Construction Update from Chase!!!

Hi everyone! I wanted to take some time to give everyone an update on where we are at with construction currently, and what the upcoming activities are for our wonderful new Parish Hall and Church Remodel!

First off, things have not come to a halt by any stretch of the imagination. While the visible, on-site progress might be minimal, behind the scenes we have been hard at work finalizing details on the building, bidding out the final scopes of work, working on contracts and coordinating upcoming work to kick things off. A project of this size requires a lot of preconstruction work.

While we are very fortunate for the recent rains we’ve had, it has slowed things down on the construction side. Our dirt contractor and concrete contractor have both incurred delays on other projects, so it has pushed us further back. Not a big deal at this point, but everyone is still working very hard to get going on our project.

As of now, the dirt contractor should mobilize the week of July 15th. Since we have the basement of the rectory and part of the basement of the church to fill back up to our new building elevation, there is a detailed process to do that appropriately.

Specific dirt is hauled in, spread out, packed in and watered to meet engineering requirements. This is done in no more than 12” lifts at a time, and every lift is then tested by a soil technician measuring the density and moisture content. Once it passes the tests, another lift is brought in and the cycle is repeated again and again until the desired elevation is achieved. This is a lengthy process, but necessary to help reduce future settling and ensure the new building is built on a solid foundation.

Once the above-mentioned dirt work is complete, the concrete footings and stem walls will commence. They will start at the lowest elevation on the South end and work their way North to tie into the existing Church.

Once the foundation is complete, all of the under slab plumbing and electrical will be dug out and installed. The finished concrete slab will then be poured, and then the building can start coming out of the ground! Speaking of the building, the steel structure will be delivered at the end of August so we will have no delays there waiting on the material.

While the concrete work is going on, we will also be busy bring new water and fire service piping to the building off of Pine St. The City does not have a large enough water line on Oak St for us to connect to, so we will be connecting to their 8” water main on Pine St. In order to do that, we will have to remove the two metal swing sets on the South end of the property.

I hope this provides some insight into what has been, and what is about to occur on the project. I intend to do bi-weekly updates as we progress on the project, and they will be posted to both Facebook and the weekly bulletin.

Thanks,Chase and the Construction Team