January 9 - Too Cold to Plow

Flattening the Floor -
I remember clever comments among the guys when we were teenagers (at least we thought they were clever). One such was a response to a question like 'Are you going to play hockey?" To which the answer was, "Might as well. Too cold to plow." Not that any of us city guys knew the first thing about plowing anyway.
When it is below zero outside, it is really too cold to plow. However, when the dirt floor inside needs to be leveled after the trenches are filled in, plowing the dirt is not a bad call. Paul brought the front end loader and used the scoop to again level the dirt after the trench work was completed. The tractor was driven backwards, dragging  the scoop to smooth the dirt.

The scoop has ribs that leave a neat pattern. Greg thought farmer Paul should be informed that the ripples are not needed, that a flat floor would be acceptable. When thus informed, Paul replied that he is planting oats. Paul might think it is possible that a quick crop might be harvested before the concrete is poured but I don;t think so.






Farmer Paul plows his field.

















After the Inspection -

When Don finished putting all the pipes where they need to be, the inspector came and approved the work. The trenches can then be filled in. But filling them is no simple matter. The dirt has to go in about a foot at a time and then be compacted with the machine Justin is operating.

The Fog - 
Friday was cold. Friday evening was very cold. The trackhoe had been running nearly all day with the door closed and by early evening the air inside was getting thick. The overhead door was opened to allow fresh air in and let the exhaust laden air out. The cold air met the warm, moist air and a thick fog settled into the trenches and up a couple of feet above the floor. It did get a little cool inside but also allowed some interesting views to photograph.


Fog in the trenches and the trackhoe in the distance.

 The fog was quite pretty. Drop in the Golden Gate Bridge and we have San Francisco.
Saturday - 
Fortunately, Saturday was a bit warmer. The loader, the compactor and both lifts were in use throughout the day. Brent and Aaron (hiding behind Brent) were working on hanging drywall on the firewall. Sam stopped in to visit. I do not know how Sam got up there, but it would have required a mighty leap.

Dave was kept busy taping the ceiling in the sanctuary. One big ceiling, one small person.

The fog had long since left the trenches, being replaced by a conference as Greg, Sam and Phil plot the next step.

January 6 - Trenching and Piping

Correction - 
In the last post, I stated that plumbers are half a bubble off. That is not accurate. The correct measure is a quarter bubble off. A quarter bubble off of center indicates a 2% slope to the pipe which is the desired pitch for these drain lines.
Plumbing Facts -
Don says there will be about four hundred feet of pipe buried beneath the floor of the church. Our local landmark, Minnehaha Falls, is about 50 feet high. So if the buried pipe were stood up in one column, it would be about four times as high as the falls. This seems like a lot of pipe to me, but when there are sinks and toilets in about every corner of the building, it is necessary to accommodate drains for all of them. Here Don and Brandon are setting in a twenty foot length of pipe.
When Don made a trial connection to the previous pipe, he checked the pitch with his level. Satisfied with the quarter bubble on his end, he then asked Brandon about the other end. "Screaming", Brandon replied. Screaming? What does that mean, I inquired. "Too steep. We need to pack a little dirt under the pipe to reduce the pitch."
OK, Don, this is a drain line, right? It needs to get the stuff downhill and out of the building, right? Aren't the contents going to be carried down the pipe? How can it be too steep?
Don patiently explained. If the pitch is too great, the liquid will run past too fast and leave the solid matter stranded in the pipe. With drain lines, clean pipes are desired. No islands left behind. With modern one gallon flush toilets the shallower  pitch is more necessary than it was with the three gallon flush of earlier generation toilets.
This conversation reminded me of our first apartment after our marriage. Marilee and I lived in a small apartment upstairs of my grandmother's house. The house originally consisted of a store in front and living quarters behind. As the family grew, so did the house, adding on rooms above and behind. Indoor plumbing was retrofitted in after the sewer system was brought into the neighborhood. Our bathroom had a bathtub sufficiently short that my chin rested on my knees while bathing. The flush system for the toilet consisted of a size large water tank mounted very near the ceiling above the toilet. Pulling a chain released the water which slammed through the toilet bowl with terrific force. This was back in the cloth diaper days and I recall losing a diaper once by having it sucked through the toilet trap with an untimely flush. You did not want to be sitting on the toilet while a flush was in progress, for fear of suffering the same fate as the diaper.
The Mini trackhoe -
I understand the proper name for the digger that Greg used is called a mini trackhoe. While it may be a 'mini' as excavation equipment goes, it was pretty big for use inside the building, especially in the flat ceiling areas where all the digging has occurred to date. The operator has to be careful not to crease the drywall ceiling with the boom while maneuvering the bucket in and out of the trenches.











The picture on the right shows the dirt removed from the long trench
back to the kitchen area. Even a mini trackhoe moves a lot of dirt.

When you need to get back in the corner and there is a trench in the way, just use the machine as a bridge.

 Or when the wall is too close to allow visibility in front, just stand up and lean out of the cab, operating the controls behind your back. Perhaps that is something like riding a bike while sitting backwards on the handle bars.

The cab on this machine can turn in every direction and also do 360 degree revolutions. Don told me that the operators on some jobs he work on said they liked to just spin several revolutions at the end of the day, just to help them unwind a bit.


The Murphy Window - 

 In an earlier post, I noted that there is an extra window. Now I have come to understand that it is actually a Murphy window, according to Bill Sturos. He apparently is a student of Murphy's law which state that anything that can go wrong will, and at the most inopportune time. Bill told someone that as long as we have the window around, it will remain an extra. However, as soon as the window is discarded, Murphy will show up. So, we better keep the window.

January 3 - Starting the Plumbing

An Indicator of Change - 
I do not want to be overly sentimental, but I suspect the original building may be feeling a little blue.The faithful structure, the very first one on location, has served faithfully through rain, snow, sleet and bitter cold. Alas, today, parked very close to it, is the portent of the demise of its usefulness. While I am sure that it has many days of useful service remaining, the beginning of the end is here.

  The plumber's truck is on site and with it comes the sure knowledge that the portable outdoor service center will not remain forever.
Digging Trenches - 
Just inside the overhead door there is a trench running the back outside wall. Greg is just visible in the back next to the machine he used to dig the trench. The white lines visible in the trench are the pipes for which the trench exists.

The picture on the left shows the spot where the pipes exit the building, where they will join into the brand new septic system.

 Don Lehtola, the plumbing contractor, is shown here with his son Brandon. Brandon recently returned from working in Wyoming to join dad in the plumbing business. They are starting to lay the pipe that will run the length of the aforementioned trench.















Here Don is making sure the pipe runs downhill towards the exit point. It is very important that the downward slope is maintained with all the sewer pipes. Whereas the carpenters are so careful to assure things are level, the plumber is a half a bubble off.

Once the proper slope is determined, our trusty laser is again employed, this time to help maintain the proper pitch for the trench, I bet the Egyptian pyramid builders would be extremely jealous if they could see how helpful these lasers are in construction.

With Greg on the backhoe and Brandon in the ditch with the laser, they team up to adjust the trench to the proper depth and slope.














Another Wireless Remote - 

I had previously seen Sam effectively use a wireless remote to control a cement truck, Now I see a much younger Brandon demonstrate mastery of operating a remote to control a backhoe. I suppose all the experience that young people get with video games enables them to master these skills at an early age.

I am not sure how the evening crews are going to be able to get much inside work done with the trenches and dirt piles as they are. The sanctuary is still open if there is work to be done there. Don said he will be done with the sewer rough-in
in a couple of days and then the trenches can be filled in.

I am looking forward to more digging and more piping for the next couple of days.

December 29 - It Is the Holiday Season

It's A Wonderful Time of the Year -
The Christmas season is such a wonderful, joyous season. A time for the Sunday school Christmas program, Christmas services, Christmas parties, family gatherings, entertaining visiting guests, traveling to visit family in far off locations, and other enjoyable events. Throw in a wedding or two, since family will be in town for the holidays, and you have a pretty slow season for making progress on building a church with volunteer labor. So, without much building activity there has not been a lot for the chronicler to report, which makes for a great time for the chronicler to take in the Sunday school Christmas program, attend Christmas services, take in a Christmas party or two and entertain family visiting from afar. In all, a very pleasant and enjoyable couple of weeks, even if I did not attend any weddings.
Some Progress - 
Despite the labor shortage, there was still some progress. On a very cold evening before Christmas a few hearty souls worked outside attaching firring strips, on which the siding panels will be hung and putting on window trim. Paul and Eric are in the lower unit while Bob and an Brandon (?) are in the upper unit. Neither the picture nor my memory is good enough to provide definite identification of the other worker.



Some windows got trimmed out that cold evening also.





















Septic System -
One other significant event occurred before Christmas. The high tech septic system was installed. I got the scoop on this system from Sam. There are four septic tanks, each with a capacity of 2,500 gallons, that run in series. Down stream from there are three pump tanks, each with a capacity of 2,000 gallons. These tanks are connected in parallel. By my math that is total of 16,000 gallons of tank capacity. That is a lot of room even for a bunch of coffee drinking Finnlanders. This picture shows the top of the last septic tank in the foreground and the top of two of the holding tanks in the rear. The gray box houses the brains that control the pumps that move the discharge from the pump tanks into the leech fields, formerly known as drain fields. I am not sure when the name was changed but this is the first time I have encountered the term 'leech field', which sounds to me more like a place to raise fishing bait. The leech fields, of which there are two, can handle 2,900 gallons per day. There are two pumps, one for each field. The pumps can cycle up to 8 times per day, discharging 362.5 gallons per cycle. I am impressed by all these numbers.  I am certain that there is still a lot of arithmetic that can be done with these numbers, but I leave that as an exercise for the reader. I learned about all this sewage stuff just so I could pass it on.

This digging machine was just making its escape when I arrived on the scene that evening. I did not get a chance to see it in action. I was surprised that they could plant the tanks in such cold weather.







Digging Inside -
As nice as it is to have a septic system and leech fields, they are rather unnecessary unless there is also plumbing inside and a way to feed the outside system. The plans in the picture depict where the trenches need to be dug that will handle the under-floor heat ducts and plumbing pipes. But it is never so simple as to just start up the digger and make trenches. First the dirt need to be leveled. The magic laser beam machine throws a level line around the walls. Since there is a chalk line already on the walls indicating floor level, just set the laser machine in comfortable spot and measure the distance between the floor level chalk line and the laser line. Knowing this distance, just walk all around the building with a tape measure and check the distance between the dirt in that spot and the laser line.

Here is the laser machine resting on the tripod.

















Bob is wandering around checking the current grade at various spots. The red line can be seen on the distant wall and on Bob's leg. Using this technique it is possible to chart all the measured points and make a topographical map of the church floor in its current state. Of course this is a useless exercise so it will not be done.

















Instead, the inside digger machine will be used to move the dirt around so there will be level base on which the concrete floor will be poured. Greg Wuollet is the designated machine operator, shown here pushing some refuse out of the way so the serious leveling process can begin.

Watching this size pretty-big machine gently nuzzle the dirt up next to the wall is impressive. Obviously some skill is required to maneuver this equipment without smashing the walls, ceiling and/or windows.

While Greg drives the big machine, Bob demonstrates his skill with a manually powered excavator. Watching this scene develop made me think of the legend of John Henry's race with the steam powered drill.





Happy New Year - 
Well, the new year is arriving and next week will bring a return to a more regular work schedule at the church.

December 25 - Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas

December 19 - The Weather Turned Cold

Twenty Below Zero -
Saturday morning I got the following text from Bob saying, "Don't know if you've gotten the memo but no work at the church today". I think the high temp for the day was minus 10. Well, I was hoping to get out to the job site Saturday, but with the weather so cold I was not sad to stay home by the fireplace. I did hear later that both Bob and Sam were there, and Sam told me on Sunday that a few more hearty souls also ventured out. By Monday it was in the twenties above zero. So I made the trek Monday evening.
We also received a fresh snow job before the sub-zero temps moved in so the building actually looks quite pretty. Maybe we should hang a wreath on the door for Christmas. I took the above photo when we first arrived. I took the one at left just before I left. Note the photographers shadow stretching all the way to the door. The shadow is caused by the car approaching the photographer from behind. Needless to say I hastened my exit.


New Heat - 
On arrival at the site I learned that we now have permanent temporary heat, as if I am not confused easily enough already. There is a new, size large fire breathing dragon plumbed into the propane tank. The picture on the right shows the beast with his (it must be a 'he') black feeder hose and his large exhaust pipe. The picture below show the view looking right down his flaming throat. I am feeling the heat as I take this picture.

It was comfortable inside but as the picture reveals, the ice on the windows had not yet completely melted. I am not sure how long the dragon had been belching out fire but I am confident that it will be very comfortable to work inside now. Unfortunately, the next task on the list is to finish hanging the plywood strips on which the siding will hang, which is clearly outside work. Well, this week promises to be considerably warmer than the end of last week.

More Writing on the Wall - 
Mark is shown here perusing the task list on the wall as he waits for the workers to arrive.

 I am impressed with the quality of the task list and the the accompanying plan pictures. I have noted earlier such communications and these appear to my untrained eye to be an upgrade.


I include some previously observed lists and pictures for comparison purposes.

Pencil on scrap lumber.

Marker on foam block.

Full color illustration on corrugated cardboard.





























The Hay Departs - 
With the coming of the new heater the hay is no longer needed to prevent the footings from being undermined by frost. So it can go.
Eric piles up the loose stuff in the wheel barrow for transport outside.  Spencer shown below moves bales to the forklift basket for subsequent transport in mass.

Loose hay is packed around the door openings to help keep the winter on the outside and toasty comfort on the inside.