It is Saturday morning, and with an hour to waste I hopped into the car and took a trip to ODEC. Now it’s not that I don’t spend time in the week malingering on site, but sometimes it’s rather nice to loaf around the empty building to fully absorb what Scott Crumley has delivered. And, truth be told, there’s also a growing realization one can see the light at the end of the “construction tunnel” and it most definitely is not the headlight on one of those “big yellow construction machines” bearing down on me!
This week saw Scott Crumley in classic juggling mode as he chased and berated a myriad of trades that should have been on site to finish a plethora of jobs including plumbing, painting, electrical and HVAC, to name but a few. Although their presence was sorely missed on Monday, by Wednesday it seemed we were hosting a “construction trade fair” with so many different contractors on site. By week’s end most of the external painting was done, plumbing installation in the Great Hall well on it’s way, and Atlantic Heating and Air were “knocking out” the last few jobs that must be done before we start the, rather arduous, series of inspections to be concluded before occupancy. I don’t know if you have ever played with one of those Chinese wooden puzzles? Jo, my wife, always buys some to pop in our Christmas stockings (hours of frustration promised for everyone). The trick to solving the puzzle is always the order in which you do things – try and remove one part before another and the whole puzzles locks up, leading to frustration and a desire to give the puzzle a good whack with a heavy hammer. Well, moving from where we are with the building now to being able to occupy the new spaces is very much akin to doing a Chinese puzzle, but without the heavy hammer. It is all about the the order of doing things, so bearing in mind you are being guided by the construction equivalent of a luddite, let me try to explain. The ceiling tiles must be installed, but that can’t be done until Scott has had a ceiling inspection, and that can’t be done until the final electrical and the final HVAC work has been completed and inspected, a situation made ever so slightly more challenging due to the unexpected non-availability of the main HVAC chap, who did the lion's share of the work in our building. But for our purpose, let’s suppose we have the ceiling inspection “seal of approval” what then? Now, the fire alarm takes center stage for its very own inspection under the ever-watchful eyes of Thomas McCormick, our fire alarm guru. I will not regale you once more with the fire alarm story, suffice to say if I never get the opportunity to be even remotely involved in a fire alarm system installation again…. well……..it will be way too soon! However, with doors suitably numbered, two permanent, dedicated telephone lines installed (and now working) and the door security contractor, having had enough nagging, (I’ve discovered a new talent, “professional contractor nagger” and I’ll be trying to leverage this talent into my fourth career AC – that’s “after construction” – with the proviso I don’t deal with anything even remotely fire alarm related) arrived on site in the form of Randall. Not our regular security door guy, but one who seems to have been just about the only cove from the company who wasn’t on leave since before the July 4th celebrations. So, many thanks to Randall for picking up the thread and “getting ‘er dun.” Bottom line, I think the fire alarm is ready for its inspection, that is, once everything else has been inspected. I feel I’ve harangued enough on the subject of inspections so let me “dwell a pause” on that topic and bring you up to date on the goings on in Tucker Hall. In a nutshell the Hall is currently a bit of a mess! The palladium window is gone and if it were not for the new sheet rock marking out its profile, a bit like those chalk markings you see in any good murder mystery (btw I recommend a Brit crime series called “Paranoid”) you wouldn’t know there ever was a window. Likewise, the new side door leading from Tucker into the Witchduck Rd. entrance to the Narthex has been cut into the wall and at the opposite end of the Hall the double back doors are no more. This is critical progress because, if you haven’t guessed, a successful fire inspection is dependent on the availability of those Narthex/Tucker Hall doors – now this is starting to get repetitive. Of course, although Tucker Hall is in a slightly disheveled state just now, you know that it, too, will soon be put to rights and with that, I will leave you until next time. Stay safe and stay healthy, David Beach
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AuthorDavid Beach is our Building Project Manager, and has been an active part of our parish family for more than a decade. He is retired from NATO and the British Army and is a joy and blessing to all of us. Archives
July 2021
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