MAY 15: This morning crews were clearing the lot in preparation for bringing down the old office building. Rumors that the building was to be imploded were not true. Electric utility crews and gas district representatives were on hand to prepare for installations of new conduits and gas lines across Oak street. A new power pole went up across the street to provide a termination for underground lines which will serve a relocated power transformer.  Telephone engineers were there yesterday to lay out locations for new telephone cables. By noon, windows of buildings across Acadamy Street and on the main church building had been boarded up.  In the afternoon, demolition was begun. Mr. Bishop's crew was ramming the building with a pole attached to the bucket of a front-end loader.  By evening, the front porch and wall were down.  The building was not, as previously thought, a brick veneer building.  Although built as a residence (parsonage) in the 1930's, the building was a full masonary building with the walls three bricks thick.
picture courtesy Jerry Spann
MAY 16:  Today the entire front portion on the north side of the building fell to the battering ram, as had the office corner on the south front.  The work was tedious because the building was close to the main building on the south side, and utility lines along Acadamy Street.  As choir practice convened in the main building, scavengers were on the site collecting wood molding.
picture courtesy Jerry Spann
MAY 17:  By noon, all that remains of the old office building is a pile of rubble, quickly disappearing into Mr. Bishop's dump trucks.
MAY 19 Late afternoon:  The parking lot is broom clean, there is a hole in the ground where the old building was, and there is still access to the back door of the church.  At least for this week, wheelchair users will be able to use that door.  Hopefully, we will have a ramp to one of the front doors before this access is closed.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23:  There has been no construction activity this week.  It might be assumed that Whaley is completing the Courthouse before embarking on this project.
Or maybe not . . . .

THURSDAY, MAY 24: 180 Feet of 4" PVC conduit and associated fittings, as well as some smaller conduit has been unloaded into the parking lot. This will be used to move the electric service to the Oak Street side of the building.

TUESDAY, MAY 29, Early evening:  The two air conditioners outside the kitchen door have been disconnected and moved.  There is a 10-foot deep excavation up to the northwest tower of the church building.  The equipment plaza floor will be lowered and a new retaining wall erected about even with the front wall of the church.  Charles Ingram says that the air conditioning equipment will be back in operation by Sunday.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30: WHOOPS! Excavation has exposed the footings of the northwest tower! It will be necessary to relocate the retaining wall and fill the area next to the church building.  The equipment plaza will be 2-level, and it may be necessary to hook up the air conditioning equipment temporarily on the walkway to the northwest tower.  By mid-morning, forms constructions crews were busy building forms; Bishop excavating has removed the blacktop from most of the parking lot.  There is a considerable amount of water in the excavation.  The contractor did not expect to find the type soil (red and white mixxed clay) at the site.  The excavation is down to about the first floor level.

THURSDAY, MAY 31, LATE AFTERNOON:  Backfill and raincover has been applied around the tower footings.  The air conditioning equipment has been temporarily "installed" on the walkway to the northwest entrance.  Conduit has been laid in a trench across Oak Street for electric and cable services, with some extra runs for possible future use.  Four forms about 4 feet on a side have been filled with concrete with hooks in the top.  The purpose of these monstrous concrete blocks is not immediately apparent.  Oak Street is closed thru the block, and the lot where the old youth center was located has been fenced off, as has the north side of the construction site.

FRIDAY, JUNE 1:  MYSTERY SOLVED:  Those four big concrete blocks are the gate posts for barracades across Oak Street at the north and south sides of the site.  They have been positioned to support gates which will be closed during the construction.
The trench across Oak Street has been backfilled with dirt to about a foot below the surface of the street.  It was then filled to 2" below street level with concrete.  A final surface of blacktop will come after the concrete sets.  The street remains closed to traffic.

SUNDAY, JUNE 3: TROY MESSENGER ARTICLE
TROY MESSENGER PHOTO; USED BY PERMISSION

MONDAY, JUNE 4:  Concrete workers poured the footings for the retaining wall at the west side of the site, near the northwest tower of the church, while electricians moved the power transformer from the back door of the church to a location adjacent to the water service valve house on the Oak Street side of the site.  The lights were back on by dark.  On the Walnut Street side of the building, a wheelchair ramp is taking shape.

TUESDAY, JUNE 5: VERTICAL CONSTRUCTION!  The retaining wall on the west side of the site near the main building has risen to the level of the upper equipment plaza (about ground level at the kitchen door).  The electrical trench from the Oak Street has been backfilled.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6:  A perforated drain line was laid along the retaining wall inside the enclosure formed  with the northwest tower of the main building, and extended out to be laid along the west side of the  front foundation wall of the new building.  This will be covered with gravel and serve to drain any water which backs up against the foundation wall.  It will be extended to the north side of the building and drained to the surface or storm sewer.  The voids in the concrete block were filled with concrete and steel rods were inserted into each space.  This effectively makes the concrete block retaining wall a solid concrete wall.

Plumbers spent much of the day exploring to find the various sewer lines at the site.  They were able to uncover the point of exit of the line from the site.  This enables them to plan how to reconnect lines which were disturbed, disconnected or broken, and to  make connections for the new building.  In the process, it was discovered that one sanitary sewer line from the main building has been misconnected to a storm sewer for as long as the building has been in place! This will be corrected.

THURSDAY, JUNE 7: A slow day.  Workers cut the concrete pad under the large air conditioner to achieve access to the plumbing under it.  And gravel was poured over the drain pipe at the retaining wall.  Otherwise the day was spent meeting EPA requirements to curtain the site to prevent wash of soil onto the streets and into the storm drains.  On the other side of the building, work progressed on the ramp.  It should be finished by Sunday, if weather holds up.

FRIDAY, JUNE 8: Plumbers got the lines from the main building reconnected to the sanitary sewers, at least temporarily.  And the General Contractor crew shot the corners (found and marked the exact corners of the new building).  Air conditioning crew tried to get the unit for the choir running.  It appears to have a bad thermostat.
If a new thermostat can be secured, their serviceman will return Saturday.  Otherwise, it may be inoperative again this Sunday.

MONDAY, JUNE 11: A break in the storm sewer pipe under the conduits at Oak Street resulted in undermining the gatepost at that location and mud washing into the system.  Workers cleared the pipes to allow passage of water in the system, and installed a diversion dyke in the street to prevent street water from entering the ditch.  Rain throughout the day prevented other work at the site.

TUESDAY, JUNE 12: Rain Delay; no activity.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13:  Much of the morning was spent recovering from the 5" of rainfall in the past two days.  It was necessary to pump water from digs and depressions.

The broken culvert under the conduits was repaired and covered with cement.  The enclosed space adjoining the Northwest tower was filled with gravel and dirt.  The space adjoining back doors of the main building was cut down to about new floor level.  There is still walking space at old ground level, but only about three feet or so.  The space in front of the new foundation wall at the front of the building was cleared.

On the Walnut Street side, the ramp gained side guard rails but no floor.

The air conditioning thermostat for the west system has not been replaced.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14: The massive gatepost has been replaced over the culvert repairs.  Otherwise there is little evidence of activity; it may be that there was some grading, but the site was soaked with water at 7:00 PM with evidence that some  machinery had been moved around after the rain.

The wheelchar ramp on the Walnut Street Side has a floor, but no lower landing pad.

FRIDAY, JUNE 15:  The site remains quite waterlogged, however, forms have been fabricated around the upper equipment plaza to contain the pad (floor).  Fencing has been installed outside the back doors of the church building to prevent accidents should someone walk out the back of the building.  This leaves an observation deck area outside the kitchen and rear door of the building.  Strings have been stretched at what is apparently floor level, outlining the dimensions of the building proper.

On the south side, the wheelchair ramp received its finishing touches.

The thermostat for the west sanctuary air conditioner has not yet been replaced.

MONDAY, JUNE 18:  Excavation was the activity today.  On the front (west) side of the building, the trench for the footing of the wall was dug from the northwest corner to the existing footing at the equipment plaza.  Trenching was dug for the north wall footing for about 30 feet.  The concrete foundation was poured in these trenches.
On the church side of the lot, 10 or 12 inch pvc (plastic) culvert was laid from near the kitchen door to Oak Street, to connect to the street storm sewer.  This will carry rainwater from the buildings and equipment plaza, as well as receiving seepage from the west side of the front wall.  Turned up tees at forty foot intervals will allow connection to the system from above.  This culvert was covered with dirt and concrete was poured at the joints.

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, AFTERNOON:  Observations and conversations with workers at the site reveal that the "concrete foundation" poured so far has been a very wet slurry of cement and sand.  It is poured about 3 feet deep in the trench as an underpining for the next layer, which will be cement with gravel and a reinforcement grid of steel bars.  The foundation was dug deeper than expected because of the presence of clay.  It had to go beneath the clay for more solid support.  By shortly after noon today the west and north foundation trench had received the initial pour of concrete/sand, except for a short distance at the location of a utility pole.  After noon, workers were installing reinforcement grid atop the areas poured yesterday, in preparation for the pour of the concrete-gravel foundation. This combination will build a solid concrete beam which will give solid support to the building.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20:   Reinforcing bars (rebars) were installed on the grout poured yesterday.  This involves setting horizontal bars on broken bricks long the top of the grout, then tying in cross-bars at regular intervals with heavy iron wire, then laying in elbowed bars in vertical/horizontal fashion.  All are tied together and tied to the bars sticking up from the grout.  It is not a hap-hazard process.  After this, a foot or so of concrete was poured into the trenches.

THURSDAY, JUNE 21:  The foundation of the new kitchen walls is partially in place.   The kitchen will be about 2 feet larger than originally shown.  The location of the Acadamy Street entrance is apparent.  The air conditioner for the choir still does not work.

TUESDAY (MORNING) JUNE 26:  Since last report, the only apparent change is the opening of a large gap under the wall of the old building at the corner of the kitchen, apparently to facilitate underpining to extend the wall downward to the floor level of the new building.  There may be a similar gap the the other attachment point on the east side.  This involved a great deal of manual excavation.  At 8:00 AM a light morning mist had changed to a shower and workers were gathering up their toys.  Whether there will be any more work today remains to be seen.

(AFTERNOON):  Concrete was poured into the trenching under the main building by early afternoon;  rebar had been set in before the pour.  The back doors of the building have been closed off; the walkway has been removed.  The pour at the kitchen was slowed by the fact that the concrete truck could not get close enough for the chute to reach; a wheelbarrow was used to carry the concrete for the last few feet.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27: At 8:35 AM masons laid the first concrete block of the building proper at the southeast corner!  By late morning the wall was two rows high x two courses thick (1-8" block and 1-6" block) and extended to the northwest corner.  At 11:00 the wall turned the corner and the first few blocks were laid down the Acadamy Street side.  Meanwhile workers were building forms to receive concrete underpining the walls of the main building at the points of connection there. By quitting time the front wall had risen to the level of the sidewalk on the Acadamy Street side - about six feet above the working grade.  The source of apparent low water pressure at faucets in the kitchen and rest rooms has been discovered:  When the pipes to the building were broken during the initial excavations, debris entered the system, and stopped up all of the faucet strainers.  Ray Swisher went around to all the outlets in the building and cleaned the strainers.  Water flow now appears normal.

THURSDAY, JUNE 28:  The retaining wall at the lower equipment plaza was raised to about 5 feet.  This is essentially a connecting wall between the upper equipment plaza wall and the front wall of the new building .  It is constructed of 12" concrete blocks and will presumably be filled with concrete.  One electrical outlet box has been installed about the center of the front wall of the building, at about receptacle level.  At the main building, footings have been poured in three places, one underpining the corner of the present kitchen, the other two east of the present elevator foyer door.  Excavation has been made for others.  A complication has become apparent:  The buried conduits for the electric service entrance are above the finished floor level and will have to be lowered.  These are 4" PVC conduits each with four very large wires inside; there are four of them, two active and two spares.  It is probable that the wires will have to be pulled out, the conduit rerouted, then wire pulled back in.

The air conditioning unit for the choir area still is not operable.  The promise is that it will be permanently reinstalled as soon as the equipment plaza is poured and repairs will be made then.  The air conditioning contractor seems to think that lightning damaged the unit.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4:  The north wall has a single  course of 8" concrete blocks 5 rows high extending to the entrance, which is in about the center of the wall A single electrical box has been installed in this wall, to receive an electrical outlet. The outer course of this wall will be brick, since it is exposed.  The west wall has received vertical re-bars extending from the top of the blocks which have been laid for three or four feet, and the wall to this level has been filled with cement.  Along the south wall of the new building (north wall of the existing building) foundations for piers have been poured at intervals of about seven feet.  There has been manual excavation under the electrical service conduits, in preparation for lowering them.  Much of the week has been spent moving muck to allow the site to drain after the afternoon and evening rains which have become more or less routine.

FRIDAY, JULY 6 (MORNING):  The power was off Thursday as electricians lowered the conduits entering the existing building.  ERRATA: Earlier it was reported that two of the conduits were "spare."  In reality, each of the four conduits involved contained four conductors, each about 1" in diameter (technically, there are four 500mcm wires in each conduit - that is, the square of the diameter of the copper conductor in the wire is 500x.001 square inches.  In the measurement of wire size, pi is omitted and the area term is "circular mils," the square of the diameter of the round wire.  MCM=thousand circular mils.).  The electricians were able to disconnect the wires in the building, break the conduit apart outside the building,  install additional elbows in the conduit, and install a large junction box backing up to the conduit's entry point.  They then found that the service conductors were a few inches too short to reach the terminals in the service switchgear.  Thus, they were forced to make up junctions in the junction box.
At 2:30 PM, having made up one wire junction, they determined that they did not have enough tape to finish the work Thursday, they packed their toys and left.  At 8:00 AM, Friday, however, two more wires had been mad up and it appears that the power will be restored today.  Anyway, the afternoon rains started at about 3:00 PM, as is evident from the mushy condition of the site this morning.

Other than the electrical work, there was preparation for pouring of the floor of the lower equipment plaza, which is blocked in to floor level.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, ~6:00 PM: The power has been restored. The site is still quite wet, even though there has not been any rain today. The grate frame for the floor drain in the lower equipment plaza has been built. The location of the doors from the new kitchen and the fellowship hall of the new building onto that area have become apparent. Plastic sheeting and rebar have been laid in the floor area or the two equipment plazas to prevent moisture from migrating up through the concrete. The Terminix truck was on the site Thursday; presumably the site has been or will be treated for termites before the floor is poured.

MONDAY, JULY 9 (Picture at left): By 7:45 AM crews were pumping concrete from the delivery truck to the upper equipment plaza; the floors of both equipment plazas were poured.  Dirt was rearranged.

TUESDAY, JULY 10, EARLY MORNING:  Of some concern is what appears to be a steady stream of water into the west side of the front wall excavation.  Whether from a leaking water line or main or a spring, the phenomonum poses a risk of a damp basement, and precautions must be taken to direct the seepage away from the foundation.  A backhoe was being used to expand the excavation, while workers at the base of the wall are digging away.  A porus plastic pipe will be laid in a gravel bed along the base of the wall, and the excavation will be backfilled with gravel and dirt.  The pipe will be extended along the north wall to a point where it is above ground, or diverted to a sorm sewer.

7:30 PM:  The electricians spent the day disconnecting and relocating wiring to the air conditioning equipment in the yard.  All air conditioning equipment is off now, pending completion of installation of new conduits.   Some additional footing has been poured along the wall of the kitchen.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11:  The electricians used a backhoe to pull wires into the conduits for the air conditioners in the front of the building!   Yesterday steel tapes had been pushed through from each end and hooked together.  This was used to pull strings, which were used today to pull ropes, which in turn were used to pull the actual wires.
There were so many crooks and turns in the plastic conduits that it was necessary to use the power equipment at hand to pull the actual wires.  This in spite of commercial lubricants applied.  The large air conditioner at the rear of the building was connected in time for choir practice; the units for the basement and the choir loft are still not connected.  Also accomplished today: A layer of what appears to be rubber sheeting was glued to the outside of the basement wall at the front (west) side of the building.  This apparantly to help alleviate potential moisture problems.

THURSDAY, JULY 12:  The morning rains dampened the activity.  There appears to be preparation for pouring a concrete beam under the back door of the existing building, extending from corner to corner of that segment of the building; the ground has been cleared, stakes have been put in place, forms are at hand, and there is a grid of rebar in preparation on sawhorses.  It appears that there will be such a concrete beam along the back walls of the existing building where the buildings join.  Also, forms are in place for additional footing at the corner of the existing kitchen wall, extending under the floor of the existing building.  These pourings will tie into the beam.  The electricity has been run to the east basement air conditioner, and to disconnect switches on the front equipment plaza.  The air conditioners at the front have been physically moved to the equipment plaza, and one has been piped up; however, at about 2:30 PM, citing lack of 1 3/8" 45 degree copper elbows, the air conditioning crew packed up and left, promising to return early tomorrow.  This left the site devoid of workers.  The site is very wet, even in late afternoon.

FRIDAY THE 13th, LATE AFTERNOON:  All of the air conditioners are turned on; the two east units are running; the west units are off at the time; however the building seems cool enough.  20 feet of concrete foundation beam has been poured east of the back door of the main building. This will be the support for a fire-wall which will rise to three feet above the roof of the new building.  The beam will extend to all points where the new building joins the old.  Additional support underpinings have been poured at the corner of the kitchen wall.  Also, the building foundation has been undercut in the niche between the boiler room door and the back door of the main building, to receive underpining/beam concrete.

Bad news:  The front basement wall was supposed to be 16", is only 12".  It must be taken down and rebuilt from the foundation up.  According to Charles Ingram, "A dumb mistake."  It cannot be modified, since placement of the steel in the blocks is critical.

Question posed to the air conditioning installer:  Why were the refrigerant lines to the air conditioning units crossed (front lines to back unit, back lines to front unit)?  Answer:  "I don't know."  Although the units look identical, one is a heat pump and the other is not.  To his credit, the installer caught the difference.

MONDAY, JULY 16:  Today about 2/3 of the front basement wall fell to the jackhammers.  First workers cut vertical slots the depth of a saw blade  (about two inches) in the wall from top to bottom at 16 inch intervals, then used an air hammer to break out the blocks.  Rebar rods were left standing.

TUESDAY, JULY 17: The rest of the wall came own and preparations are underway to rebuild it.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18: The wall has been reduced to a single course; forms have been installed in preparation for pouring a 16" flat base around and above the blocks to provide a solid foundation for the 16" wall. This moves the front wall 4" closer to the street.  Also today rebar gridwork is in place for the foundation beam and underpining at the area of the kitchen door and beginning around the corner in the niche.  No new forms are up here,  however.

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 9:30 PM:  The high pressure sodium area light installed some time ago to illuminate the parking lot, together with the light over the back door of the church provide excellent lighting for nocturnal inspections.  Forms have been installed along the kitchen wall foundation to receive concrete for underpining and the foundation beam.  A three-diminisional grid of re-bar has appeared along the foundation walls.  The construction of these very rigid structures is quite secure; the rebar grid itself would surely hold up a heavy person; there is no motion whatsoever.  (Perhaps remarkable inasmuch as the entire grid is constructed of iron bars formed into various shapes and tied together with banding wire.)

Concrete has been poured over and around the remaining lower course of block in the front basement wall, providing a full sixteen inches of firm footing for the wall to rest upon.

FRIDAY JULY 20, 3:30 PM:  The morning was spent building forms aroung the steel grid of the foundation beam along the walls of the kitchen and boiler room around the corner into the niche.  By 3:00 PM the beams there and along the north kitchen wall had been poured and the workers were securing the worksite against possible rains during the weekend.  This included placing plywood awning type covers in the openings of the boiler room and kitchen doors, as the floor in these areas is now below the level of the beam.  PVC drain pipe was put  onto the downspout outlet from  the roof in the niche, to divert roof water from the building onto the yard of the site.  The only part of the foundation beam  remaining unfinished is the section running from the back door of the church building around the corner into the niche.

DOUBLE HEAD NAIL - FOR CARPENTERS WHO DO NOT WANT TO COMMIT THEMSELVES PERMANENTLY.
USED IN CONSTRUCTING FORMS - UPPER HEAT USED TO REMOVE THE NAIL AFTER THE CONCRETE CURES.

MONDAY,  JULY 23 (LATE AFTERNOON):  First impression might be that nothing has been done; however, forms have appeared around the remaining segment of the foundation beam around the corner from the back door into the niche.  A ditch has been cleared along the front and north walls to receive a drain pipe at the level of the concrete foundation.  This ditch extends all the way to the north entrance.  Taut  strings have appeared inside the building perimeter marking something meaningful to the builders.  The location of additional foundation excavations and a number of squares and rectangles have appeared drawn in powdered cement have appeared on the clay floor.

TUESDAY, JULY 24:  By 3:00 PM footings have been poured for the north wall of the new kitchen, as well as two interior columns near the center of the building, one in line with the kitchen wall, the other directly north of the first.  Conversations between the engineer and the site foreman were of the nature of which plumbing was to be directed to the grease trap, and which need not be.  It might be recalled that one of the shortcomings of the old kitchen was that there was no grease trap, and the drains frequently  became clogged with kitchen grease.  A drive-by early in the day revealed that some workers were at the site at 6:30 AM; the workers generally finish their day at 3:30 in the afternoon, avoiding the oppresively hot Alabama summer afternoon sun.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25:  The pervious flexible seepage pipe has been extended around the northwest corner of the foundation about 15 feet.  Masons rebuilt the front concrete block basement wall to the previous height, turned the corner and completed to that height to the west wall of the north entrance. This height is six feet above the foundation at the north entrance level.   At that point the foundation is just below sidewalk level.  It drops east of the entrance, as does the interior floor level.  The north interior wall of the new kitchen has a row of blocks laid now, so the dimension of the fellowship hall is now evident.  Electricians have inserted boxes and conduit for recepticles in the walls constructed.  The plumbers should arrive tomorrow.

In response to a query regarding a nearly vertical hairline crack developed in the north wall (as it stood early in the day):  "An expansion crack . . . I will slit the wall with a saw, and the masons will lay the higher courses with an expansion joint there.  There's another [crack] over there [pointing west].  I'll do the same thing there. . . ."  A later visit confirmed that expansion joints had been created at those points.

One is impressed with the attention to precision evident.  The addage "Measure with a micrometer, mark with a crayon, cut with a chainsaw" is not applicable to this construction. A transit is on the site any time there is any forming or pouring, and dimensioning is careful and painstaking, to the point that measurements are done using horizontally level strings, and bubble levels to overcome slope of the ground errors.  This, of course, will make ordering and placement of steel structural members go smoothly, without the use of cutting torches.

FRIDAY, JULY 27, MIDMORNING:  Waterproofing has been applied to about half the underground portion of the front wall; masons have brought the retaining wall in front of the equipment plazas up almost to ground level; probably will reach ground level sometime this morning.  There are signs of plumbers' activity in the site, especially the kitchen area.  Electricians are a no-show this morning; conduits to wall boxes are being extended above masons' work level by general contractor personnel.  Overnight rains have made the site quite gummy.  Water is being pumped from the foundation ditch in front of the west basement wall by an electric pump.

SUNDAY, JULY 29, 10:15 AM: Groundbreaking ceremony

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:  A walkthrough of the site reveals that there is an additional layer of waterproofing applied to the outside of the foundation walls. This consists of a waffle-board of plastic faced with a black cloth on the outside.  It is glued to the outside of the previously applied sheeting.  Friday's work also included rough-in of the drains for the kitchen.  No fresh-water plumbing is yet in place.

MONDAY, JULY 30:  Windows!  The north wall rose today to the course above the fellowship hall windows.  There are seven windows in the north wall of the fellowship hall.  Symbolism? Probably not.  At about noon preparations were underway to extend the masonery to the northeast corner of the building.  Also, plumbers were drawing lines for ditches within the building.  Other committments by your commentator  prevented a a more comprehensive inspection before dark.

TUESDAY, JULY 31:  By 7:00 AM the masons have discovered a difficulty in the blockwork framing the north door, a deficiency which requires that the half-blocks on the west side be removed and re-laid.  The blocks come loose easily enough, but they contain vertical steel and poured-in concrete.  Door framing is on site for doors onto the equipment plaza from the building.  Electricians are making permanent connections to the air conditioning equipment. Plumbers are marking and digging routes for internal piping.  A couple of courses of block have been laid from the north door to a step-down in the foundation, about half-way to the north-east corner of the building.  Water-proofing is being laid on  the lintels over the windows.

A comment from the job foreman:  "I almost have more people on the job today than I have room for"

7:00 PM:  The north wall of the fellowship hall has reached the second floor level; the front wall is 7 courses shy.  The east extension of the north wall is interupped by foundations for columns at the corner of the stairwell.  Drains have been installed in the kitchen area and lines extend toward the back of the building.  However, the extensions have not been tied into the kitchen stub-outs; they only tie in to what appears to be a vent pipe up the wall between the kitchen and the fellowship hall, and connections from what must be water cooler and appliance drain locations.  The kitchen drains, along with the drains from the old kitchen should be run separately thru a grease trap.  There is not yet any apparent point of connection to the old kitchen drains, which presently extend to what appears to be a temporary connection at the south side of the building near the rear air conditioning units.  Connections have been stubbed out of the kitchen wall at the lower plaza for outdoor faucets, hot and cold.   A door frame stands in the opening from the fellowship hall to the lower plaza.  There is no door from the kitchen to the outside.  The old kitchen door is bricked up half-way.  Conduit stub-ups define the location of the electric panel in the kitchen.  The wall between the fellowship hall and the lower plaza stands at about six feet; the wall between the kitchen and the lower plaza stands at about four feet.    A shallow excavation defines the location of the elevator.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 5:00 PM:  The front wall has reached first floor level; the south wall at the equipment plaza and the west kitchen wall are within a couple of courses.  The level of the second floor is just about the same as that of the foyers in the main building, about the same as the second floor of the Crow building.  (The front steps will be high).  At the rear of the site, the building foundation outline has been excavated and rebar laid in the trench, showing the exact outline of the building, including the "bay window" on the south wall.  The elevator excavation has also been prepared for pouring, with rebar in place there.  The site electric panel has been moved from the old boiler room, but is still connected through the door, which will be covered as the wall goes up there.  Plumbing for the non-grease-trap drains has been glued up, and there is a stub from the kitchen, not yet connected, for the lines which will go to the grease trap.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, LATE AFTERNOON:  The outside walls of the building have risen to the upper floor level for about one half of the  structure.  The walls around the kitchen and along the boiler room and through the niche, to the side of the back door of the church are in place.  The top block for the entire wall is a lintel block.  These blocks, instead of being formed with holes through the block from top to bottom, are formed with three sides lengthwise (shape of a "U").  These are laid with the solid side down, forming a channel around the top of the wall.  Into this channel iron rod ("rebar") is laid on supports, and the channel is filled with cement, forming a single solid reinforced concrete beam which distributes the vertical load of the iron bar-joists which will rest on the wall evenly, as well as providing some horizontal rigidity (or flexibility) necessary to overcome stresses which may develop.  IN SHORT, IT TIES THE BUILDING TOGETHER AT THIS POINT.  Plumbing from the non-grease-trap drains is extended beyond the perimeter of the building for the south side; interceptors for the existing lines are in place but not connected.  Grease trap plumbing is about one section short of the building foundation line.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3:  Concrete footings were poured for the columns at the stairwell; concrete was poured into the lintels at the top of the walls, and into the blocks at the corners of the kitchen wall.  Plumbers extended the drain piping for the grease trap to the approximate location of the grease trap, at the southeast corner of the site.  The non-grease-trap drain has been extended to the existing sewer pipe and connected.  Much of the drain piping has been covered with dirt.  The iron has been laid in most of the remaining perimeter foundation excavations; bulkheads have been constructed at points of change in elevation of the footings.   Much of the day was spent preparing for the weekend:  Downspouts were given interceptors to prevent rainwater from washing across the building site. If dirt washes into the trenches already laid with reinforcing, the iron will have to be removed and the excavations cleaned out.  In the construction of the new wall at the niche, the downspout from the roof was cut; it has now been temporarily redirected to the floor drain in the lower equipment plaza on the other side of the kitchen; other downspout diversions were upgraded.  This involved several 20-foot joints of rigid 4" PVC pipe, with elbows and support arrangements.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6:  A breeze off the Gulf of Mexico brought tons of water Sunday and early Monday.  There was no work activity at the site.   There are spots on the site where water will have to be pumped out.  Late afternoon found a flow of water along the north wall of the building, even after rain had stopped for several hours.  It is likely that all iron in the perimeter ditches not poured will have to be removed and the ditches cleared of silt.  Whether the site will be dry enough to work Tuesday is problematical.  Mechanical excavation requires reasonably firm ground.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7:  Iron in the trenches forming the south wall perimeter has been removed and the trenches have been cleared (mostly) of sediment washed in by the rains.  The bottom of the trenches are wet and muddy.  All excavation and clearing today was done with shovels with men wearing rubber knee-high boots.  The superintendent remarked, having bought boots for the workers, "that man wears size 16".  The iron in the elevator shaft has not been removed, nor has that in the northeast corner.  Rains missed the site today, although heavy showers fell in other parts of town.  The open trenches must be cleared of sediment and the iron cleared of mud before being replaced.  The weekend/Monday rains from Barry probably set the project back a week, considering no-work days and re-work days.  Barry may have been good for the peanut crop, but not so good for construction work.  It probably could not have come at a worse time:  A week later and the foundation would have been closed in.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 4:20 PM:  A base of clean sandy soil has been spread and tamped in the kitchen to a level 4" below finished floor lever; about 1/4 of the fellowship hall has also reveived the same fill.  The soil has been tamped with a mechanical vibrator to a smooth, relatively hard finished surface.   The rest of the site has been channelized and dykes constructed to direct water to the northeast corner; the perimeter foundation trenches have been cleared and a culvert installed across (under) the driveway on Oak Street.  The northeast corner is a catch basin, and has fencing to minimize delivery of silt into the street and storm sewer system.  Heavy, black clouds loom overhead;  there are rumblings of thunder and occasional flashes of lightning. . . .

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9:  Despite good weather in the morning there was no work done at the site.  The site is still wet.  Runnoff from the front has filled the foundation excavation at the northeast corner of the site, which had been pumped yesterday.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10:  X-Shaped rubber gaskets have been slipped down into the two expansion joints in the front foundation wall.  The northeast corner excavavion has been pumped clear of accumulated water; the iron has been removed from the elevator shaft base.

MONDAY, AUGUST 13:  Gasketing has been installed in the expansion joint in the north wall.  The lintel has been poured in most of the north, west, and kitchen walls.  Scaffolding has been removed from the outside walls and sand has been put in place and leveled in about 2/3 of the fellowship hall floor area.  At 4:30 a plumber was at the site to move a tractor which had been parked in the fellowship hall, "to get it out of the way."  The trenches are still very wet.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 14:  With the exception of the break where the trucks and equipment pass the perimeter foundation has been poured, as has the floor of the elevator shaft.  One interesting note:  before pouring the last section, the contractor tied the elevator floor re-bar grid, the east foundation rebar grid and the re-bar tied into the earlier pours together with #0000 copper wire, to make the entire perimeter a continuous electrical circuit.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15:  Except for the gap in the wall on the Oak Street side, the remaining perimeter walls are all up to first (basement) floor level.  The elevator shaft walls are up to the level of the basement of the existing building, which will be the level of the elevator lobby floor.  Temporary interceptors in the plumbing have been replaced with permanent interconnections to the new building plumbing.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16:  Floor drain fixtures have appeared in the kitchen; wall risers in the kitchen drains have been extended above fixture connection level and stubbed out at their proper locations.  A drain connection has been extended into the elevator shaft for connection of the sump pump there.  Dirt has been shifted to level the work area removind dykes installed in anticipation of last week's rains.  At 3:30 the superintendent, working alone, was moving earth with the tractor.  "Relaxing" he called it.  At 4:40, he was still relaxing.

SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 17:  A walkover of the site reveals that two pieces of copper plumbing have been installed at fixture locations on the east side of the kitchen.  Actually, there are three stubouts, a hot and cold water connection at what must be a sink location, and another stubout at what may be the dishwasher location. This is the first fresh-water piping to appear.  Two interior corners of previously laid perimeter blockwork have been taken out and forming has been partially installed to receive concrete which will apparently be footing for steel columns.  One of these aligns with a column foundation at the north entrance on the other side of the building; the other is about fifteen feet east of the first.  Both are in the south wall of the building.

The first floor of the building will have three levels:  The fellowship hall, kitchen, and north entrance foyer are at one level; rooms east of the north entrance are 8" lower, and the north-south corridor rises 30" to the level of the existing building basement entrance.  The elevator lobby is at this level.  Both corridors will be inclined to accomodate wheelchair users at the one-inch-per-horizontal-foot rate specified in the Americans with Disabilities Act.  These level differences are becoming apparent in the grading of the site.  Dirt had been leveled and tamped in most of the fellowship hall level Friday; rains since have left the site pretty wet, but there was no major washing.
Projections Friday morning were that pouring of the floor will begin Tuesday.

MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 20:  The superintendent has been relaxing again: Several yards of dirt have been moved from the interior of the site and piled on the west side of the front wall near the sidewalk.  There is still a steady stream of water in the foundation excavation at the front of the building.  Is there a leak in a water main under the street?

Vinyl sheeting and wire reinforcement grid have been laid over the western 4/7 of the fellowship hall; the Terminix truck was at the site today, and the soil under the floor area was treated.  It appears that the pouring of the floor will begin tomorrow.  In the northeast corner of the building, dirt fill has been applied and tamped smooth.

TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21:  Footings for two interior columns were poured today, between the north-south corridor and Oak Street on the south side of the building.  Also, the elevator foyer area has been filled with dirt up to the base of the floor, and has been tamped smooth.  Part of the incline to the elevator foyer is being filled and tamped.  The dirt appears to have been hauled in, at least in part.  It is much sandier than the dirt on the site.  It tamps well and is not gummy.  It may be a mix of site dirt and brought-in dirt.  There is still water in the front foundation excavation, which has not been filled, although dirt is piled between the wall and the sidewalk.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22:  Footings for two (additional) main columns have been poured, both in line with those poured yesterday, that is aligned with the kitchen/fellowship hall wall as it would extend east.  The one to the west, aligns with the west side of the north-south corridor, in line with the west wall of the north entrance foyer.  The other sits at the east building perimeter, near the Oak Street entrance.  The west footing has an odd bolt configuration, as it sits astraddle of a sewer line.

On the south wall adjoining the existing building, the blockwork has reached the bottom of the sills of the parlor windows, which will be blocked over as construction proceeds.  Vinyl vapor barrier and reinforcing wire grid have been applied to the kitchen floor base.  In the northeast section, white powder (marble dust?) marks routes for the plumber's trenches.  Floor base has been applied and tamped in parts of the south rooms.

An excavation into Oak street, where, apparently, new sewer connections will be made, uncovered (cut) a pair of copper wires, about #8, with heavy rubber insulation and an additional braid of what might have been tar impregnated cloth.  These wires were under the concrete and brick street surface.  Was this part of an early street-light circuit? Troy did have pedastal street light fixtures prior to about 1950.  Normally, streetlighting used a "loop" system which would have had only one wire.  Was it a feeder from the old city power plant which stood a block away across the street from the diesel plant of the Alabama Water Service Co?  Direct burial of rubber-covered wire without lead sheathing would have been quite uncomon, though perhaps not unheard of prior to about 1950.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23:  The floors were poured in the western half of the fellowship hall and the kitchen.  Plumbers dug trenches and installed sewer piping in the northeast segment of the building.  According to the superintendent, the elevator lobby level will be poured tomorrow, the rest of the fellowship hall Tuesday.  The plumbers' trenches were still open at quitting time.  The trench into Oak Street had been covered without installing a sewer connection there. There is some deliberation as to whether to connect on Oak Street or Acadamy Street.

SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 24:  Three additional column footings have been poured:  One is at the corner of the kitchen/fellowship hall/equipment room, in the east wall of the fellowship hall, aligned with the south wall of the fellowship hall,  (the north wall of the kitchen) another in the east wall of the fellowship hall, slightly south of the center of that wall, and another in the west wall of the north-south corridor about 20 feet inside the corridor from the north entrance door.  These last two appear to be aligned north-south, and may be in the north wall of the east-west corridor.  The column footings now in place appear to define certain rectangular elements of the building. Also, plumbing has been installed for the rest rooms in the northeast segment of the building, and extended past the east building line.  A floor drain fixture has appeared in the equipment room adjoining the fellowship hall, elevator and kitchen.

MONDAY, AUGUST 27:  The landing at the elevator lobby and the first down incline section has been poured.  Vinyl sheeting and reinforcing grid has been laid in the remainder of the fellowship hall, storage room, and one of the south classrooms.
Conduit stubs mark the place in the equipment room of location of the main switch.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28: The floor has been poured in the remainder of the fellowship hall, and the south classroom which had been prepared.  The area east of the elevator corridor between the buildings has been leveled and tamped in preparation for pouring of a pavement there; there is evidence of an intake grate opening at this location.  The heavy copper wire connected to the steel in the concrete has been brought up to the electric panel location.  This will provide the required electric system grounding.

Although pouring the floor is the term used, there is much more than simply slopping the concrete in.  It must be leveled, which is accomplished by the use of 1" pipes supported by saddles carefully installed before the pour.  The pipes are laid horizontally in the saddles, and straight wood members are drawn over these to level the concrete.  The pipes are then removed and their trenches filled with concrete.  As the concrete cures, it is worked smooth with wooden floats.  As the concrete further  hardens, power-driven machines not unlike floor buffers with 5-foot diameter blades are used to finish the floor to a smooth surface.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29:  The south wall of the elevator lobby (the firewall) reached full height for the first floor, covering the windows to the former church parlor adjoining.  This includes two courses of block above the back door of the existing building.  The door remains as part of the corridor connecting the buildings.  This wall extends 1 1/2 blocks beyond the church wall at this point, then turns north.  The wall between the kitchen and the elevator lobby is only two courses short of full height.  A footing has been dug for an interior column along the east-west corridor, rebar has been laid, but no concrete poured there yet.  The ground has been prepared and forms installed for a walkway outside the south side of the building.  This will connect the utility door to the dumpster area.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30:  The east portion of the north wall of the building has reached the height that the location of windows is evident.  There are five windows in this section of the wall.  The wall has turned the corner southward.  On the south side, brick has been laid outside the blockwork.  The top block in the firewall adjoining the existing building has been filled with concrete.  A room has been enclosed between the kitchen proper and the elevator lobby.  This is obviously the location of the dishwasher, as there is a window opening to the fellowship hall.  The wall between the fellowship hall and the kitchen proper has risen to serving window height.  There are three new interion column footings poured; two at the stairwell adjoining the north entrance; the other, much more massive, at the east-west corridor.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1:  The wall between the kitchen and fellowship hall has risen above the top of the door; supports are now in place at the serving window for the blocks which will be above the window.   A walkover of the site reveals that a 3 inch copper tubing has been installed at the east side of the building about six feet south of the east entrance, elbowing up inside the building; this is obviously the water service line to the building.   It will probably connect to the existing water service line in or at the plumbing valve house built during an earlier renovation of the existing building.

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View of the church from Oak Street in the building site area.  Street closing gate is at left.  Transformer and valve house center behind cemet mixer.  Someone left the light on in the upstairs kitchenette.

FRIDAY (MORNING) SEPT 7:  The elevator shaft has reached the second floor level.  Columns and beam have been installed spanning the equipment room adjoining the elevator shaft.  One of these columns has reached the level of the second floor ceiling.
Columns have been erected at the outside wall of the stairwell on the north side of the building.  Bar-joists are being transported by front-end loader from the storage yard to the fellowship hall.

WHY NOT MORE PICTURES?  Briefly, picture files take much more disk space than text.  Over the weekend, we bumped the limit on available disk space. The website was expanded by 10mb.  Incidentally, on Tuesday evening, the church conference voted to purchase the Crow building, which includes all property fronting on the north side of Acadamy Street in this block, subject to certain conditions, which appear to be assured.  The vote was 29-0.  A conflict of events with the Museum caused some to arrive after the vote was taken; but they indicated that they supported the purchase as well.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8:  Several bar joists have been hoisted onto the walls of the fellowship hall.  The lintel over the serving window has been poured.  The elevator lobby wall has come up some.  The walkway around the southe side of the building has been completed. There will be an entrance into each of the classrooms on the south from this walkway.  The column at the corner of the fellowship hall, equipment room, and kitchen is held plumb by a hand hoist ("comealong") and the boom of the construction site fork lift while the concrete footing cures.  The elevator installer visited the site yesterday and proclaimed the elevator shaft good.  The block masons are scheduled to return Monday.  Their first tasks will be to enclose the stairwell, complete the elevator lobby walls, then close the construction equipment entrance on the Oak Street side.  Then the "complicated" part of the indoor flooring will be undertaken.  This part involves several levels which will be connected by ramps.  Brick should arrive this week; the choice of bricks was in favor of the darker colored offering (lefthand or first mockup wall).

MONDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 10:  Blockwork has risen to second floor floor level for most of the building.  The north entrance stairwell outside wall has been put up.  The only exception is the gap on the east side, and the curved portion of the south wall.  A row of columns appears to be the eastward extension of the wall between the fellowship hall and the kitchen.  These support I-beams spanning the equipment room, the north-south corridor approach to the elevator lobby, and another at the east where the south wall curve begins.  This, apparently, is the primary support perimeter line.  At least three of these columns rise to the second story ceiling, and have beam attachment flanges at both first story ceiling and second story ceiling.  Fourteen bar-joists have been set upon the walls of the fellowship hall, at what appears to be 2-foot centers.  The fellowship hall is a full-span room (no internal columns).

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11: The east wall of the ramped corridor to the elevator foyer is up to second floor level; there are three windows in this wall.  The west and center portions of the curved south wall are up to eye level.  The east portion of this wall is not quite that high.  There are two openings in the curved portion, presumably locations of doors opening to the walkway and the yard beyond.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12: Barjoists went up over the kitchen, pantry area, dishwasher area and elevator lobby.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13:  The remaining barjoists went up over the fellowship hall.  There are a total of 28.  There are now a total of 11 columns standing, some single story, some 2-story, and footings for at least five more are evident. A 24" x 24" drain grate has been installed in the courtyard between the corridor to the elevator lobby and the south wing.  This drops into the 12" culvert extending from the front equipment plaza to the storm sewer system at Oak Street.  It is not yet evident whether there will be a concrete floor in this area.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15:  Barjoists are now up to the west side of the north-south corridor, all the way across the building.  The center I-beam has reached a point about 12 feet east of the north-south corridor.  Minor details:  four pass-thru tubes have been inserted high in the west side of the kitchen wall, presumably to facilitate installation of refrigerant piping between the indoor and outdoor sections of the air conditioning equipment.  The location, however, indicates that the piping will run exposed outside the building around the perimeter of the equipment plaza, or the equipment will be located between the building door and the mop wash area.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17:  In the fellowship hall, small (1" x 1") angle iron runners are being welded in place at the 25% and 75% of span locations. These are prependicular to the barjoists.  At center span, x-members are being bolted in place between the barjoists.  These runners and braces prevent flexing of the barjoists and ensure rigidity of the barjoist system, which must support the concrete floor above.  In the east end of the building, Additional columns and I-beams are in place, extending the main support structure to the east wall of the building.  The beams in place are a direct extension of the south wall of the fellowship hall.  The small courtyard between the north-south corridor and the south wing extension of the building has been paved.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18:  The wall surrounding the small courtyard has reached one course above the top of the single window.  The south third of the east wall of the building has gone from floor level to three courses above eye level.  The east and west portions of the south wall which are not curved have both reached window-top level.
Inside, the center beam has reached about half-way from the north-south corridor toward the east end or the building.  One additional column footing has become apparent; there will probably be one more at the east wall.  The columns on the inside corners of the stairwell have been erected.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19:  The south wall has reached the second floor level except in the curved portion, which is above the window level.  Inside, the north-south wall which is the partition between the fellowship hall and the storage room has reached full height, just below the bottom of the barjoists.  The partition between the equipment room and the fellowship hall has reached several courses.  Both of these walls include double-width doors.  These walls deliniate the east end of the fellowship hall. More concrete blocks arrived at the site late in the afternoon.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20:  The South wall is up to second floor level!  The curved portion has been completed.  There are two doors in the wall.  The east wall of the fellowship hall has been completed to full height.  The columns and beams defining the stairwall are in place.  The elevator lobby has been swept.  Note: at this point, the walls are only concrete block.  Eventually brick will be laid on the outside of the building.  It is not evident whether the interior walls will be plastered or left as concrete block finish.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22:  The barjoists hang from the walls by the extended top members, which are 1 1/2" angle iron.  This places the top of the barjoists above the level of the supporting walls. A course of brick has been or will be placed between the joists and along parallel walls to provide a smooth footing for the block wall to rise above. This has been accomplished around most of the fellowship hall.  Otherwise, the most apparent work has been the continued installation of x-members and lower stabilization struts in the barjoist system.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 4:00 PM:  The barjoists are in place on the north side as far east as the east side of the stairwell.  Barjoists are also up, but not in place in the straight portions of the south wing.  All of the barjoists run north and south.  The trench for the foundation on the east side of the building, including the entry-way is about half complete.  There is a square about three feet on each side drawn in concrete dust on the dirt along beam center beam line several feet east of the stairwell.  Is this a location for another column footing?  There is a footing already poured east of this location.  A very light drizzle is falling.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25:  Footings for two additional interior columns have been poured.  One is at the location mentioned Monday, the other directly in line with it supporting the end of the center beam at the east side of the building.  Footings have been poured for about two thirds of the east wall.  The only gap in the perimeter foundation is from the center of the building on the east end, south for about twenty feet.  Barjoists in the straight sections of the south wing have been put in place.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1:00 PM:  Barjoists have been raised for the remainder of the north side of the building; those nearest the east end of the building are not yet in final position, as masons are completing the north half of the east wall.  This wall should reach full height today.  At shortly after noon, the wood frame support for the line of blocks over the east foyer door was being constructed.  This will support the lintel blocks until the concrete cures.  Masons working on the scaffolds can look over the top of the barjoists, an indication of the height of the wall.  There still remains about 1/4 of the east wall which has not yet been blocked up this is the portion from the corridor south to the first column.  Presumably this is being left open to allow access by equipment during the pouring of floors.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1:00 PM:  Brickwork has begun at the southeast corner, where the new building joins the existing building.  Before the brick goes up, a 1" thick layer of polystyrene ("SYTROFOAM") board is tacked to the concrete block wall.  This board has a thermal r-factor of 4, approximately the insulation value of 4" of fibreglas.  Between the insulation and the brick veneer there is another 1" of air space. The small air conditioning unit will be relocated on the floor of the concrete courtyard, and a retaining wall built to prevent erosion.  The area will then be contoured to divert water away from the buildings.  On the front side of the site, the wall in front of the equipment plaza has reached its full height, about a foot below the church floor level.  This hides the equipment from the street.  There is an opening in this wall where a stairway will be constructed to the lower level.

Discussion with the superintendent reveals that the west section of the upstairs floor will be poured before any more barjoists are installed. This allows the concrete pumping truck access to the west side of the building from the back.

The contractor will erect a column at the street corner which will allow the Utility department to secure guy wires and remove its live power lines from the south side of Acadamy Street in this block.  Cranes can then safely be used at the site if necessary.

TUESDAY (MORNING) OCTOBER 2: The brickwork on the south and east sides of the building has reached four feet.  Welders are at work securing the barjoists to the beams and installing braces between the barjoists.  An another front, contractors for the city have removed the curbs and sidewalks along Walnut Street in the block behind the church and are cutting out the curbs along Oak Street behind the church as part of a general downtown renovation.  This will leave access to the temporary church office across temporary wood ramps for a day or so. This project, while briefly inconvenient, will enhance the area quite a bit.  It is not yet clear whether the project will reach to the front and sides of the church lot, where there is certainly a need for sidewalk and curb work.

THURSDAY (AFTERNOON) OCTOBER 4:  The brickwork on the north portion of the east side has reached about eight feet; the curved portion of the south wall has reached the top of the doors.  The north wall is bricked up to window sill level.  The equipment plaza walls are bricked up to the second story floor level.  The courtyard on the south side is bricked up to window sill level.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6:  The barjoists are in place over the rooms with the curved south wall.  Brickwork is up to full height at the north entrance. It appears that there will be fake windows to the right of both the north and the east entryways.  There, the brickwork abruptly drops in for about three feet, and there are two rows of brick left out at sill level.  Incidentally, the brickwork will stop at the second story level, and the building will have a sheetmetal skin from there up.  The exterior walls will be constructed with 16 gauge metal studs, and there will be a wood truss roof.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8:  A small crew began laying corrugated sheetmetal on the barjoists this morning.  This will be the base on which the concrete second floor will be poured.  The first strip of this was along the north side of the fellowship hall.  By late morning they had a four-foot strip laid from the northwest corner to the north
entry.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12:  Corrugated metal decking has been installed over the fellowship hall and as far east as to cover the ramp to the elevator lobby.  It appears, judging from the angle iron runners around the opening at the elevator shaft,  that the concrete floor above will be about 2 inches thick. The decking over the kitchen is of a different sort: That which is usually used as foundation for a flat roof.  On the ground, forming and dirt fill have been put down for the floor in most of the north side of the building.  Specifically, the north entrance foyer, stairwell, and ramp to the elevator lobby appear to be ready for pouring.  The ramp portion has been coverec with polyethylene sheeting as a precaution against predicted rains.  On the southwest corner of Acadamy and Oak Streets, a large (14" x 10" maybe) galvanized I-beam has been set vertically on a very solid foundation of poured concrete to serve as a guy pole to which the utility department can attach strain-relief guys when the overhead wires along Acadamy Street are taken down.  This will prevent deflection of the pole across the street, which has heavy lines going off to the east. This column is about 20 feet high.

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 16:  Forms are being installed to contain the upstairs floor around the perimeter of the building.  These are 1x6 wood members held in place by threaded rods welded to the barjoists and extended through holes in the form members themselves.  The rods have cone-shaped plastic washers on them which will allow them to be broken off behind the form line after the concrete sets. The remaining depressions will be filled with grout after the forms are removed; thus there will be no rusting of the iron members at the surface of the building.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 EARLY AFTERNOON:  Electric utility crews have secured the guy wires to the column on the corner and have removed the 12,000 volt distribution line along Acadamy Street.  Workers continue to install forms for the second floor.  Inside, the floor of the north entry hall, stairwell, and north-south corridor, including the ramped portion up to the elevator lobby have been poured and are hardened.  The temptation is to cry "bring out the skateboards!"  The entire northeast corner of the building appears ready to receive concrete floor.

ON THE WALNUT AND OAK STREET SIDES OF THE LOT, the city's sidewalk project has resulted in removal of curb, gutter and sidewalk all the way from the building site around the corner to as far as the handicapped access ramp, leaving a six-foot wide dirt trench.  Assurance was given that that provisions would be made for access to the building for the Wednesday night supper and choir practice, and that the curb and sidewalk would be in place by Sunday.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 JUST BEFORE NOON: The second floor has been poured as far east as the north-west corridor.  Workmen excavating for pillars at the north entrance uncovered numerous artifacts which indicate that the site might once have been a blacksmith shop or stable: Horseshoes, wagonwheel hubs, bridle buckles, iron stove panels and feet and other bits of iron.

On the Walnut Street side, the sidewalk contractor has poured the curb and gutter from near the Oak Street corner to the wheelchair ramp.  Workers are preparing forms for the sidewalk along the same location.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19:  A  horizontal I-beam has been put in place at the top of two of the 2-story columns.  The concrete floor has been poured in the northeast section of the building, including most of the east-west corridor.  Welders are securing the final set of bar-joists in the center of the building.  These had been left out until the front portion of the upper level floor had been poured.

On the Walnut Street side, the sidewalk has been poured from near the corner of Oak Street to the wheelchair ramp.  The sidewalk at the wheelchair ramp is about 2 inches higher than the landing for the ramp.  This may present a problem for wheelchair users Sunday.  The part of the sidewalk nearest Oak Street has been left unpaves, as a new storm rain intake is  being constructed to replace the grates previously in place.  This will reduce the amount of
stormwater runby at the corner.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22:  The electrician was on the site today.  A festoon of construction lights has been strung along the barjoists in the fellowship hall, kitchen, pantry area and elevator lobby.  Also, some conduit and junction boxes have been installed in the fellowship hall, tying into the conduit in the wall from the boxes installed earlier.  All of the east-west corridor floor has been poured except for a short ramp inside the Oak Street door.  At the north entrance , footing have been poured for columns to support the portico roof.

On the front corner, the sidewalk contractor has broken up and removed the remaing old curb and sidewalk on the Walnut Street side and the curb on Three Notch Street for about one third of the block.  The contractor's foreman stated that they were going to remove and repour the landing at the ramp, to eliminate the step-down.  (The new sidewalk is a few inches above the old sidewalk level). On the corner of Walnut and Oak streets a new intake is being formed to replace the grate previously in the corner.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 24:  The windows have been installed in the fellowship hall.  They are prefabricated, aluminum frame, double-hung, double pane units.  The openings were first framed on the outside of the wall with treated 1x4 wood boards, then the flanges of the window units were secured to the frames.  This is the first permanent wood construction in the building.  As to why wood was used, fastening the window flanges to the concrete block wall so close to an opening is problematical in that the block tends to crumble away when fasteners are installed.

Along Three-Notch and Walnut Streets, the curb has been replaced around the corner and sidewalk has been extended along Walnut Street to the corner.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Electricians have installed more conduit and boxes in the barjoists of the fellowship hall.  Vinyl sheeting, wire reinforcing grid and leveling ways have installed in about 600 square feet of the lower level, south of the center hall and east of the ramp to the elevator lobby.  Overhead, about the same amount of corrugated decking has been laid over the northeast section, from the stairwell toward the east.

On the front, curb and gutter has been laid all the way from Walnut Street to Acadamy Street, with no sidewalk poured yet.

Some of the artifacts recovered when digging footings near the north entrance - this appears to be a furnace door handle and a horseshoe; there were others too large to scan.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, MID AFTERNOON: Concrete floor has been poured in the area prepared earlier.  The foundation has been closed where it had been left open for passage of
equipment.  Decking has been installed for most of the remaining second floor; forms are being installed around the outside walls to contain the concrete floor. There remains one section of about 600 square feet not poured downstairs.

As to sidewalks and curbing work, the workers were awaiting arrival of the concrete for pouring of the storm sewer intake box at the corner of Walnut and Oak Streets.  Sidewalk has been poured for the entire block of Three Notch Street except for the small area which will be the ramp from the street to the sidewalk at the corner of Acadamy Street.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27:  All of the flooring downstairs has been poured; decking has been laid to receive the concrete floor for almost all of the upstairs; the only spaces left out are a small section near the east end and the rounded portion of the south wing.  More conduit has been run for the electrical in the fellowship hall, but none has yet been connected to the power panel in the kitchen.   A walkthru Friday afternoon brought the realization that there is only one door to the kitchen:  From the fellowship hall.  This was not apparent from the plans.  This will be most inconvenient for kitchen workers who may need to move to and from the kitchen during preparation and cleanup when the fellowship hall is in use.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, OCOBER 30:  The decking is in place over all but two corners of the building. Projections are that the remainder of the second floor will be poured Thursday.  The final part of the east wall is blocked up.  There is a new ditch between the sidewalk and the building on the north side to receive the drainage pipe.  Also the cable company is going to lay fibre optic cable there. Utility poles on the north side of the building have been removed, as have the poles on the west side of Oak Street at the corner of Acadamy St. Inside, boxes for the power panels have been delivered.  One, the main panel box looks more like a shallow coffin: 8 feet x 3 feet x 12 inches.  Two others, about two feet wide by three feet  high by four inches deep are more ordinary.  Ladders (apparantly belonging to the electricians) are stored chained to a large job site tool chest.  The temporary lights in the area are on even though the site has been deserted for the day.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1: 
The second floor has been poured!  This view, from the window in the current upstairs elevator lobby looks out across the new elevator shaft opening toward the Thompson Auto Parts Building.  Workers are finishing the setting cement.  At the left is the finishing machine used to smoothe the surface. This window will be the location of the door between the buildings.  The upstairs connecting corridor will pass to the left of the elevator shaft.

This picture shows galvanized steel studs stored on the floor over the fellowship hall.  The unfinished area is the roof of the kitchen.  It will receive roof base material and a flat roof.

And this is the Backside photo for November 1.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, Quitting time:  The inside partitions downstairs have been framed, clearly delineating the room arrangement.  The studs are sheet metal, formed to be dimensionally equivalent to 2x4 wood members.  Where there are to be  attachments to the sheet-rock walls, ie for handrails and toilet stalls, plywood or framing lumber has been attached to the studs to provide for secure attachment.  One wall of the center mechanical room has a 3/4 inch plywood surface, which serves as a backboard for the electric panels, now attached.  Recepticle boxes and conduit have been installed in the framing.  On the north side, conduit has been laid in a trench between the building and the sidewalk, as have been three fibre optic cables. The conduits are apparently for telephone cable now overhead, and the fibre optic cable is direct-buried.  It was being installed by Troy Cablevision.   A wall footing has been poured between the two air conditioning unit pads between the old building and the south wing of the new building.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7:  The south firewall at the old building is up to full height, covering the north windows of the history room and framing the window in the existing elevator lobby, which will become the location of the connecting door upstairs.
PVC plumbing sewer pipes have been extended to and thru the second floor.  The elevator shaft has reached three courses of block above the second floor.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8:  The framing for the front wall is in place: 2 x 6 steel studs.
The framing for the doors and windows in the front wall is not put in.  The framing does turn down the north wall.  The elevator shaft appears to have  reached full height upstairs.

Inside, a walk-through reveals something not caught earlier:  The trunk ducts for the air conditioning in the fellowship hall are in place.  There are two ducts, each starting at  about eight square feet cross section, made of galvanized sheetmetal with flanged, gasketed joints, and wrapped with fibreglas blanket having a foil-skrim-kraft vapor barrier sealed with foil-skrim-kraft adhesive tape.  The supply duct runs above the ceiling level along the kitchen side of the room;  the return air duct runs  above the ceiling along the north wall of the room. Both are extended into the mechanical/electrical room at the center of the building.  Supply and return air grilles will be in the ceiling.

The masons are raising the brick verneer on the south wing and the east wall of the connecting corridor.

On the front of the main building, the sidewalk contractor has removed and replaced two sections of the walkways to the entrances to the sanctuary, in order to make them level with the new sidewalk, which is about two inches higher than the old one.  The landing for the wheelchair ramp, however, has not (yet) been raised.

THERE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A LOST UPLOAD HERE: THERE WAS A PIECE WRITTEN OVER THE WEEKEND. OUR APOLOGIES. THE LANDING AT THE END OF THE WHEELCHAIR RAMP WAS LEVELED WITH THE SIDEWALK.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14:  Studs are up for the entire outside perimeter of the upstairs; all are 2 x 6 steel members.  The plate over the wall, a 2 x 8 wood member secured to the top of the steel frame structure, is in place over most of the framing.  Conversation with the job foreman indicate that the roof trusses, scheduled for two weeks hence may go up sooner, if the supplier can speed up his schedule.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15:  The framing is up around the stairwell; the lower flight of stairs and the intermediate landing are in place
the remaining flight is on the floor upstairs.  The windows upstairs are framed; the outside of the east wall of the crossover corridor has received gypsum board to a level of four feet above the second floor, as have the adjoining and facing walls. Downstairs, the TV cable has been pulled into the central equipment room.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16:  The upper flight of stairs has been installed.  The Troy Cable Technician has extended the TV cable to the attic of the existing building, which will allow installation of fibre optic equipment sooner than xpected.  This will improve both the quality and reliability of the Sunday morning cable-cast.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, MID MORNING: At shortly after 8:00 am, the temperature was 55 degrees; at ten o'clock, it is still 55 degrees.  The high yesterday was the mid-70's.  There is a light mist falling.  The foundation wall of the front porch is up to the ninth course of block, about ground level on the north side; workers are re-attaching the vapor barrior to the outside of the front basement wall within the porch area; a back-hoe operator is waiting to fill the porch floor void with dirt.  Inside, duct work is being run into the east end of the building from the central equipment room. A copper pipe appearing to be about 3" nominal diameter extends overhead from the utility room at the southeast corner of the building to the rest rooms on the north side.  Some branch circuit wiring has been pulled into conduits terminating in the central equipment room.  The interior of the main electric panel is on the floor of the central equipment room; it has an 800 Amp (208 volt) three phase main switch.  This amounts to about 800 HP, and is about half the size of the service in the existing building. A tv cable junction box has been installed  On the north side, outside the door, the elevator hardware has been delivered.  On the back lot, the air conditioning equipment has been received: Two 20-ton condensing units, one 15-ton condensing unit, and a 4-ton condensing unit, along with associated indoor sections.  This is Trane equipment.  Since the downstairs has been dried in, work can progress despite the increasingly inclement weather.  The brickwork on the west side of the south wing and adjoining crossover corridor has reached window sill level.  This appears to the to highest the brickwork will extend, as there is a continuous sill line at this point;  the architect's drawing shows what appears to be stucco from this point up.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 3:30 PM:  The afternoon is cool, dry and crisp. 3/4 inch fire rated gypsum board ("sheet rock") has been installed at the bar-joist level for a fire-stop ceiling in the corridors.  The finished ceiling will be suspended lower than this.  Framing has been installed around the large trunk ducts along the ceiling on the north and south sides of the fellowship hall.  Matching framing is being constructed on the east and west sides, although there is no duct work to hide.  The elevator hydraulic unit has been received.  Elevator installers have installed the rail on which the elevator box will slide.  Attachment rail for the firestop ceiling has been attached to the barjoists in the elevator lobby area.  Electricians have installed flexible conduits which will attach to lights in the ceiling of the fellowship hall, and have pulled wire into many of the conduits downstairs.  A fibre-optic transmitter has been installed in a locked cable service box at the electric panel; an extension cord runs from this box into the utility room of the existing building to power the transmitter.  We can now transmit the Sunday service to the cable office via fibre optic cable!   The general contractor crew has left for the week, although the drywall crew may work Friday.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25, WALKTHRU AFTER CHURCH:  Last night's torrential rains (3 inches by some accounts!) resulted in some wet gypsum board, generally as a result of water running across barjoist members from the open stairwell.  Also, there was some water in the downstairs back foyer of the existing building, a result of water flow down between the walls from the upstairs elevator lobby of the new building, which isof course at this time, without any roof.  Also, some framing has been installed for false beams in the fellowship hall, breaking the ceiling into four quarters.

The rains last night also washed out some new curb work in front of the juvenile court services building at the corner of Oak and Walnut Streets, where there was an unfinished storm sewer intake.  It was necessary to cordon off the parking lot there, as there was a two-foot wide trench washed out at the curb line.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27:  The two air handlers for the downstairs
air conditioning systems have been brought into the fellowship hall to
await placement in the central equipment room, which has been
walled up with a layer of gypsum board backed by a layer of
plywood.  Duct work has been extended down the ceiling of the
north-west corridor to near the east entrance.  Branch duct
attachemnts fittings have been installed on this duct.  Fire dampers
and other duct accessories have been brought into the site.  Fresh
water plumbing has been installed with large ball valves for the
downstairs and upstairs restrooms, and branch plumbing has been
installed for the restroms.  Electricians have been installing condit
and pulling wire in the conduits in place.  Upstairs, gypsum board
sheathing has been installed on all of the north wall, the east wall of
the connecting structure and adjoining portions of the south wall , as
well as parts of the east wall.  Windows have been installed in the
connecting structure.  The roof  trusses have not yet been received.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 AFTER CHOIR PRACTICE:  Duct work
branches hav been extended into the classrooms on the north and
south sides of the corridor There are dire dampers where they pass
through the corridor walls.  Fresh water plumbing has been
extended to the central mechanical room, where there will be a
water heater.  In this room, the interior of the main electric panel
has been installed in the box, and two smaller panel boxes have
been installed, one on each side of the main panel.  These are
receiving conduit runs for the branch circuits.  The panel on the rightis for general purpose circuits (lights, plugs, etc); the one on the left is fot the air conditioner and heavy equipment circuits.  The elevator
car frame is in place; it is attached to two hydraulic cylinders which
will be the lifting mechanism.  The elevator well door frame is in
place downstairs.  Correction note:  Earlier it was stated that the
central equipment room was walled with gypsum board, backed by
plywood; it is in fact walled with what appears to be 3/4" plywood
sheathing, painted white, except for the electrical equipment
backboard, which is not painted.  Upstairs, the sheathing has been
applied to almost all of the outside wall, including the curved portion
of the south wing wall.  The only gaps are in the center of the Oak
Street side, where there is an opening left to facilitate access for
material which may be elevated by fork lift and set onto the upstairs
floor, and over the front equipment plaza, where scaffolding will be
necessary for the installation.  Workers have been able to use
tractor lift equipment or work from adjoining roof surfaces for most
of the rest of the buildng.  In the front, the area under the porch,
and the adjoining backfill have been tamped.  Moisture barrier is
being applied to spaces which will be below grade level, and
preparations are being made for raising the brickwork on the front
wall and porch foundation, which, being below grade level at this
point, are concrete block.  Drain lines have been laid from the front
fill area to a point  east of the north entrance, where they open to
the street at the curb.