March 4 - Door Scavenging and Grinding Through the Siding

Phil got a lead on some doors for the inside of the church.  There was a catch -- they were already installed in a business office somewhere and they were destined for the dumpster.  They had to be removed before the demolition team arrived, so Phil recruited a door-scavenging team of volunteers and off they went.

Here, Ken removes door hardware before taking the door off its hinges.



The scavengers with doors on the way to the truck:  Ryan, Mark, and Ken, with Phil the photographer.



Throughout the week, crew 3 continued with siding the back side of the church.  By Saturday afternoon, the east gable end was covered - here, Brian Kallinen and Kevin Moll show us how it's done.

While the boys worked high on the east gable, most of the others toiled out back on the north gable wall.

A cheerful Markus loads nails in the siding nailer...

...and then nails on another batten, while Courtland assists.

While siding work goes on outside, a few guys prepare for the concrete floor grinding in the sanctuary.  Recall the blue duct buried under the concrete slab?  It pokes up here and there in strategic places, to some day provide the sanctuary with conditioned air.  However, sticking up above the slab like it does, it will get in the way of the floor grinder.  The Man Formerly In The Yellow Hat But Now In The Gray Hat is here cutting the duct flush with the top surface of the slab.

Following Bob along the wall was Daniel, who was cutting chunks of foam to fill the new opening in the floor to keep the dust and dirt out of the duct. 
   

 

Matt tapes the ceiling above Daniel.

This past week we had a new visitor who brought a concrete floor grinder in tow.  Here is Dave McAdams grinding a small section of floor in the kitchen. 



State regulations don't allow the floor in the kitchen to remain as plain concrete, polished or not, but in the meantime, it can serve as a sample palette of grinding options.  Dave prepared two samples for us to consider, which I went to inspect on Saturday. 

Here it is -- the square section of floor below represents the two samples.  Since it had a slight coating of dust on it, I swept off the right-hand side of the samples for a better look.  Exhibit A is closest to the camera, Exhibit B on the far side, by the ladder.

Here is a closeup of Exhibit A.  This sample sort of looks like sand, if you look closely, and is quite uniform in color and appearance.  This took 4x as long to achieve as Exhibit B.



And here is Exhibit B.  This one still has the troweling marks of the power trowels and the color varies quite a bit, from shades of gray to white. 

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!