Feeling "giddy"

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been two weeks since my last post on our building blog. I was on vacation for one week and my computer apparently got jealous and decided to take a vacation as well on the following week. Well, actually, our temporary communications connections have been flumoxing us all. Some of the staff have operating computers but no phone (everyone but me). While others have operating phones but no computer (me). We'll get this straightened out very soon.
Meanwhile, the construction project is moving full speed ahead! Over the past few weeks it's been all about infrastucture, infrastructure, infrastructure.

Let's begin with the Jefferson Courtyard area. I am particularly proud of what we've done here. We have installed a truly innovative water run-off leaching system. This is a system of underground drainage pipes, varying from 4" to 10" in diameter, which carry all rain run-off water from our roofs and hardscape surfaces to four underground leach tanks. These tanks are located under the future grassy areas in the new jefferson Courtyard. They slowly allow the run-off water to soak into our property rather than run down surface streets to the ocean. It's a brainchild of our "green conscious" architects & civil engineer and will not only help save the ocean but add signifigantly to our qualification as a "green campus". This was a golden opportunity to do this work at a fraction of the cost of retroffitting an existing site.

We have been re-wiring all of Parish Hall. One of the new features is the replacement of all eight, constantly illuminated, 30 watt exit signs. Our new LED exit signs, w/ battery backups, will use only a very small fraction of the electricity used by our old ones. We also are completely wiring the building for the computer age with digital phone & computer outlets in every workspace. Finally, the hall is being wired for an entirely new audio/visual system which will include a rear projection movie screen, new stage lighting, new public address system and a new, "rocking" music system.

The plumbing work has been extensive due to the expansion & remodel of all three bathrooms in Parish Hall. A new main sewer line has been run all the way out to the street. A great new water softening system has been plumbed and will sit just outside the kitchen along the exterior wall. The extensive network of leaking gas lines underneath the hall are being replaced. The gas lines, water lines and phone/computer lines which run from Parish Hall to Blake & Jefferson are being replaced.

The floor in the Parish hall library area and in the minister's office has been lowered. A concrete slab has been poured in the minister's office. Concrete has also been poured for some of the underpinning to support the sanctuary foundation.

All of this work will soon be covered up and you might wonder, "What have they been doing all this time?" Well, it's a lot and it's important. It's just the kind of stuff that makes a facility manager feel "giddy".

I can depend on the breeze

Every morning when I arrive at my office under the tower the first thing I do is crank open the windows and experience a soft cool breeze. Without fail that breeze always flows through the office. I can depend on it. The same cannot be said of most everything else. When I flip the light switch the lights may or may not come on. When I send an e-mail there's a 50/50 chance that I'll be connected to the internet. Opening a water faucet in the kitchen is a crap shoot. And, even if I get running water, this may be followed by loud cursing from a large, angry plumber working on a disconnected sewer line below the kitchen floor. And the telephones....don't get me started!

Well, I guess that's life in a construction zone. The work is going well and things are progressing very quickly. The Jefferson Courtyard area has been completely excavated, leveled and compacted. Several large boulders were uncovered and removed. Two car-sized boulders were simply too large to move but luckily sit about 12" below our finished concrete and lawn level. The large boulder which served as our focal point at the ground breaking ceremony has been saved and moved to the children's area near Classroom C. The next step in the Jefferson Courtyard is trenching for our storm water dispersal tanks and all utilites and conduit. We'll cross our fingers about further boulder discoveries.

Most demolition work is complete in Parish Hall and the Blake bathrooms. The walls of the new Parish bathrooms have been framed-in. (The bathrooms look huge!) New plumbing vent & drain lines are being installed. The new workroom area is framed as well. Lowering the floor area at the library and former minister's office is proceeding more slowly. This is a very complicated building puzzle that requires lots of engineering & re-engineering, new foundation walls, concrete slabs and sophisticated anchoring hardware. It's gratifying to see how Schipper Construction re-uses and saves lots of the demoed structural timber when possible.

Electrical re-wiring of an entire building is quite an undertaking! Cook Electric has been here for two weeks cutting holes in the Parish Hall plaster walls, tearing out the old wires and running new flex conduit. They will continue with this throughout the month of July. (Note: my power has gone out twice while writing this blog. Thank god for battery powered outlet back-up.)

Next week we begin bulding forms for the concrete retaining walls and underpinning required to transition from the sanctuary to the new Jefferson Courtyard elevation. That should be very fun to watch. Meanwhile we deal with all the minor headaches that are inevitable with any sizeable construction project. Two days ago one of the large trees behind our Parsonage House split causing two large trunks to collaspe onto our construction trailer roof. We've also cut into shallow gas lines and hidden active water lines.

I never know what to expect each day when I arrive here, but at least I can depend on that breeze when I open the windows.