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"