Over the past two weeks or so, the steel reinforcement beams and rings have been installed in the towers of the church, but not without a few challenges.
It seems that some of the beams which were fabricated turned out to be too long, and others were too short for the space they needed to fit into. Result: the installers (who are not the same company as the one that fabricated the pieces) have to cut pieces of steel from some beams, and somehow add pieces to others. Cutting is relatively easy, but adding involves welding (something that they don't want to do on site since there are wooden floors which could easily burn if they come in contact with flying sparks).
As of yesterday, most of the support structure is in place. It needs to be secured: a process which involves tightening the bolts and screws that are holding them in place, but there are also some other adjustments that need to be done. Apparently some of the clamps and fasteners need to be re-adjusted, because the pre-drilled holes for the bolts don't quite line up with the bricks and mortar into which they are supposed to be fastened.
The biggest delay though has to do with the fact that the safety ladder and the cage which will surround it are about three feet too short. We're working on the solution, and hoping that it will be corrected within about a week or so.
Once the steel work is complete, the inner scaffolding will be removed, and aside from the ongoing pointing, that will leave two major things to be completed before the bell can be reconnected:
It seems that some of the beams which were fabricated turned out to be too long, and others were too short for the space they needed to fit into. Result: the installers (who are not the same company as the one that fabricated the pieces) have to cut pieces of steel from some beams, and somehow add pieces to others. Cutting is relatively easy, but adding involves welding (something that they don't want to do on site since there are wooden floors which could easily burn if they come in contact with flying sparks).
As of yesterday, most of the support structure is in place. It needs to be secured: a process which involves tightening the bolts and screws that are holding them in place, but there are also some other adjustments that need to be done. Apparently some of the clamps and fasteners need to be re-adjusted, because the pre-drilled holes for the bolts don't quite line up with the bricks and mortar into which they are supposed to be fastened.
The biggest delay though has to do with the fact that the safety ladder and the cage which will surround it are about three feet too short. We're working on the solution, and hoping that it will be corrected within about a week or so.
Once the steel work is complete, the inner scaffolding will be removed, and aside from the ongoing pointing, that will leave two major things to be completed before the bell can be reconnected:
- painters will have to prep the window frames in the towers (there are twenty windows that will need some TLC) and then they will have to prime and paint the frames;
- the louver systems which will be installed at the level where the bell is found still needs to be fabricated. We are told that there is about a 10 week lead time to get this done, so the decision about where they will be made needs to be made this week if at all possible. Chances are that the scaffolding which is currently on the outside of the towers will be removed before the louvers are installed. Stay tuned for more developments.
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