Rain slows things down

The rain kind of slowed things down today. Things are wet and muddy, as you can see, as they uncovered the beams and pumped out the water that collected from the rains. More to come next week!

Letting things settle

Not much to report on today. Looks like they let the concrete dry and settle today because little to no activity was reported today. Probably a good thing to keep things covered, with the storm approaching from the Northwest.

Chapel in the Gym, Concrete Poured on North side

Today, they poured concrete footings and a beam part-way down the length of the North side of the church. Once the footings are dry, they'll finish the long beam. You can also see that Pastor was able to setup an altar in the gym, where they held their first chapel this morning.

Working on the North and East Sides of the Church

Today, you can see all the ACs units are now moved to the new pad. And with the ACs out of the way, they were able to start digging on the North side of the church and begin foundation work, similar to what they have already completed on the South side.

Pews Removed and AC Units Moved

Here are some photos of the church with all the pews removed both upstairs and downstairs. Today, they also moved the AC units to the new pad.

Full Steam Ahead!

After today, church services will be held in the gym for the next few months, to allow work on both the inside and outside of the church. All the pews were removed after Sunday service and Bible Class, so that the pews can be restored, and to allow work to begin on, and beneath the floor.

A New Pad

On Friday, the foundation was poured for the new air conditioner pad. An unmarked, gas line, that was buried very shallow (about 4 inches underground), was cut while digging, and thank the Lord that no damage was done. The leak was safely contained and work continued.

Diverting Water for Good!

One of the last things done on the South side was to install a special material, or "mat", that is attached to the church and then spread out, underground and away from the church, to divert water and moisture away from the foundation.

More excavation

More excavation occurred today on the south side along the freshly poured long beam. Meanwhile, on the north and east sides, preparation is beginning for moving the AC units to a new pad away from the church. Photos on that to come soon...

More concrete beams on South Side of Church

More beam work on the south side of the church. You can see the concrete footings that were poured last week, and the long beam built on top of the footings, and finally, the concrete after being poured into the long beam.

Final packing of the Church Organ

On Monday and Tuesday, final disassembly and packing of the church organ was completed. The contents are now on the way to Florida for restoration!

Rainy Friday--Dismantling the Organ for Shipment

Friday was a rainy day, so not much was happening on the outside of the church. Inside, however, you can see Mr. Wiederhold, and Mr. Buschbeck, working to dismantle and pack up the church organ, to be shipped to Tampa Florida for restoration by Buschbeck Organbuilding (http://www.organbuilding.com/).

Building forms, removing sidewalks

Today was spent building another form for concrete, as well as digging up a portion of the sidewalk to prepare for more foundation work. Note the washout and water beneath the removed section of sidewalk.

Finally, plastic was placed on the side of the church where concrete was poured earlier in the week, to protect the exposed area from the forecasted rainy weekend.

Concrete Pouring Video

Here's a short, 5 second video from today--starting to pour concrete around the foundation. Also some pictures below:

Making Room To Work

Awnings were removed today to make more room to work on the church.

Water Found Under Church!

As digging began near the foundation of the church, water began to spring out (see top photo). The contractors thought they may have hit a water line, but of course, those weren't invented yet when the church was built. Rather, it just goes to show how much water has collected under the foundation!

Restoration Begins!

The church restoration project is underway. Come back often to see progress being made. This week, the contractors for ArchiTexas, KBL Restoration LLC, moved down from Eastland, TX.

You can see from the photos that Bluebonnet was called out to install electrical poles and service for their RVs.

Meanwhile, Julie from Texas A&M came by and installed a motion sensor in the church to detect any movement of the structure during the restoration process.

Finally, the contractors started locating equipment that could be rented locally for use in the project.