Albany Project: Fifth Day

The clutter remains -- ladders, scaffolding, cut and un-cut drywall, corner bead, two-by-fours, scraps of this and that, but not nearly as much joint compound as a while ago.

Our finishing work continues. The proscenium arch in the theater has come a long, long way. Now, sheathed in a skim-coat of joint compound, it is almost ready to paint, as are the surrounding walls. Almost, almost.

Further behind is the Oasis. Though every joint now has a coat of mud, much sanding and reapplications remain. The soffits are almost done, too.

With John joining the work crew today, the Theater now has its new door. The closet door is not far behind. Seth has been given a design commission by John to sketch out the marquee. So that, too, may soon be underway.

The projection: two more days of mudding and everything should be ready for a first coat of paint.

Albany Project: Day Four

Sydney and her father, Jim, joined us today. We also had church members: Susan and Mike, Linda, Ray and Pastor Glenn. NYS-FITS+ included Roland, JoEllen and Tom and Debbie and Eric, with Rose Ann preparing supper.

Our efforts today included a variety of finishing jobs. In the stage area we added more mud, corner bead and underneath trim to the arch. Soon now everything will be ready for the first coat of paint.

Linda was busy painting in the Arts and Crafts area. With just a little more work the Theater will be ready, too.

In the Oasis the mudding continued after the smoke and fire detector was installed and the last piece of drywall lifted into place. Corner bead and mud were added to the soffits. Another coat or two on the ceiling and soffits and everything will be paint-ready.

Albany Project: Day Three

Well, today we were supposed to finish, but we didn't make it. Much ground has been covered -- many walls drywalled including the Oasis pyramid, the risers and sink are in place, and the taping and mudding begun -- and yet there is much remaining to be completed.

A reduced crew, less than half the number we had to start, will work the next two days. Perhaps by the end of the week the mudding will be close to being finished. This will include installation of the corner beads and trim around the arch above the stage.

Once again today we were fed a delicious lunch by the Deacons of the church. They have done this all three days and will continue through Friday. Our evening meals are prepared by Joanne, Marcia and Rose Ann. All this good food has helped to keep us going. We truly appreciate all that everyone has done to support our efforts!

Several church members, Marilyn and Phillip, Leslie, Mike, Douglas, and Ray, have worked with us, increasing our output. Miriam and Glenn Leupold, the pastoral team serving the church, have occasionally been able to join us for lunch or dinner. Miriam has also gone the second mile of greeting us each morning with fresh coffee, as we gather in the parking lot.

Albany Project: Day Two

After a second long, productive day, the end -- while still distant -- is almost in sight!

The Jericho Theater risers are finished, as is the drywalling in that room -- next comes the taping and mudding. Unknown for the time being is how the rug will be re-attached on the surface. Ron and Jim moved on to drywall the hall closet and finished hanging that by day's end. The door jambs to both the closet and Jericho Theater need re-framing before the doors can be re-hung to complete these areas.

In the Oasis, three of the four walls are drywalled and the insulation is all in place. Two of the corners are done, but these places have been slow-going, as has the pyramid ceiling. This ceiling is over half done but the taping and mudding remain here, too.

The plumbing is finished in the Arts and Crafts area and the sink is in place. The counter and storage area have yet to be completed.

At Sinai Stage, almost all of the drywall work has been finished and all of the large stage extensions are assembled -- two other, triangular pieces remain.

Albany Project: Day One

Eight AM, 18 people gather for introductions, a welcome from Pastor Miriam, stretching and other preliminaries. Tools were then carried to the third floor -- lots of hands, light work! And after architect-designer, John Myers, walked us through the rooms, we divided into four teams and went to work.

Fruits of our labors. By day's end, the Sinai Stage has 8 of its 10 "stage extension platforms" cut and partly assembled and about 2/3 of the needed drywall cut and screwed in place with insulation added to the interior walls. Peg and JoEllen led this crew of 5, Leslie, Mike and Betty assisted.

Kevin and "Papa" Don worked on the plumbing for the Arts & Crafts room. While it took a while to find the requisite drain line and sources of water, if the sink had been on site, they would have been almost ready to begin making connections when work ended.

In Jericho Theater, Ron and Tom led their team of 5, with Jim, Phillip and Ray rounding out their crew. Here, following John's plans, they rolled back the rug and began laying down the riser supports which will soon hold 25 theater seats, once the platforms are installed. By day's end they were ready to begin screwing down the platforms. Besides this, they did some drywalling.

Finally, in the Oasis, or open meeting area, Terry, Peter and Eric worked with Linda, Marilyn and Debbie to install drywall on the walls and ceilings. Work here was slowed because of the ceiling height and tricky hallway corners. When completed this area will also showcase a marquee over the entrance to Jericho Theater. At day's end, more than half the drywall was in place.

Sunday Celebration

We worked late on Saturday and then worked again before and after worship on Sunday. By 4 o'clock we were "finished" in more ways than one. The front room was done! The new floor and baseboard were at long last in place, but not without some last minute thinking outside the box. When the vinyl cove baseboard was reluctant to adhere to our wainscoting, it took some quick thinking by Jill to substitute ripped composite material in its place. The completed project really looks good.

And in the men's room, another completed effort. The doors are on the showers and toilet stalls. All the pine has been primed. A new light was added over the shower area, and the exhaust fan was connected and operational. The room has a bright, clean and functional appearance. Everything is now ready for the delivery and plumbing of the new vanity.

The truck and cars were loaded within an hour of completing the work. By 5:30 PM we were on the road and headed north. 

Thanks, again, to all whose donations and pray support made this latest work of our NYS-FITS+ possible.

Friday and Saturday Progress

We got up early having mapped out a plan for the day last night. Jill, Roland and Eric were to work on replacing the ceiling, as Eric and Roland had been the ones who drilled the holes in the first place. Don, Tom and Ron would work on the bathroom, installing the partitions between the showers. JoEllen and Debbie started on cutting down the 5 doors for the bathroom. Before long the lack of drilling noise was noticed. Jill and Eric had gone to Home Depot to return with a mammoth Hilti rotary hammer drill that made drilling the holes much "easier." Jill now took over the drilling and worked with JoEllen on replacing the smaller screws with large TapCons and wiring the lights to the ceiling, replacing any broken parts to the framework. Meanwhile Eric moved to putting up melamine in the bathroom. Debbie continued with cutting down doors. We worked until near 5:30 when we needed to someone to the Baptist Church to secure the showers.

Giant strides towards completing our project were made today: the ceiling is fully and totally re-suspended!! and the flooring tiles are all in place. The room, which two days ago looked like a bomb had fallen has taken on a new nature. It looks like a million dollars. Well, at least a usable , and highly rent-able, space.

The bathroom is now nearing completion. The second toilet has been installed. For the showers, the dividers are in place, the mats have been purchased and the dressing platforms made. The doors have all been trimmed and received their first coat of paint. Also, the grouting was done around the second commode, the first door was installed, the exhaust fan hooked up and vented to the outside, and a new light installed in the shower area. Some of the prime coat has been applied to the white pine surfaces, too. It won't be long now. In fact, the showers are ready for their first use and will probably get it later tonight.

Thanks go to all who have been praying for us and sending us encouraging notes. You guys are terrific. Tomorrow, we are hoping to get just a little more work in before and after worship.