls and Mystical Fire Shutters

Tuesday Was Rock Picking Day -
A family oriented event, rock picking brings out folks of all ages, but especially the younger end. Larger rocks that would likely cause the mowers grief are hand picked from the area that will soon be grass. Farmer Paul drives the tractor and the multitudes fill the trailer with rocks. I did not get a picture, but I did see that when the multitude needs a lift, they all pile on the trailer.

On arrival Tuesday evening I was surprised to see the still-gravel lot with yellow lines demarcating parking spaces. I figured that paving generally precedes striping, but maybe that just continues to reveal my ignorance of construction. I do wonder what will happen to the stripes in a sand lot when the rain descends and the floods come. We will see when the time comes.


Taping and Mudding -
When I walk into a building with painted walls, I might admire the finish on the walls but I have never stopped to consider how many sheets of drywall were used, how many screws were needed to hang them or how many feet (miles?) of drywall seam need to be taped and mudded over. Our church is not a large structure, but just out of curiosity, we did a few calculations. We figure that there is about three quarters of an acre (about 30,000 square feet) of drywall on the walls and ceilings. There may be about 35,000 screws used to secure it, give or take a few handfuls. And possibly 4 miles of seam to be taped. I can't attest to the accuracy of all the numbers, worked out before the coffee got cold, but I was curious. I do know that there have been some experienced folks working many hours first applying the tape, then second and third layers of mud (maybe more accurately 'taping compound' but I prefer mud).
Here Dave is on the lift to better reach the high spots.

Dave teams up with Phil and the laser to get a corner joint straight  and plumb.

Phil finished off a window opening in the kitchen.

Phil mixes another batch of mud.

Just a little stiff, so add a couple of spongefuls of water.

Ah, just right.

Matt also does a lot of taping and mudding. I think I heard him say "Really, Ed, the lunker was at least this big!", but maybe my hearing aid was low on battery.


Fire Shutters -
The fire wall separating the sanctuary from the narthex has size large windows. So, in order to maintain its status as a fire wall, it has to have fire shutters. I will admit, I have never previously heard of fire shutters. But now I have watched one be installed and have photographic evidence of three such devices. so I am probably a near expert on the subject at this point.

Ami uses the laser to get the steel side rail assembly vertical. This is important since the shutter relies on gravity to be deployed into proper position so we dare not have it bind on an out-of-plumb rail.

The same approach on the other side.

Next affix the ends to the spring loaded spool. This is heavy stuff so a size pretty big lift is used to raise the spool and the shutter.

Turn the crank and winch up the load.

When it is properly positioned, put the bolts through the holes in the end brackets and the side rails.

Again using the lift, raise the shutter into position and affix it to the spool. It looks like the hardware is all factory aligned so it goes together quite nicely, but I do not think I will try this trick at home.

When it is all installed, it looks like this one in the narthex.
I think Ami has done this before. He did not spend a lot of time staring at the instruction manual.

In the event of a fire, this 165 degree fuse will melt, the restraining cable or chain will then be free, the shutter will surrender to gravity and close down. The system is to be tested at least once per year to make sure that it is operational. The fire wall with this shutter setup essentially separated the structure into two buildings with a two hour fire rating, meaning that it should take at least two hours for a fire to spread from one side of the building to the other. While these precautions seem good and necessary, I pray that we never have to have a real life test of the fire wall and it shutters.