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All our teams this summer will be contributing together towards building a new Maintenance Facility for the school. Last fall’s hurricane demolished our old shed and thus it was by these divinely orchestrated circumstances that we were due for an upgraded tool shed – which we are affectionately calling a “Maintenance Facility.”
With all the teams dove-tailing one another in their summer work and production, it is vital that each follow the required steps to make sure we not only build in unison but also finish the shed on time. One prerequisite for our summer teams was prepping the building location so that the heavy labor was taken care of before hand such that we’d make best use of the many-hand that accompany summer mission teams.
This meant a rigorous reevaluation of the building site and some significant structural improvements and enhancements. Years ago when they initially poured the old slab they did it in sections and each section followed its own level and square, there wasn’t the need for a strict attention to detail and so the slab went up as it did. Additionally, the foundation was never planned to support a block structure so every sort of filler was used and the mortar was missing in many places. Additionally, the years of sun, wind, and rain were abusive to this floor and foundation, therefore we’d be required to pour a new one.
It was through the cooperation of our Spring teams that we were able to accomplish this feat of engineering. The saying “many hands make light work” is true and with Kari and Julie and the Huglins and Flunkers we cut out and pour our supporting columns and floor beam.
It was then over the next many weeks of “spare-time” that I had to finish forming, squaring, and leveling the floor. Finally in this past week, with the help of some dear colleagues we finally poured the new foundation and floor for our summer project.
Now I’ll be straight to the point. I’ve mixed cement in Eleuthera for 11 years… from now on I’m calling the truck. There is no better way to pour cement! What a joy to have the entire floor finished in just over couple of hours. Poured, skimmed, trimmed, leveled and dried. It was fantastic, and the product is ready for stage II.
Now our first summer team arrives on Saturday and their task is to set the walls and the forms for the columns and belt course. Pray that we’ll move ahead of schedule and the Lord will continue to provide for all the needs of the school and especially our summer project and pray for our summer teams, and for their sense of community in cooperation towards a single task.
And special thanks to Steve for leaving his cement boots – I couldn’t have done it without them!