June 15, 2007 Friday: Roof & Bricks Oh! My!

On Monday the final section of the “free-standing” wall was poured and the first bricks arrived. Tuesday was spent mainly in preparation for installing the trestles for the roof. Wednesday the roof was started and the first bricks were laid on the northeast corner of the building. Then it rained! The workday was cut a few hours short.

Thursday saw most of the trestles installed on the central/main portion of the building and the masons continued to make progress. The first bit of plumbing was laid in place and more and more conduit is being installed inside. Lots of activity. More of the same for days to come.

Added 3 Videos & 1 Slide Show

June 8, 2007 Friday: Physical Structure Nearing Completion.

Tuesday they poured the second floor. They currently are preparing the form for the last section of the free standing wall which was scheduled to be poured Friday but 2 days of very high winds have made work difficult and prevented putting the last panels to be set in place. The trestles for the roof arrived the end of last week and should start to go up in the near future.  OPPD was out and ran lines through the conduit they set in last winter to the new transformer that was recently installed on the southeast corner or the addition. The main electrical panel in the basement was also mounted onto the wall.

The crew that is doing the internal wall framing has started installing some of the door frames for the rooms.

Even with this activity the works site seems strangely quiet because the masons are gone. The only block work left will be the small areas that will connect to the free standing wall.The arrival of bricks is currently scheduled for early next week presuming the demo they constructed today meets with approval. I presume the masons will return and start to lay the bricks next week. Other than the basement floor, the only cement work left for the actual structure is a small portion of the connection piece on the second floor a couple of stairwell landings and the step surfaces. The foundation was poured for the stoop of the stairwell and a footing for a 2 story steel post that will support a roof over the stairwell entrance. Footings & stoops for the main entrance to the addition and patio also remain.

The basement is still mud and harbors a few small ponds but recent dry weather has helped some.

Soon a roof and bricks! Big changes in appearance are on the horizon!
                                                                         New Slide Shows added!

June 1, 2007 Friday: A New Abbot!

The big event that pretty much dwarfs everything else going on around here is the election of Abbot Michael Liebl as the 3rd abbot of Mount Michael Abbey.