Last updated Saturday, December 21, 2008
Photo Gallery
Click here for project photos.
Progress Diary
Below are updates on the work completed. See the link above for project photos.
Saturday Dec 20
Hello again everyone and Happy Holidays!!!
I hear you have had snow in Seattle....it's 85 here during the day and a balmy 60ish in the evenings!
Many of you are asking if we are on schedule with construction items, and I'd say we are still a bit ahead of schedule, with the exception of the brick laying still going very slowly. We are dependent upon the brickwork being done, section by section in order for us to pour the floor squares and they are working in a pattern that allowed us to get the first 2 sections completed yesterday, but now we can't pour any more floor squares basically until we are completed with the brick all the way around the rest of the building.
On the bright side....the electrical system is basically complete although we are still connected to a temporary power location. We have to wait for the local officials to hook us to the permanent power pole. At present we are holding off on the solar power portion, as we are working on a few sanitation issues that turned out to be bigger than we first saw in April. We will likely do some solar hot water, but we can't make that decision for another week or so.
The irrigation system ran it's first temporary zone test to cheers and shouts from the kids and teachers. They actually excused themselves from the brick work scaffolding so they could see the sprinkler system sending water into the sky!!! We still have 2 more tanks to cut into the system and some more programming to do on the controller, but we'll have that done in a few days....holidays permitting.
The 175 mattresses arrived this week, sponsored by the funds being raised by HNA students in Seattle. At first the kids didn't really get that they would be theirs to sleep on until they graduated. Then after a while they understood what we were doing and all hell broke loose.....kids jumping up and down on them and being generally thrilled. They don't want us to remove the plastic covering they came wrapped in for transport, to make them last longer! These are hospital quality mattresses with waterproof coverings so they should be good for a long time. We had the kids do the task of removing the old pieces of board and foam and assorted mats on each bed because, as you can imagine, lots of crawly things had taken up residence there.
We are nearly complete with the construction of a new burn pit, which will have a roof on it this time, and then we'll demo the old one, which happens to be currently located a few feet away from the new building.
Tomorrow the new construction type toilets will arrive and we'll start building them new sewage containment vaults in the ground and having the excavation machine collapse the old outhouses into their own broken pits, putting the new dirt from the excavation over them and creating a 'grassy knoll' where they once were. For those of you who have already been here, you can imagine the relief it will be to get this mess taken care of. Basically, we are building completely new retention tanks in the ground out of CMU blocks, and installing cleanable 'porta-pottie' type facilities on top of the new vaults. Each of the 3 vaults will be properly piped to a drain field. In addition we will run a pipe using rain water run-off across the front of the 'drop area' to rinse it and keep it clean.
The sandstone window/door trim and sill pieces are set out in a room to dry and be sealed before they get installed.
Our 2 major projects that will be underway on Monday will be the toilet vaults and the construction of the stage platform...finally. Can't wait to see how many versions of the stair stringers we'll have to cut before they are right!
So, stay warm and know that we think about you all often.....those who've already connected here and those of you yet to join us!
Saturday Dec 13
As the holiday's approach, various groups of students keep coming back to work on the project, while others switch off and head to relatives. Carol will be cooking a big holiday dinner on the 25th for those who are here working their butts off....the kids are great! The brick laying continues with the first 2 sections (from the back) being done and both sides done up to the window sill level. On Monday the welders come to set the steel headers for the 8 big windows and then we start laying across the top and sides of the windows toward the front of the building. Yesterday we finished pouring the concrete slab floor squares that will be under the stage area. It's all curing now and we start building the stage on Monday. We were able to find solid tongue and grove Muranti planking (their version of mahogany) for the final stage floor....it's beautiful wood. Now we have to find a product to finish it with!!! No such thing as swedish finish here. We'll look at our next trip to JoBurg. Today we got all the remaining irrigation sprinkler piping and heads set. All that's left if to set the pumps and switches and it will be a working system. Electrician coming on Wednesday to wire the controller.
Sunday Dec 7
Rome reported today that they have been busy laying irrigation pipe and bricklaying. About 1/3rd of the sprinkler heads for the irrigation have been set and the bricklaying is coming along. A decision was made to have the mortar specialists lay the exterior brick and the volunteers lay the interior brick. It's slow work but it's coming along. It helps to have the specialists laying the outside course as it give the less experienced volunteers a guide to go by.
Sunday Nov 30
Finished moving brick, finished filling in old retention tank, continued to grade north berm. Began painting windows.
Through Saturday Nov 29
Raked and seeded north berm (located between new building and school garden), dug a ditch to install irrigation pipes and moved bricks in preparation for laying. 4 water tanks were delivered - 2 for the new building and 2 to replace old asbestos tanks. Windows and doors also delivered
Wednesday Nov 26
Roofing work begun; bucket brigade of kids moved bricks onto site; work begun on concrete block wall at the back side of the building.
Tuesday Nov 25
Roof trusses set in place; supply shopping.
Monday Nov 24
The building columns were put in place and the rest of the gravel was spread around the entire floor space of the building.
Thursday Nov 20 - Saturday Nov 22
Concrete was mixed and poured into the foundation. The steel erection has been moved up and begins on Monday, Nov 24.
Wednesday Nov 19
The footing gravel was compressed, the rebar cages to support the foundation were added and wired in place, and forms to support the foundation were constructed.. All is ready for concrete.
Tuesday Nov 18
The footer was additionally prepped for the steel beams that will be erected in early December. The footers were leveled to within 2 cm and gravel was added all around. An entire classroom helped with this last step and it was done in 40 minutes. Yes, we'll be doing a little QC first thing in the morning. :)
Monday Nov 17
Today was a BIG day. We wired the last of the foundation cages. The grading of the site was finished. The exact building site was determined, measured and lined, and the footing trenches were dug. We took delivery of 3 trucks of gravel, one of sand and a compactor. Some gravel distribution into the footing trenches began. It was a 13 hour day, we're beat, and students, teachers and volunteers alike have big smiles on their faces.
Sunday Nov 16
Grading continued. Assembly of the rebar cages continued, as well as rebar pad to be used in the foundation to support the steel upright beams. More shopping for supplies (although most stores are not open here on Sundays).
Saturday Nov 15
Groundbreaking took place at 8am today! Assembly began on rebar cages to be used in the foundation.
Friday Nov 14
Work has begun!! A classroom next to the building site has been set up with tools and first aid supplies. The site was surveyed for initial grading measurements and we went shopping for tools and supplies.
|
