What a difference a week makes! While Beaver Wrecking and Salvage, of Beaver Dam, demolishes the last of the necessary interior walls, Walsh Masonry, of Ixonia, lays exterior walls for the new classrooms. They’ve also begun footings for the offices located in the front, central area of the school.

There’s a lot happening inside the building as well. Midwest Electric, of Watertown, has been installing outlets in the existing classrooms and Monona Plumbing, of Madison, is laying pipes for the ground floor bathrooms. Here, the teacher’s lounge is now plumbed to be the girls bathroom.

In what used to be the cafeteria, crews have installed shoring to support the ceiling when a portion of the wall is removed for the incoming elevator.

An interesting bit of St. Mark’s history
This week we had Hepp Excavating in to remove a foundation from the old 1915 school. Along with the foundation were footings for a breezeway that connected the old school to the new school (new, that is, if you’re in your 40’s and 50’s). How many of you remember walking that breezeway from one school to the other?

And how’s the weather been?
While much of Watertown is still drying out, St. Mark’s continues to appreciate its sandy soil, which project superintendent Matt Hollman says “drains very well.” The only negative effect from the weather has been unloading the demolition debris.

“We had trouble getting rid of the demolition material because the ground at our dumping site is too soft,” says Matt. “We can’t get in with the trucks. So now, we’re taking it to another pit.”

Overall, the project is going very well. From 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., anyone in the neighborhood will hear and see lots of activity. God’s blessings on the activity!

The week started with more than seven inches of rain, causing flooding for many Watertown areas. As the week progresses, we continue to get downpours. Yet God guides our project. “We’ve been very lucky in spite of the rain,” says Matt Hollman, Maas Brothers superintendent for the project. “Because we’ve got sandy soil, the water’s not sitting around. We had four inches of water in the footings but we were able to pump it out with no problem.” Demolition continues this week, including tearing out the stairs—a rather interesting job done by a robot. The robot, from Interstate Sawing Co., of West Bend, provides a safety measure that keeps everyone away from falling debris. Here, the robot knocks out the stairs along side the library and cafeteria. And yes, that’s the cafeteria in the top photo, minus its interior walls. No more jog in the hallway… Looks like there’s been a lot of tearing and knocking things down. But there’s been more. Crews began pouring footings for the new classrooms, located toward the east end of the building. This means construction has officially begun! Please keep the work crews in your prayers. Pray for their safety as they finish demolition this week.