Wet weather, drywall

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The weather this week got wet, and then it got colder than one would hope for. In addition to being less than ideal for the Virginia Relief Sale, the rain and cold had unexpected effects for the building renovation project, too. Here's what went on this week:

  • Drywall was hung by Tuesday afternoon in the new restrooms and nursery. The drywall finishers did one coat on Wednesday and a second coat on Thursday but, with no heat in the church (um, see below) and the wet weather, the drying times are longer than normal. It will likely take all of next week to complete the drywall finishing for the restrooms and nursery. Drywall will be hung in the renovated offices starting on Monday and drywall finishing will follow.
  • As mentioned, the church now has no heating source. (You may recall the pictures a few weeks ago that showed our old boilers in pieces.) Dress accordingly for church and for other activities at church for the next week or two.
  • Fear not, though: The plumber returned this week with a group of four or five guys and the removed all of the disassembled boiler components from the furnace room. They also removed a lot of the former heating system pipes. They will begin installing the new boiler next week and are committed to having it functioning for our Sunday service on October 25.
  • Excel Heating and Cooling continued planning work for blitzing the installation of the new HVAC units for the sanctuary between October 12 and October 24 (working on either side of the Sunday we're on retreat). Their goal is to also have these functioning by October 25. Excel also completed their rough-in work for the office areas this week.
  • Thanks to Hugh Stoll, most of the unused telephone cables are now removed from the walls and ceilings in the basement. He will also remove the abandoned electrical wires in the furnace room soon.
  • Speaking of the furnace room, the renovation will involve fireproofing this space. In order to do that, we need to remove the (highly combustible) old wooden ceiling there, which presents us with another volunteer opportunity, probably in the next two weeks. In addition to the ceiling, we'll get rid of the old shelves along the east and south walls. This is a perfect opportunity for you to see the closest thing to an ancient catacomb that our church has to offer, before it's too late.
  • Since the renovation, all three pastors and Nitsuh, the church administrator, were working in a single room. This week, Nitsuh moved to the library, where she is able to look directly down the hallway and spot visitors as soon as they come up the steps. Jack Rutt also redid the temporary wires were previously run to the three phones in the office to correct a problem that prevented Nitsuh from transferring calls between lines.
  • No work was done on the south entrance steps this week, but–weather permitting–that should change next week, with internal floor joists the subfloor installed to cover up the old missing step. Then they will start building the form for the concrete steps on top of the existing block walls. Once the concrete is poured, Kirk Shank-Zehr will begin laying the limestone veneer.

Some pictures…

Worship Arts Cleanup

You wouldn't believe what the worship arts committee found in the upper storage room. Cleanup was done there to allow installation of the new sanctuary air handlers.

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Drywalling in the new nursery. Too bad no babies were there to see the stilts.

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Actual walls (!) in the hall from the ramp entrance, and, to the left, around the doors for the women's restroom and office entrance

Community Mennonite Church
70 South High Street Harrisonburg, VA
office@cmcva.org
540-433-2148