What’s New This Week? 10-16-21 to 10-31-21

Over the past two weeks steel structures that form the upper level balcony and upper level organ chamber were erected inside the sanctuary.  Steel decking was added and concrete was eventually poured on top of the decking.  For the organ chamber, a smooth concrete finish will form the floor upon which the organ pipes will rest.  For the balcony, additional tiers or steps (six in all, plus an aisle) will be formed and poured this coming week.  These tiers will hold six rows of balcony pews plus the audio/visual booth.  Temporary steel safety cables were welded in place around the perimeter of the balcony. 

The ironworkers also assembled the steel that will form the front porch of the new sanctuary, including the painted beam that we all signed at this year’s Homecoming Picnic.  The white painted beam, marked ‘Sacred Space 2021’ runs horizontally over the front door.  The porch will support four white colonial columns.

The demolition team returned this past week as they worked in three distinct areas:

• The west wall of the office wing, from the roof gable on down, was demolished to make way for the new front office entrance and to open the roof line so that new connecting trusses can be installed.
• Small sections of the music wing were demolished to reonfigure the opening to the existing rehearsal room and the new music storage room.
• Three new doors were cut into the block wall that separates the ‘2020, phase I’ lower level from the ‘2021, phase II’ lower level, including doors to the new resource center and a pair of new bathrooms.

Masons continued their work completing the various block walls that form the sanctuary.  A wall that divides the current office wing and the new sanctuary will be erected this coming week.  Likewise, for the expanded music wing, a wall was built this past week (see construction cam #2) which formed a new hallway through the heart of the music wing.  The music wing exterior block walls will be built this coming week.  The “window” in the west side foundation wall, which is actually an HVAC chase leading from the lower level, was also blocked and completed this past week.  During the second half of October a two inch thick coating of insulation foam will will be sprayed on all the exterior block walls.  This is a final preparatory step before masons begin laying the traditional “Redeemer” red brick.

Finally, the new waterproofing and drain tile that was installed along the entire south wall of the office wing is now ready to be backfilled and graded.  This work will continue during the third week of October.

The installation of steel trusses is the next major step in building the sanctuary roof.  These trusses are currently being fabricated and their installation date is uncertain until they are delivered to the Redeemer construction site. Hopefully that will provide construction cam viewers more “action” in the coming weeks!