Friday - 30Sept05 - The jobsite got a little cleaning up yesterday. What is left of the lawn was leveled out. A windy evening blew the tarp off the elevator, so we have to cover it back up again.

The flagpole is going to get an 8 foot cement pad. The gravel here was laid because the pad will be above ground level so that rainwater can run off. A walkway will be installed as well. All of the overgrown bushes were removed.  

Friday 30 Sept. Work continues on the elevator shaft sump pump. The white pipe sticking out of the wall will be hooked into the rainwater gutter drainage. Yes, I had to climb into the bushes to get this picture. 

30 September '05. Another view of the gravel filler in the outdoor ramp. 

Friday 30 Sept 2005. Gravel has been poured into the hollow spaces of the outdoor ramp. Hot water heating pipes will be embedded in the cement topping to melt ice and snow in the winter. It's hoped that shoveling and salt won't be needed on the ramp. 

This picture has nothing to do with our elevator project. It is our venerable church bell, which has been silent for the past several years. Because we replaced the roof in that section of the church, we elected *not* to have a hole remain in the roof to accomodate the bell's rope. In the future we are going to consider installing an electric ringer. Many of our members don't know this, but our bell is made of STEEL, not copper or bronze. This is because of shortages of these materials during World War II and Korea. Because our bell is steel, it has to have a larger base than you see on typical copper bells. 

September 24. Here is the outside worksite. I am sorry to report that theives visited us a few nights ago and stole $300 worth of steel. The builder replaced it. 

Sept 24. Here is a view down the shaft looking at the church basement. This picture was taken from the lower narthex through the newly cut hole. If you look at all the dirt on the folding basement classroom doors, you will see that we have a lot of cleaning up to do when this project is over.  

September 24. Work has begun on the enterance to the elevator in the lower narthex. A hole has been cut into the shaft and is boarded up for safety. The church is becoming very dirty from this project. Dust is everywhere and our custodian simply can't keep up on all the dirt. The front entrance to the church is now closed as the project continues. 

Thursday 22 September 2005. The last day of summer sees the shaft climb from the basement into the main floor.  

The shaft is now starting to build up. Here is one wall building up from the basement on September 20, 2005 

The shaft has now been cut from basement through the balcony. Here is the roof as seen from the main floor 

Another view of the handicap ramp on the day the face brick was added - September 19, 2005. 

Here is another view of the gravel bed covering the additional drainage pipes.  

Here is the second sump pump in the enlarged (again) shaft. The shaft needed drainage pipe installed around the perimeter. Those pipes are in the gravel bed. 

Another Problem! The basement shaft was proving too wet. Additional digging around the foundation to add another sump pump. The pump goes in that large hole to the right. 

Monday 19 September. The crew put the face brick on the ramp. Here is the view from the front door. 

Here is our elevator shaft after the sewage pipe incident was corrected. The crew had to enlarge the shaft to accomodate rerouting the pipe. Also notice the water. Hope was built next to a lake, so we are sitting atop a rather high water table. A sump pump will be placed in the shaft to take care of the water 

Here is our new elevator, sitting outside. It has since been covered with a blue tarp, which you will see in other pictures. The elevator was delivered promptly on the day the architect planned it would be installed - mid July. Hopefully it won't be sitting outside much longer, as work is now progressing well. Note the lake across the street, the reason for the high water table the church sits on. The water table is the reason the church is built so high off the ground, and why we are now adding an elevator. 

Asbestoes lagging had to be removed from all the heating pipes in the area where the elevator shaft will go. These pipes will be re-routed, then the crew will tear through the floor of the nave to build the shaft. 

Here is the handicap ramp after the crew left on Friday Sept. 9. It's starting to take shape. Those two basement windows along the course of the ramp will be removed and bricked in. 

To get to the elevator inside the church, a handicap ramp is under construction.  

Hope is installing an elevator. This is a view of the construction of our basement shaft. The pipe cutting across the shaft caused us a one month construction delay. It seems that when the architect designed our church in 1964, he called for that pipe to be about 10 feet from this area. Well, it wasn't. "As built" was not the same as "as designed."