New Home Update – October 5, 2016
By the end of the day, Wednesday, Oct. 5, when the last
truckloads of fill are dumped, graded and compacted, site preparation will be
complete. As reported last week, the process began with the removal of tree
stumps, vegetation, the swimming pool, and poor quality fill that would not
support our structure.
Completing site
preparation required sixty truckloads of fill,which was excavated from the construction site of a new Sheetz near the Wexford exit of I-79 about 25 miles away. The fill was compacted with a
48,000 pound excavator and rolled smooth with a six-ton roller. The 900 cubic
yards of fill raised the grade just over two feet at the highest point.This
was done for a very good reason. Our new building does not have a basement or a
crawl space like the demolished wing did: it is “slab on grade.” To compensate for the lack of a basement and
the slope of the site, it was necessary to raise and level the grade so that
when a four-inch concrete slab is poured, the floor of our new addition will be
level with the floor of our existing building. 
Another essential part of site preparation
was the excavation of a trench 10 feet by 40 feet by 8.5 feet deep that, with
the addition of gravel, perforated storage chambers and geotextile, will be
used for storm water retention. Rain water from the downspouts of our new
building will collect there. Some will percolate into the soil, and the
overflow will run to the township storm sewers. Coming next – concrete footings!
New Home Update – September 28, 2016
The Tower of Pisa leans because it was built on a bed of
clay, sand and shells that could not support its weight. While the leaning
tower allegedly was used by Galileo to prove his theory about the acceleration
of falling objects and has been a boon to tourism, the lean prevented the
building from being used for its original purpose – as a bell tower. In the 12th
century there was no such thing as geotechnical (soil) engineering, which would
have kept the tower standing straight and tall. Today there is, and Sunnyhill
has contracted Professional Service Industries, Inc. (PSI) to perform the
geotechnical engineering for construction of our new home. PSI has already conducted
a laboratory compaction test on some of our soil, and a technician has been
onsite this week observing the work of the excavation company. Whenever dirt is
being moved and compacted, PSI will be there to be sure it is done right. While
the excavation and geotechnical engineering phase of construction doesn’t make for
exciting pictures and videos, the work being done is essential to ensuring that
the ground we build on will support our new home for generations to come.
In other news, the New
Home construction team, TEDCO and RDC discussed the issue of heating the
building over the winter. TEDCO has agreed to look into some options, which we
will discuss at a special meeting, and we expect to have a solution before the
heating season begins.
Also, a three-minute time-lapse video of the demolition
of the north wing has been published on YouTube. It can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ECiJgTeDI
.
New Home Update –
September 21, 2016
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, TEDCO completed the demolition phase
of construction when the last pieces of the foundation scheduled to be removed
were pulled from the ground and carted away. The remaining sections of the
foundation will become part of the new building. Today, the excavation phase
begins, starting with the removal of the swimming pool and several tree stumps,
which Dennis Sweeney will turn into bowls for sale at a future service auction.
As the work progresses, the excavation company will grade, fill, and compact
the site. They will dig a storm water retention pit behind the new sanctuary
and excavate trenches for the footings that will support the walls and the
steel roof trusses. An essential part of the process will be geotechnical
testing, which will ensure that the ground under the footings is stable enough
to support our new home. Pictures of the work will be published in next week’s
Beat. In other good news, the township has approved our drawings and will issue
a building permit today; removing the last roadblock to building our new home. The
remaining foundation seen in this photo will house our utility room, the
stairway to and from the main floor, and the new entry into the main RE room in
the basement.
New Home Update – September 15, 2016 (From the October Drummer)
The north wing of Sunnyhill exists only in photographs and
memories. At 8:53 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, an excavator with a grapple
bucket – the technical name for the heavy equipment – took the first bite out
of the building. By 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, the north wing was gone and most
of the rubble had been hauled away. Remaining demolition – parts of the
foundation and the entire patio – will be completed by the time this edition of
The Drummer is published. The next
step will include removing the swimming pool, grading and compacting the site,
and excavating for the footings and foundation of our new wing.
Earlier in the month a new team was formed to oversee the
construction of the building. The team meets every other Tuesday with our
contractor, TEDCO, and our architect, Rothschild Doyno Collaborative (RDC), to
review progress of the building, approve changes in scope, and authorize
At the same meeting Denny McCracken reported that we had
received the final documents for our construction loan from Huntington Bank.
The agreements have been signed by President Denny McCracken, Vice President
Jay Thornton, and Treasurer Regina Yankie. Our loan is now secured, and all of our
financing is in place.
Now that the church is a full-blown construction site, TEDCO
has installed fencing along the front and sides of the property and lockable
gates on the driveways from Washington Road and Sunnyhill Drive. These gates
will be locked at night during the work week and all day Saturdays and Sundays.
Our access is from Sunnyhill Drive. That gate has two padlocks linked together
– one belongs to Sunnyhill and one is owned by TEDCO. Anyone needing access to
the building in the evenings and on the weekends should see Roy for a key to
our padlock and a tutorial on how the locking system works. The gate is heavy
and not easy to open, so be careful.
Finally, with cold weather approaching an issue that we are
addressing is heating the portion of the building we are occupying. While the
offices, kitchen and bathroom must be heated to comfortable temperatures for
our staff, the fellowship hall only needs to be heated to about 45 degrees to
prevent the building from deteriorating due to the cold. TEDCO is working on a
solution, which should be in place before heating season begins.
The New Home Construction Team will continue to provide
updates in The Beat and The Drummer, and once demolition is
completed, we will post a time lapse video of the process on our website.
New Home Update – September 14, 2016
Temporary walls have been installed in the fellowship hall
and basement, and the separation of the building will be completed today. As
you might imagine in a building that has been rewired many times in its 90-year
life, separating the electricity has been a challenge. But, now we are ready,
and tomorrow, Sept. 15, the walls of the north wing, like the walls of Jericho,
will come tumbling down. Instead of ram horns, our demolition crew will use
heavy construction equipment with giant jaws. A construction camera has been
mounted in our oak tree to capture the event, and the video will be posted on
our website when the demo is finished. The camera captures one frame every 10 seconds.
New Home Update – September
7, 2016
At 7 a.m. sharp on Tuesday, Sept. 6, Craig Frye, our
construction manager from TEDCO, and members of his construction team arrived
on site and set to work. The first order of business was to seal several
doorways with plastic to prevent dust from their work in the north wing from
getting into the areas we are occupying. For security, plywood will also be
nailed over those doorways. As the day progressed, equipment began arriving on
site. A dumpster, a portable toilet and a high-lift were the first to be
delivered. Later in the day two trailers arrived – one to be used as an office
and the other for meetings. By the end of the week the construction area will
be fenced off and lockable chain-link gates will be installed across the
driveways. 
Inside the north wing crews removed the newel post caps and
set them aside for use in the new building. Then they began the delicate and
dusty task of separating the walls of the north wing from the walls of the
foyer, fellowship hall and basement. Electricity, gas and water will also be
separated this week. This essential work will allow heavy equipment to demolish
the north wing safely without damaging the remainder of the building.
Although we submitted our plans for township approval on
July 26, we are still waiting for our building permit. While we can continue
demolition and site preparation without the permit, we cannot begin
construction until our plans have been approved. The approval process was
initially delayed while Mt. Lebanon hired a new building inspector. Then we were
told that our plans did not comply with Mt. Lebanon’s fire code. Our architect,
Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, has reworked the plans to address the issue,
and Mt. Lebanon has agreed in principle that the modifications are acceptable. A
meeting to finally resolve the issue is scheduled for Friday, and we expect to
have the permit in hand shortly thereafter.
New Home Update – August 31, 2016
Our months of planning, fundraising and due diligence are
finally going to bear fruit. On Tuesday, Sept. 6, TEDCO, our construction
manager, will begin the 10-month process of building our new home. During the
first week of the project, the infrastructure for the new construction will be
set up. Office trailers will be placed in the parking lot, construction site
boundaries will be established and signs designating construction and staff
entrances will be installed. At the same time crews will be working inside the
building to separate the utilities – electricity, gas and water – so the north
wing can safely be demolished while our staff continues to work on the premises. To secure the fellowship hall and the south
wing of Sunnyhill and protect them from the elements, temporary walls will be
built on the main floor and in the basement.
The second phase of the project, demolition of the north
wing will take place between Sept. 14 and 21. The third phase, site preparation,
will begin immediately after demolition. This phase will include removal of the
swimming pool, pulling out tree stumps and grading the site so footings can be
dug and construction can begin in earnest. Throughout the construction process
the New Home team will meet regularly with our architects and construction
manager to ensure that we stay within budget, on schedule and our design goals
are met. The team is also committed to communicating the progress of our
project with the congregation through articles and photographs in The Beat and The Drummer.
Beginning next week, if you have a meeting or business at
Sunnyhill, please use the entrance off Sunnyhill Drive and park in the row of
spaces in the southernmost part of the parking lot, which will be reserved
exclusively for our use. Construction sites can be dangerous, so please respect
the boundaries established by our contractors. If you must go into the
construction zone, check with the construction manager first and please wear a
hardhat, which will be available in the office.
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