At the Church Building, Part 3
Putting the outside lights up
Pulling tarps that blew away out of the pond
Jonathan Rethorn working on cables
Buffing the main hallway
Jonathan is an expert buffer-he often buffs to his music. He prefers buffing to mopping or using the squeegie machine.
Parker
The scrubbing part of the buffer
Generally, buffing was a three-man job: the buffer, who is constantly employed if the others keep up; the mopper, who applies the water to each square of cement before the buffer; and the person who uses the machine to suck up the water. The latter are often combined into one, and the scraping (see Dad in the picture above) is shared, though ideally done by the mopper, especially if there are three people.
This Saturday, Jonathan taught Dad how to buff, and Ed took over my mopping for a while.
I watched the unloading of Ryan's old piano, which was put into the senior high youth room. Since Ryan and Grace hadn't seen the building since before their wedding, they took a tour.
Since I had nothing to do at the moment, I took pictures.
The trim was sprayed black upstairs in the big unfinished room, and then brought and lowered over the rails, waiting to be put up.
This beautiful sight means that the sanctuary has been cleaned and caulked.
The cracks in the cement are deep, so backer rod, what I would describe as styrofoam in a flexible rope, is put in, ideally at 3/8ths of an inch deep, so that you don't have to use so much caulk, and so that the caulk doesn't sink down (as much...). I don't have pictures of caulking much, probably because it gets your hands dirty. I don't mind caulking, but it was less enjoyable than some of the other jobs because with sweeping, you don't have to worry about messing it up!
I would say you don't have to worry about messing buffing up either, but don't ask Eric about the ceiling tiles he had to replace... I got water down the cracks when buffing upstairs, and there were quite a number of tiles that had to be replaced. "That's [however many] cents a tile!" he said. I told him that could be my pay.
Mrs. Bayly led a group at a school auction where they got many things for the offices and nursery. A lot more than what is in this picture! Chalk boards, more file cabinets and chairs, lots of bookshelves, a teeter totter, garbage cans with wheels, books and other nursery materials, and much more, for less than the price of what you might pay for a portion of them at retail.
The chairs were supposed to come Thursday morning, but they ended up coming Wednesday night instead. This worked out well, as there were a lot of chairs to bring in, and that night we had a crew ready to do it.
Washing windows
Mostly, the boys brought in the chairs while the girls did other things, such as taping. Eric gave a lesson and supervised the taping of the cracks so that they could be caulked later.
It's interesting how much the chairs absorb sound.
There was a lot of cardboard from the chairs.
One chair was missing. Finally they found it:
Lots of taping to do...
Looks pretty cool with the outside lights.
Beautiful orange sunrise one morning
Carpeting the steps
The padding
The carpet
Out by the pump house
This squeegie was one of the things from the auction, and helpful for reaching where the green one couldn't, such as under the sinks in the bathrooms.
Kristen enjoyed "helping".
The completed steps
One morning there was a dense fog. Even at noon, it still lingered.
Though I came late that day, I spent an extra half-hour outside taking pictures.
Ed dumping water
This room is caulked-don't enter!
Eric sealing the sanctuary floor. It gives the cement a shine and keeps liquids from soaking in. The floors were all sealed twice, besides the original seal put on before the walls were errected.
The college group met at the church on the platform that week, as the floor wasn't yet dry.
After the grass was planted, a machine was used to spray straw over it.
It was fun to watch it spray out.
These brown chairs are for the Sunday school rooms.
Walking on the sanctuary floor felt so wrong after being closed off for a few days, especially as the shine makes it look like it's still wet.
Mr. Miklovic measured for the chairs to be set up, and a crew removed the cardboard from the legs.
I think this is Eric giving the first speech to an audience.
Mr. Miklovic and Ed set out the first chair, and then the row was built from that, and when all the rows in that section were set up, we made sure they were straight.
Melody was the first (and only?) one to sit on every tan chair. She didn't sit on all of the black ones because some of them were stacked up.
Mr. Killy and Eric trying out the chairs
The lights are bright!
Aaron showing off his talent
This is Eric showing a Saturday crew the infamous "Pit of Despair", also known as "Pit Beerbower". This was where Eric had twice to descend, earning him several names such as "Scuba man". The water had to be stopped flowing in from the pond so that two filters could be installed, so he had to put a plumber's ball (actually a cylindar shape) into a pipe about five feet under water. The ball was then filled with air to seal off the pipe. Later he let out the air, removed the ball, and scurried for the top before the water rushed in.
Lydia scared Abbi by pretending to push her in.
College group
Amy's hands after sealing-ask Timothy or Quinn Shriner, it's easier to get off than caulk.
The main hallway after being sealed
Mr. Taylor putting up trim in the lounge room
The caulking in the closet-one of the last remaining dusty areas, besides the unfinished upstairs
Trees! They make places look so much more welcoming. And we were blessed with them for the price of installation, and they are nice trees, already large.
I hadn't been to the church in a while, and I was anxious to see the carpet in the nursery. They had gotten carpet squares in various patterns, and I knew it was installed. When I went in, I was surprised.
Doesn't it look nice?
The Friday before we were supposed to go in we had a work day. Ladies came and set up the nursery and did general cleaning.
Pheobe and I went to see the bathrooms which had the mirrors installed.
We also went to see the Sunday school rooms, which were set up.
The chairs were rearranged some so that there were eleven chairs in the center rather than nine, so that the larger familes can sit together.
Some of the kids came to help.
Peter and Katie sweeping
I took a break from cleaning to take pictures of the first use of the nursery.
Rebekah took these two, as I left the camera with her when I returned to working.
Finishing up the counter
Sorry for my unorganized writing. I notice that I tend not to write clearly, so hopefully you could understand everything.
Thinking back over my time at the church, I have noticed how perfectly situated it was. I had the time to do it, and I enjoyed doing it. Not all people enjoy dirty work. As Eric was working there, I had a ride. Yet, we live close enough that even if I didn't go early with Eric it was still worth going over. It was an enjoyable experience, and I will rather miss it.