Project LLCER Building

Work Continues - While the chronicler is away, progress is ongoing at the church building. The bosses use a size large white board to dole out the necessary tasks. Last week I received pictures but only now am I able to put them to use. Updating the blog cannot be safely done while driving a car.  Aare stains the door jambs to fit with the walnut trim.   It looks to me like he succeeded. At least he made them darker. Walnut trim boards cut and planed await installation. Walnut rough boards that were adjudged unacceptable for further processing. We could say they did not make the cut. Door Jambs Need Doors - The sanctuary, now with walls and ceiling primed, is deployed as a door chop shop. Charles and Steve are the official door choppers. All the doors salvaged from a construction site have to be resized to fit the openings at the church. Apparently it is easier to resize the doors than the openings so chop the doors. The doors also need to change color to fit the decor bu...

Starting Over? -  In my absence, volunteers are sending photos. My job is to figure out what is happening in the photo, then put some intelligible(?) words around it to explain how this operation brings us ever nearer to completing the project. When I opened the email with this picture I was startled a bit. Does this depict a project reboot? With the next picture it is clear that the grading is going on around the building, and not a building restart. Although it may resemble a team of migrant field workers, it is actually congregation members manually smoothing the ground, preparing for sod. The electronic call went out on the Elk River Groupme chat site, "Laying sod. All qualified bodies come to the church. Qualifications: You must be able to fog a glass." I am not certain about the message but is was something like that. And out they came. All sizes and ages. As the work progressed, the call around the yard was echoed: "Remember, green side up." While on the back...

The Plight of the Chronicler -  Due to circumstances well out of his control, the chronicler was called to Arizona on a family matter. It seems a daughter made an unscheduled rapid decent from a ladder, breaking a leg at the end of a rather brief flight. Surgery was required so the chronicler and his missus wound up in Arizona to help out. I can happily report that surgery was successful and the patient is recovering, if somewhat painfully at this time. Nevertheless, Work at the Church Continues - The blog will go on with pictures supplied by on-site sources. It looks like preparation is going on to spray the sanctuary ceiling. The floor is protected with plastic and an operator wearing a hazmat suit is getting the sprayer set up. The as-of-yet unidentified operator is spraying the ceiling. Looks like white paint to me. One more in process ceiling painting photo. Pews, the Next Big Thing -  It happens that a church in St. Paul was selling pews that may be of use to our congreg...

It Is Getting Exciting -  No matter where you look you can see the finished product taking shape. Inside and out, in big open areas and in back corners, one step at a time, inch by inch that which started out as an empty grassy field is looking more and more like a church. Our church. Outside walls are being painted. The building committee uses the porch on a lovely evening to plot the next steps. The plotting is no longer about putting foam blocks together or raising trusses. Now it is about finishing colors for interior surfaces. Janelle displays the samples for review by the committee. On the opposite end of the building, Peter the painter daubs the final color on the trim pieces. A view of the nearly finished east wall. Pete noted that it is important to get the peaks on the gable ends done before Steve Redman, the lift owner needs it for his own business. Inside, Aaron polishes the floor up close to the walls so the trim pieces can be installed. When done in this order the big...