So work started in earnest some time in November. The digging machines came and soon found something called "shale" which turns out to be some kind of clay which is so hard it is almost stone and requires the geotech guy to come in and evaluate and the contractor to rent some additional stone breaking type equipment. Apparently there is a lot of shale under the Hampton Village Mall which has caused some problems. The geotech guy looked around our basements and said we didn't have their problems. Still, it did mean on the second day of work we had about $4,000 extra expense. The architect was philosophical. "This is why we budget for contingencies." But as Marylen the deacon said, "Yeah, but you don't usually expect to have contingencies the minute you start the work."
Apart from that all seems to be going well. This process involves some sudden activity, like when the contractor called on the Monday before Thanksgiving to say we needed to clear out the purple room and vesting area (which were pretty much but not totally cleared out) by FRIDAY. I , of course, was on vacation (as I often am during property crises, like the time the fridge died and the time the sprinklers went berserk. Just a coincidence...)
The fabulous parish secretary Carol E. summoned help from various vestry persons and Kelly L. (since Altar Guild is most adversely affected by this project) and everyone moved things and all was well. Apparently in our future there will be some weeks when the AA room will be unavailable so that the contractor can connect the new sacristy and disabled bathroom plumbing to the sewer. And some electrical work will need to be done, I believe, affecting that space. I think we can accomodate the group in the parish hall... And of course under the carpet in all the spaces the contractors are working on there is asbestos tile....
So it goes on. Today they were pouring the foundations and you can begin to see the dimensions of the whole project. There were countless trucks parked on the grass around the construction. Rather impressive for such a physically small project.
Louis Stiller has been our faithful roving photographer and you can see his work (more or less in chronological order) on the St Mark's Flickr site which is here.
Link to the Flickr page or check back often since Louis takes new photos every week to chronicle our progress.
