FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL...

This was the last week of construction before SPX School opens for the fall semester next week. The construction zone looked like bees flying around a hive as workers attempted to get as much work done as possible and to clean up the parking lot for Monday’s first carpool line. None of the sub contractors who are working now have ever experienced morning and afternoon pickup and even though we’ve tried to explain the process, nothing can truly prepare them for that first day. We had considerable good news this week, but what will help the most is that we have gravel down in the parking lot which enables us to begin storing materials there instead of the back parking lot and also to remove our sediment pond and finish installing the new parking lot. In addition, with the ceiling completely installed and all the framing of the walls completed that also frees up much needed space.

As graduation took place, our church was just a skeleton of steel as shown in the photographs below.

Now its almost totally enclosed with the roof insulation and roof itself scheduled to start going up the first day of class.

I’d be remiss, if I didn’t show a photo of SPX School prior to the renovations

and the way it looks as school begins. The last post (Thanks Stephanie Skordas for an excellent story) goes into detail of the work that took place, but this is the way it looks as a completed project. Thanks to Rentenbach Contractors for pulling off a miracle by completing this remodeling in record time. Also thanks to the SPX staff for their patience as work was taking place right up to the day of Open Houses.

Saint Pius X School gets spruced up too

While you're driving by on Elm Street admiring the soaring heights of the new Saint Pius X Catholic Church and marveling at well, how church-y it's looking, don't forget to glance over at Saint Pius X Catholic School too. You might do a double-take.

The school started a spruce up project that began on June 25th and is slated to wrap up before students return on August 24th. Here's what you'll see:

• New tan paint to blend with the church's color scheme
• Stone facing on columns to match the stone structure of the church
• New entryway
• Improved handicapped-accessible door on the side of the school with remote access and security camera
• New energy-efficient windows with ecclesiastical points to match the church

"The new windows replace windows that are original to the school," says Principal Anne Knapke. "Not only are they more energy-efficient, but they are also tinted which will minimize the greenhouse effect some of those front classrooms faced in the afternoons." Knapke says the new windows should show an effect on the school's energy bills too.

In order to see some other improvements, you'll have to check out the building from Cornwallis Avenue. A group of volunteer parents and Duke Energy employees have improved and extended two retaining walls near the playground in a three-week construction project. The playground improvements have been spearheaded by parishioner and SPX parent John Walsh, a Duke Energy engineer and paid for mostly via a Duke Energy foundation grant with some additional funding from the PTO.

The whole school update project is a sister project made possible by the school's capital improvement fund and savings, and does not come from the Making A Place At The Table pledges. But the school was able to take advantage of the proximity of the Rentenbach Construction contractors to get this work done at reduced rates and before the school year begins.

"The overall improvements make the school look 25 years younger," Knapke says. "Our school looks more inviting and has great curb appeal from the road."

Have you seen the SPX school improvements? What do you think? We'd love to see your comments below.

IT'S HARD TO SEE, BUT THE WORK CONTINUES

We had another another very productive week on site. If you’ve been by, the look of the church hasn’t changed much because most of their efforts were inside. The installation of the ceiling and protective plywood and tarpaper continued.

The framing continued on the inside and outside with the window openings along the top of the Nave clearly visible.

Preparation for pouring the concrete floor in the Day Chapel and back of the Nave was completed as seen in the photo above.

The concrete trucks arrived at 6:30 AM on Monday and the pouring of the floors previously mentioned began. It took all day to get the finished look on the floors. Now the framing can begin in these areas.

PART TWO: NOW YOU SEE IT, SOON YOU WON'T!!

In the last posting, you saw photographs of the plumbing which had been placed in the wing where the bathrooms are to be located. The photograph above (left) shows the same area after gravel has been placed in preparation for pouring the concrete floor. In the last article, the HVAC duct work was exposed. Now, (right photo), the ducts have been encased with concrete. The next step is for gravel to be placed (this should happen the week of July 6th) in preparation for the concrete floor to be poured in the Day Chapel.

The above photographs show the progress that has been made on the roof/ceiling. As you saw last time, the plating (wood) had been placed on the steel girders. Now you can see the ceiling has been installed in much of the Nave (right). The photograph on the left shows the outside, which has plywood over the ceiling and tar paper. After completing this process over the entire Nave and Day Chapel, it will be time for the roofing to be installed.

In the last posting, all you could see were the metal frames around the front of the church. Now that framing has been covered. There are two different boards placed around the church. The plywood is where stone will be installed and the other boards will be where brick will be laid. If all goes well, this process will begin the week of July 6th also.

NOW YOU SEE IT, SOON YOU WON'T!!

Even though the monsoons have left us, we still had rain everyday last week. That's the bad news, but the good news is that we had sub contractors working all but one day and one crew came in and worked a full day on Saturday. In fact, I'm not sure that we could have fit any more equipment or personnel on the property than we had. As the title indicates, the work taking place now, will soon be out of sight. I thought this would be a good time to show you close ups of activities taking place.

These photos show the work taking place on the plumbing for the bathrooms. In the next week or so, the concrete floor will will be poured on top of all these pipes.

When we begin holding services, we want to have an efficiently operated HVAC system. This would not be possible without hundreds of feet of underground ductwork. These photos show some of the ductwork that will go from the basement along the side of the main nave. You can also see the amount of piping that is being installed in the Day Chapel. It crosses from side to side. All of this ductwork will soon be encased in concrete.

The activity taking place in the air, is called "plating". This is when wood in bolted to the steel beams. After this work is done, the wood ceiling will be mounted to the beams. The planks for the ceiling will arrive on Monday with installation beginning then.

What is easy to see now, is the shape of the church as the metal studs are being installed along the front entrance. The outside framing will continue next week, along with the framing of the walls inside the Narthex.

DID SOMEONE SAY NATATORIUM?

Anyone who lives in Greensboro knows we had more than our share of rain since Wednesday night. The monsoons hit us late afternoon with as much as 7 inches of rain flooding homes and roads throughout Greensboro. According to the rain gage, we had 3 inches of rain at the church . Even though the basement is almost totally enclosed, 18 inches of water poured in, which would be a good start toward a Natatorium. The water came down the trenches where the HVAC is being installed and into the openings in the side walls. On Thursday with the pump working all day, the water level in the basement was down to 6 inches, then came more rain that night. Friday morning the level was up to 23 inches and the pump kept running. With the pumps still running, the water was back down to a few inches when I checked midday on Saturday.

Even though, we had that setback, this was a good week. You will notice at Mass this weekend that the steel has all been erected and the church is now taking shape. You can clearly see the shape of the Main Nave, Day Chapel and locations where the stained glass windows will be placed. Even with the weather delays we continue to make progress toward "Making A Place At The Table"

AN EARLY MORNING DELIVERY

At 5:30 AM on Friday, May 29th, two 9 ton, 70 foot long steel girders made the 5 mile trek up Elm Street from Williams Steel. By 6:10 AM the driver had maneuvered his rig onto our property and the girders were ready to be unloaded.

Msgr. Marcaccio, Parish Commission Chair Dick Pauley, and Building Chair Tom Martin check out the girders after their arrival. Fortunately they didn't have to do anything but watch.

A little after 8:00 the first of the girders was hoisted into the air and by 8:15 it had been bolted into place. The activity was exciting for the school carpool line and gave everyone a lot to look at. Several parish members stopped by to watch the excitement. Joe Plesh and Guy Lizotte pose in front of the newly erected girder. The second large beam is goes up on Monday.