Remodel and Construction News

August 7th - Construction Update / Anniversary Edition

The 1-minute read:

This has been a very … interesting few weeks as we tackled a lot of work inside the hall but had a couple setbacks elsewhere.  However, as of today, 8/7, we seem to have good head of steam and are moving forward again.

• Water Restored! The final fix is in place and ready for inspection next week.
• The Grease Interceptor for kitchen waste water is installed and inspection is scheduled for next week.
• Big electrical inspections are scheduled for next week, allowing us to start closing the trenches.
• Kitchen A/C ducting is being put in place. Prep for epoxy flooring is coming up
• Hall is cleaned up for painting next week. A primer coat is on the walls now.
• Sanctuary Addition/Children’s Wing Remodel/Bathrooms – we are still working with the city of Anaheim Planning department on questions that have come up. We do not yet have an estimated start date for this project, but the questions are getting fewer.

The long read:

Water Line

Probably the most significant issue the past two weeks has been water – which has now been restored.  What happened?  We hit an unmarked water line outside the kitchen while digging for the sewer system.  Unfortunately, the line did not have a separate shut off valve and so the only way to work on it was to turn off the entire site’s water supply.  The issue was compounded in that this was a very old (probably from when the original hall was built) pipe, made of a material called Transite.  Though it is perfectly safe in place, and ok for drinking, cutting it requires special inspections and remediation.  As a result, it took several days to organize this.  This was compounded by it being an odd size by today’s standards, and as a result, it took multiple attempts over several days to come up with a permanent cap.  Even today it took three different versions of the cap to completely close it off.  However, it is capped now.  We have checked with Anaheim Water that they had no issue (which they don’t).  Next week we will fill the hole and finish the area.

The Big Hole

So why were we digging a big hole in the first place?  Now a days, all kitchen waste water needs to go through a special device to collect grease, etc.  A Grease Interceptor.  That was the large black “ball” you saw sitting by Fischer for a week.  The good news is that with the removal of the Transite pipe, we have now dropped it into place, and hooked it to the sewer lines.  The hole is about 75% filled, awaiting inspection for the connections on Monday.

Electrical

The next biggest obvious thing is the multiple trenches across the front yard.  Although they would be great for playing capture the flag, our insurance company frowns on that sort of thing.  Seriously, the electrical represents two things.  First the new high powered feed from the city to our new switchgear.  Secondly there are also trenches for the new lines running between our buildings.  The good news is that the lines are laid and ready for inspection next week.  After that we can begin filling in the trenches and install the switchgear in its final location.  Filling in the high voltage lines will take several days as they have to be encased in concrete and have additional inspections, but at least the piles should start to go down soon.

Kitchen

The kitchen is progressing with walls and base plumbing in.  The last couple days they were busy put in the ducting for the air conditioning (yea!).  The next big step will be preparing the floors and installing the epoxy flooring and installing the wall covering.  The wall covering is called FRP, though I don’t know what that means, it is great for kitchens!  Next week I will have a better idea of the schedules for that.

Hall

The hall walls are done and ducting installed.  The walls have had their first coat of primer paint and next week a lot of painting will be done.  There still is a fair amount of work after painting, including the final lighting and flooring, but that should move along quickly.

Sanctuary Addition

There is much more involved in the overall scope of work we call the “Sanctuary Addition.”  Besides the addition, it also involves remodel of the children’s rooms, the front “look”, as well as new bathrooms supporting the Fellowship Hall.  However, all these items are in one set of plans and approvals with the city – so we are unable to start any of that work until it is all approved.  This past week the city Planning Department had several questions and comments.  Most are easily explained.  However, there is one that is of some concern – I won’t go into detail here, but it has to do with a nuance of the height requirements near a property line.  Our Architect has developed a solution that would be not very noticeable; however, it does involve some extra work and construction costs, but in reality it changes nothing externally visually (which is what the Planning Department is worried about).  As such, we are asking them to waive the requirement, but prepared if they do not.

The bottom line is that we do not have a start date for the Sanctuary Addition work, but we are closing in and the cities comments seem to be pretty minor at this point – so we are hopeful that we will get approvals shortly.

Financials

When we started this effort we had a good set off funds for all the baseline work as well as a solid reserve fund for unexpected items (like a stray water line).  Up to this point, the reserve fund has remained fairly healthy – every project has had some minor surprises, but this past week did put a bigger dent in the fund.  We still have a good amount, but this was a real unexpected surprise.

Continue to pray for:

- Finding cost effective solutions to the work, while building in a way that shows good use of God’s resources,

- Safety for those working on our facility, we have had one significant accident/injury on the job already, pray for his healing and for the safety of others at our site,

- Quick and favorable review and approval of the remaining plans that are in with the city review.