APRIL 2, 2002: April 1 found a front end loader standing idle in front of the Crow building. At about 4:30 PM demolition of the building began. This morning, demolition continues. Meanwhile, workers prepare for the pouring of the front walkway to the new building.

Although it is not visible here, a 3 inch plastic pipe passes under the walk to facilitate later installation of irrigation to the planter on the right next to the wall of the pit.
The two conduits will also be placed under the pour for installation of lighting if desired.
The new gas line to the old kitchen passes barely six inches below the surface The gas meter is behind the steps. Existing irrigation piping is barely visible just to the right of the superintendent's foot.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2002

Troy Messenger Photograph by Huck Treadwell
The Messenger features a front page picture of the demolition. However, they called the building the Wise Office Supply building, which is is not, but the former Wise Printing Building.

This morning, the front walk to the new building has been poured (yesterday). Work is in progress on the new sidewalk along Academy Street; forms and reinforcing grid are in place for about thirty feet. The sidewalk will extend above the existing curb, and along the street there is a piece of 1/2 inch "rebar" tied to vertical supports to reinforce the upper edge against cracking away from the thicker sidewalk behind the curb. Expansion joints will coincide with joints in the existing curb. The sounds of demolition across the street behind a 2 story brick wall are sometimes distracting to the workers. Said the superintendent: "I wish they would go ahead and knock that wall in."

By noon, his wishes had been fulfilled; shortly after noon, the last second story wall, the northeast corner had been pulled down. The demolished building had a basement, which is below ground level. Early in the afternoon, the outline of planter in front of the porch has taken shape. Inside, in the parlor, one door and frame has been turned around to open into the hall, rather than into the parlor. Although this is not good practice, an accommodation has been made. Also, a fireplace mantle has been placed in the east wall of the parlor and the carpenters are applying drywall finish to the alteration. An electrician is installing another plug, having to "fish" armored cable down a wall already finished.

THURSDAY, APRIL 5: Missed in earlier reports: The smaller heat pump for the old building has been relocated to the north of the larger air conditioner on the elevated equipment pad between the buildings. There is about thirty feet of sidewalk poured along Academy Street west of the north entrance. The footings for the wall of the planter in front of the porch have been poured. There is a concrete walkway along the south part of the east wall at the drive thru. This morning, wallboard was being installed on the inside of the porch. Workers were moving dirt and debris in preparation for sidewalk and driveway work, principally at the east side. The demolition contractor was continuing the removal of the buildings on the north side of Academy Street. Inside, ceiling tile is stored in the fellowship hall.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6: YOU SAW IT FIRST HERE!

With the demolition of the crow buildings complete, it is now possible to present the north side of the new building.
This picture was taken from the rear of the accountant's office at the corner of College & Three-Notch Streets.

INSIDE, the ceiling tiles are up in most of the classrooms.  The hardware (locks, kick plates, and door closers) is on the doors, and painters are putting the first coats of paint on the kitchen cabinets.  The paint color there is, incidentally, "Spanish White."  It looks "almost pink" (quoting a painter) in the cans, but when applied is white.  Earlier in the day, workers were washing the east wall.  According to the painting contractor, the floor covering contractor will be in "Monday Week."

MONDAY, APRIL 8, EARLY AFTERNOON:  The ceiling tile has been installed in the Fellowship Hall; this pretty much completes the downstairs ceilings.  The elevator electrician promises to sign off on the elevator tomorrow.  The glass has been installed in the windows between the nursery, kindergarten, and primary class rooms.  Outside, there is about 36 feet of additional sidewalk along academy street.  A trough has been left in the sidewalk where the run-off from the front down spout will pass under a grate.  On the front, the planter footings have been altered so that the end walls of the planter run perpendicular to the curve of the porch, rather than to the front wall of the building.  At the back, forms are being put in place for the approach drive on the north side of the entrance.  Painters are finishing the door frames in the office area.  More cabinet doors are laid out for painting and drying on makeshift tables in the fellowship hall.  Across Academy street, Bishop's tractors are loading large chunks of concrete floor onto large dump trucks.

TUESDAY, APRIL 9, MID AFTERNOON:  The door casings in the nursery/kindergarten have received a coat of paint.  The handrails are being sprayed with white enamel.  The electricians were receiving instructions as to the location of exit lights in the fellowship hall.  Some decorative plastic crown fixtures have gone up in the fellowship hall.  The elevator installers are working on the elevator controls in the equipment room adjoining the fellowship hall.  In the equipment plaza, the heat pump for the office comes on and immediately an internal relief valve begins to hiss.  Charles Ingram turned the unit disconnect switch off.  The air conditioning contractor will be called to investigate the problem.  Some of the refrigerant piping has received a wrap of aluminum protective jacketing.  The control and electric lines to the office heat pump will have to be re-worked with the controls lines in conduit; earlier plans had been to cover the control lines and refrigeration piping with a sheet metal trough.  Now the plans are to wrap the refrigerant lines with protective aluminum; the control lines will have to be re-run in conduit since there will be no protective cover for them otherwise.  Water from last night's and this morning's rains stands in the drain of the wash area, which is raised above the floor of the equipment plaza pit. This leads the superintendent to speculate that perhaps there was a cap left on the drain line after testing.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10:   BREAKTHROUGH!  At noon, workers had removed the door from the old downstairs elevator lobby into the new building (the old back door) and were erecting a temporary wall across the hall about six feet inside the old building.  The door for the old parlor will be closed and another opened around the corner in what is now the hall to the downstairs rest room recently replaqered as the men's rest room.  The temporary wall will block off the area from the old building while the crossover entrance is completed.  The plans are to widen the opening to full width of the hall in the new building and convert what is left of the old elevator space to storage space.  Upstairs, the corridor and heritage room will be reworked for better access from the new building to the "round room".

SATURDAY, APRIL 13:  The upstairs crossover has been cut through, with  the window and all surrounding brick work removed.  It appears that the floor will ramp down from the new building to the old.  Downstairs, the floor is almost level.  The elevator works! A push of the button upstairs, the door opened; after a ride downstairs, when the door closed, it homed on the second floor.  In the front equipment plaza, the refrigeration vapor piping has all been covered with aluminum faced protective shielding; new, larger clamps have been installed on the piping to clamp around the larger tubular shields.  The control wiring to the small heat pump has been re-run in conduit from its exit at the building wall down and into the unit.  The light on the wall above the wash area works; it is controlled by a switch on the wall below. (Why not an electric eye control?) The kitchen cabinet doors have been installed.  Noticed but not noted earlier:  The mirrors have been hung in the rest rooms.  There are still no plumbing fixtures or water heater, however.  None of the kitchen equipment has been delivered.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16:  Outside, work is progressing on the construction of the approaches to the drive thru on Oak Street.  Inside, most cabinets have received laminate tops.  The cabinet workers are in the kitchen installing tops and splashguards.
The rest room floors have received vinyl tile;  one each upstairs and downstairs has a towline redish-brown checkerboard; the other has a solid green floor.  An electrician faces the challenge of a lowered ceiling height in the north entrance hall resulting in an exit light junction box being too close to the ceiling for normal mounting.  He chooses to use a screw-in dry-wall anchor and a sheet metal screw to secure the fixture over the electrical box.  One worker is using an emery rock to remove mortar splatter from the door frame of the elevator in preparation for painting.  On the front, the porch is receiving foam plastic plaster base to receive the stucco coating.  The planter in front has not yet been bricked up.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17:  The approach aprons to the Oak Street entrance are being poured; it will be necessary to raise the level of the street at the curb about 1 1/2 inches to prevent ponding of water in the southwest corner of Oak and Academy.  The grate in the street is that much higher than the existing street at the curb line.  At about 4:30 PM the landscape/irrigation contractor was trying to ascertain where water is available for irrigation.  In the front there is a new water meter which is connected to the existing irrigation system.  On the Oak Street side, there appears to be a meter which feeds the faucets in the yard.  It is desirable to use water not metered through the main building meter, since there is a sanitary sewer surcharge on the building water.  Irrigation water is  not subject to this disposal tax.  Irrigation plumbing will be run into the space between the office sidewalk and the pit wall, and around the building to the space between Academy Street and the building.  On the east side, irrigation will be provided to the lower Walnut Street yard and the planter spaces along the building exterior.  Inside, flooring workers were scraping the floor of the kindergarten/nursery area and will lay tile there tonight.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19:  At 8:15 pouring began on the south exit apron at the Oak Street entrance.  The North approach has already been poured, and some sidewalk has been framed for  pouring.  There were only three workers visible at the site.  On the inside, the floor of the children's room has been covered with green tile.  most of the floor in solid color, but the spaces in front of the cabinets/sinks are diagonal checkerboard.

MONDAY, APRIL 22, NOON:  About one half of the fellowship hall floor has been covered with tile.  The pattern is a large diagonal checkerboard, green.  In the kitchen some appliances have been delivered; the only one readily identifiable from the packaging is a Hobart "warewasher," manufactured, apparently, in Troy, Ohio.  At the upstairs crossover workers were laying forms for a concrete approach ramp to the door between the buildings.  Outside, the landscape contractor was preparing to work in the space between the sidewalk along Academy Street and the building.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24:  At 1:00 workers on the front porch were installing decorative steel work and railings.  At the upstairs elevator lobby a worker was finishing the concrete floor at the location (to be) of the door between the buildings.  In the fellowship hall, a plumber was installing tailpieces on lavatories preparatory to installation in cabinet tops around the building.  In the downstairs rest rooms, caps had been removed from the fixture connections and there was porcelain ware awaiting mounting.  On the Oak Street side of the play yard, a front-end loader was being utilized to uproot trees along the fence line.  A new walk way had been paved from the drive thru apron toward the south.  In the equipment room adjoining the fellowship hall, a water heater sits in place, ready for plumbing and wiring.  It is an AO Smith 115 gallon 14 KW 208 volt 3-phase unit.

FRIDAY, APRIL 26:  The ironwork on the front porch and the at the north entrance had to be removed and regrouted! It was loose in the footings after it had been allowed to set.  On the Oak Street side, forms are in place for a parking bay at the northeast corner of the play yard.  Posts are up for a fence around the transformer and plumbing valve house.  In the rest rooms, some fixtures have been set.  Sinks/lavatories are being installed in the rest rooms and in cabinets in other rooms.  Floors are being covered, currently in the Choir suite, but also have been finished in several other areas. At the crossover doors upstairs and downstairs, walls have been rough cut to full hall dimensions.  Downstairs, a screw jack in the center of the hall supports the upstairs floor where concrete has been poured.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27:  At about noon, flooring contractor personnel, the landscape/irrigation contractor personnel, and painters were working at the site.  The painters were painstakingly painting at the floor level of the dishwasher room, which apparently will not receive a rubber baseboard, as the dampness tends to loosten the adhesive and the baseboard comes loose from the wall.  They promised to put in "40 hours this weekend."  The flooring workers were working in the rooms, and about to begin laying tile on the floor of the hall upstairs.   According to the superintendent, the carpet workers are to arrive Monday.  The irrigation workers extended the existing watering system to the front of the new building.  When the water was turned on, there was a broken irrigation head at the corner near the walkway to the northwest entrance.  This probably caused when the gas line was laid.  There was some discussion of the construction of the crossover entrance; it will be necessary to remove the existing elevator to complete the construction of the fire door opening.  The superintendent stated that he may be able to construct half the entrance, to permit use of the new elevator as the old elevator is removed, then completing the entrance after removing the elevator.

MONDAY APRIL 29:  The dishwasher area finds equipment in process of assembly; the floor here has received some type of clear sealer, but no tile.  Floor workers are applying tile in other parts of the building.  The door to the equipment room adjoining the fellowship hall (and some other doors) will require some additional work, as the latching hardware at the top and bottom of the doors were not sufficiently recessed to prevent scrubbing of the floor and the top jamb.  In the rest room between the kindergarten rooms, a kid-sized flushable toilet has been installed.  In the stairwell, the hand rails and iron work have received a coat of paint.  In the entrance lobby, rolls of carpet await installation.  The kitchen exhaust fan runs, and there are doors open, apparently to draw out the adhesive fumes from the floor tiling work.  Outside, the landscape contractor is laying sod on the front lawn. The concrete work around the northeast corner at the street appears to have been finished, but there is more to do at the parking apron on the southeast side of the site.

TUESDAY, APRIL 30:  Plumbers are still installing sinks and lavatories; the dishwasher is set up now.  Carpet is being laid in the upstairs offices.  In the front, sidewalks and a flume for roof water from the porch were being poured at the northwest side of the building along Academy Street.  The sidewalk has been poured all the way to the corner.