Family Life Center

The warmer than predicted weather has allowed the masons to continue working and continue to maintain schedule. The warmer weather has also brought the frost out of the ground and has turned the site into a quagmire being constantly churned by the Lull’s as their large tires and 4 wheel drive create ruts up to 3 feet deep as they move scaffolding and supply the masons with brick and mortar.

The remaining brickwork is all on the Chapel and we have 2 electric scaffolds set so that (weather permitting) we can simultaneously work 2 masonry crews until completion. The chapel roofing is going slower than expected due to the nature of the ridge/valley design and the need to hand fit and cut the metal panels.

The entire gym ceiling has been dry-walled, taped and floated (covered with drywall “mud”) and is in the process of being sanded to its final finish before receiving paint.
Per my previous note, the millwork order has been placed with a new supplier who has submitted test panels exhibiting their proposed finish and edge details and those samples have been reviewed by both Rebecca Kleba and myself and approved. Delivery is scheduled to begin in about 2 weeks. These changes are price neutral. The steel lintels are beginning to be set in the Chapel in preparation of wrapping the window openings with brick and glazing. The second floor drywall has begun as has the drywall in the lobby and the offices. Taping and floating is underway in the rest rooms and first floor hallways.

The washable fiber board is completely installed in the kitchen area except for the areas due to receive the coolers. Kitchen flooring should start next week.

We will work a half day on Christmas Eve but will work a full day on New Years Day. The 2 main RTU’s (roof top units) have been turned on and are supplying heat to the interior along with propane salamanders. Paric and I have a “handshake” agreement that the units will be cycled off when we are doing sanding and that they will vigilantly replace the air filter media frequently. Paric is responsible for the utility costs until we take possession and they have purchased at their expense an additional warranty period on the RTU’s so we get a full 12 months (warranty usually starts when the units are first run). Staffing by all trades continues to be good and it appears that Paric’s internal aggressive schedule of Substantial Completion of the building by the end of February is on target.

The Site

Rhoden’s Landscaping was able to put in a few days on the underground sprinkler installation before the thaw turned the site to mush. Tom Benning and I are reviewing the overall sprinkler layout as we both have concerns about the drainage swale along the Outer Road and our system perhaps creating an erosion hazard over the MoDot fiber optic lines.

I have asked Jeff Klein of Geotechnology to visit our site and to update his fee estimate to account for our saturated subgrade and rock. I believe we only have about $800 left in the Geotech budget and we could well exceed that in reconciling our saturated subgrade.