Cars stopped, walkers stared and children were awed when the craned lifted each of the 8,000 pound steel frames into the sky. The crane picked up the girders which had been bolted together while in the parking lot next to the Sanctuary and swung them over the church for placement onto steel plates that were already installed onto rebar-reinforced concrete columns. 

 

This work is a critical component in the overall project to seismically strengthen our historic 119-year old church. Formal construction began in April and is on schedule to conclude in June 2020. Once construction is finished next summer, a number of weeks will be required to set up the church once again for services. More detailed schedule information will be provided later this year.

 

The project budget is strictly monitored on a daily basis. At the halfway point of the project, we are on budget. The active and detailed monitoring of all spending suggests we will remain on budget with some spending required from the contingency fund. 

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Photos by Sheri Benninghoven, Alyson Eyer-Delevett, Chip Nichols, and Bob Smith

In our last report, you learned about the thin concrete layer called a "rat slab" installed on the crawl space floor of the western portion of the Sanctuary. Since then, the complete floor substructure was built. Our engineers called for supports that will ensure the building can withstand a major earthquake.