The landscape outside the new classrooms has been smoothed in preparation for the upcoming first days of school. It’s looking great!
Inside, progress is also moving along, with one exception: the concrete. According to construction superintendent Matt Hollman, the concete has not dried enough for tile flooring to be installed.
“Concrete takes time to cure out and there are so many variables,” says Matt. “We’ve been running air conditioning and dehumidifiers. We were at 9, 10, and 11% moisture content and now we’re at 7.1%. We need to be down to 5% to install the VCT (vinyl composition tile).”
To those students anxiously awaiting the start of school: Not to fear!
While the concrete could take months to dry, classes can continue without tile on the floor. St. Mark’s will be able to use the classrooms with concrete floors and the tile will be installed during Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations.
Crews from Walsh Masonry worked hard and fast this week to ready the gymnasium walls for Friday’s delivery of bar joists for the roof. As shown above, a crane lowered each of the 18 joists and then men from H&B Steel secured them into place.
Along with God’s blessings of physical structures comes the responsibility of caring for them. Overseeing this for St. Mark’s is A.J. Ritschke, who serves as maintenance manager for both the church and school.
This week St. Mark’s members got in on the action as they painted the original classrooms and hallways. Our thanks to the 20 people who volunteered!