NEW WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE 2/20/2010

Today is kind of a gloomy day here in Idyllwild- cold, wet and foggy- but we were blessed by a great week with unseasonably warm weather and lots of sun. The crew took advantage of the great weather by preparing the site for the pouring of the slab.

They layed plastic over everything to prevent moisture from seeping up out of the ground into the concrete when it is eventually poured. Then they spread sand over everything to make it as even as possible. The sand kind fo filled in all of the depressions and made the whole spot as close to even as it could be. Then they laid these styrofoam pads around the edges to help with heat retention. As mentioned in a previous post, radiant floor heating tends to lose a lot of heat out of the edges of the slab and the styrofoam should help with heat retention.

Here's Keith, our General Contractor, Mike Hammer, and some of the MMAPers installing a manifold for the radiant floor heating. As you can see, in the photo above, after spreading the sand and laying out the styrofoam pads they crss-crossed a grid of rebar across the entire area.

Then they began laying out the radiant floor heating on top of the rebar matrix.

It looked like quite a job getting all of the radiant floor heating tubing installed correctly. When the concrete slab is eventually poured it will be flush with the tops of these electrical boxes.

Eventually they got it all laid out and hooked up. Now lets just pray that there aren't any leaks!

I also noticed that they have sealed the backside of the retaining wall. They'll pour concrete down through the wall at the same time they pour the slab. Then this space behind the wall will be backfilled.

WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?

Camp Maranatha is always blessed by the MMAPers who come and volunteer at the camp every year. We are currently hosting three couples who are seeing to some much needed maintenance issues. One of the MMAPers is a Canadian gentleman who has been here on previous projects named Rick Weibe. Rick is a real artist when it comes to carving wood. He has agreed to use his time here to make a large chain saw sculpture using one of the logs felled to make way for the new worship center, and which will eventually grace the entrance to the new building.

What will it be?

You'll just have to wait and see.

WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE #9

Last Sunday a crew of guys showed up at seven in the morning and by three in the afternoon this wall was done. Keith kept telling me that they thought the wall could be finished in a day, but I have to admit that I was a little skeptical until Keith called me on Sunday afternoon to say that the wall was finished. It's a nice solid looking wall too.

This morning I went up to take a few pictures of the wall and found the electrician laying out conduit that will run beneath the slab.

These little boxes with the yellow covers are floor outlets that will end up being flush with the floor. Several inches of sand and concrete will be poured over the dirt so that is why they are raised.

After laying everything out, they came back and buried the conduit under the dirt. It was a race against time as it keeps spitting snow, rain and hail and the forecast is promising more of the same as the day wears on. It's kind of a gloomy day up here.

It seems like every day brings some new development to the work site so keep on checking in here for new updates as they become available.

NEW WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE- #8

Following the inspection on Tuesday (which we passed by the way!!!), Keith spent a good portion of the afternoon meeting with Mike Hammer who is the contractor coordinating and overseeing the construction of the new worship center. How about that name, huh? A contractor with the last name hammer. That's like a judge named Justice or a banker named Bill.

Then the next day they started pouring the footings. For most of the day trucks rumbled in and out of the grounds bringing fresh loads of concrete. I was sad for my two year old, Jack, as he wanted to go out on the porch and watch the concrete trucks go by, but it was a little chilly for him to be out there so he had to be satisfied standing on his tippy-toes and peering out through the window.

These poor guys (the ones with the shovels) were surprised to find that the soil had frozen hard over night. As the concrete pours into the trench their job is to back fill with dirt to keep the concrete from sliding out under the form. The frozen dirt made that job quite a bit harder until the sun softened things up.

I hope this guy likes working by himself. The guys pouring and shoveling were gabbing and laughing the whole time, but this guy just quietly followed along behind them smoothing things out.

Seeing the cement truck in there really gives you a sense of how big the building will be once completed. You could comfortably park several of them within this space, and the peak of the new building will be almost twice as high as the Mt San Jacinto Chapel in the background.

And then everything was quiet... the footings were poured and the crew had gone home. I went up and snapped this picture. The next thing is a retaining wall which will be built to hold back the bank along the eastern side of the building. The blocks were delivered for that yesterday, and they were hoping to start on the wall tomorrow, but the forecast is calling for rain all day so we're not sure what's going to happen. Then, after that, the slab will be poured. Check back in here soon for more updates.

NEW WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE #7

For the past several days a crew of guys has been up at the site digging trenches and getting everything ready to pour the footings for the new building. Now everything is ready for the concrete. The only thing left is the inspection, and as I type, Keith is talking with the inspector who will hopefully sign off on everything before so they can start pouring conrete.

Once completed, this building will have radiant floor heating, which means that pipes will run throughout the slab carrying heated water which will radiate up through the floor and heat building. A similar system was used to heat the Oak Lodge's chapel, and that works great. This morning Keith was telling me that radiant floor heating can lose as much as 25% of its heat out the side of the slab so the walls of styrofoam will insulate the slab and hopefully cut down on some of the heat loss.

The rebar will help hold the concrete together once it hardens.

How's that for product placement? Coke should pay us for publicity like this.

This elaborate system of rebar runs all the way around the trenches, and is suspended at intervals by little concrete blocks and wooden posts. They'll pull out the wooden supports once the concrete is poured.

This little square on the southeastern corner of the building will eventually be a store room. Now that the trenches have been dug for the footings it is a litle easier to visualize the dimensions of the building. It's fun to watch things coming together. We're hopeful that they'll start pouring concrete tomorrow. Check back in here soon for more updates on the building's progress!