Steve Booth, our Clerk of the Works, has done a fine job of documenting the construction progress. Follow this link to his gallery on SmugMug.com. There are numerous pages with the most recent photographs on Page 1 : SmugMug.com photos of new meetinghouse [1]
We have our occupancy permit, the folding chairs have arrived (and the worship room chairs are ordered), stone has been bucketed around the building, and paint has been touched up around all the surfaces. Microwave will be mounted tomorrow and stove placed into position. All is coming together! This Saturday the YRE committee will be setting up classrooms. Other work to be done includes raking out stone piles (bring your iron rakes) and some wheel barrow work; digging 2 post holes for the handicapped parking signs; moving items from the MVDC library and disassembling the library for reuse; taking paper & cardboard to the Canterbury Dump for recycling; mounting hardware on cabinets and doors; final cleaning of floors and insides of cabinets; adding another coat of cork surface protection. Please come to help with these final efforts prior to our first worship at Oxbow Pond Road this Sunday. There's something for everyone to do! Some of this can be done Sunday after Meeting.
This Saturday and Sunday afternoon we have two important jobs: Painting exterior doors and preparing for the placement of stone against the foundation. We will be weeding and installing the 2x4 barrier that will go between the stone and mulch or loam. This will be some light carpentry and some hoeing and shovel work. The painting is for experienced painters only. Please let Greg know in advance if you can help with any of this. 724-4343 or send an email to GregHeath [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org.
Below we see members and attenders, significant others and friends, and contractors hard at work in the final stages. Smiles abound. Work is good. Sorry for the poor quality on some of the pix, but I wanted you to see the people even if the quality was lacking. I wish
Some photos taken by Greg Heath using the camera on his mobile phone :
(To see full-size images, click on the images and the full-size image should appear in another tab or page.)
Dear Friends: As we close in on the “must do” items, we have been refreshed and blessed by many friends showing up. Most of the work that is underway now on the weekend is for unskilled labor. We are receiving a load of stone to go next to the foundation Friday. On the weekend our work will be to shovel loam away to make room for stone. We also will be bucketing a bit of stone around by hand to fill some small dry wells we have created under our eaves. Our neighbor across the street has volunteered to bucket the rest of the stone in his Bobcat once we are ready. What a relief!
On the inside we are touching up painting and fixing up little odds and ends...installing door knobs and latches and cabinet hardware, filling holes in woodwork, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Cardboard and rosin paper that has been protecting the floors will be coming up and carted to the Canterbury dump for recycling. We'll be dusting walls and woodwork, moving construction material, vacuuming floors etc. One big job for skilled painters is to paint our exterior doors.
The housing committee is busy searching for and evaluating furniture. In addition to the work of our members and attenders, we have had Omere and Cory Luneau on site working on pesky, difficult thresholds and they've done a great job. They are also installing door closers. Jesse Heath has trimmed out the closet in the Meeting Room, a small space full of crazy angles. He will be building a couple of platforms to go outside the side and back exterior doors. The plumbers have been working this week and we may actually be able to flush this weekend. Friday our electrician will be back to finish up. The dumpster is heading out. Kate Daniel's husband Brian has been an incredible help installing doors. The last door went in this week. It's a fire rated door for the mechanical room. Steve Booth, bless his heart, formed the Surrell (Corian like) material into a counter/sink and installed it.
For anyone who can work this weekend here is the list of what to bring: shovels, vacuum cleaners, glass cleaner, cleaning rags , floor mops and wash pans for wet mopping and large soft push brooms or microfiber brooms for dry mopping/sweeping.
Please let Greg know your plans by replying to this message or calling 724-4343. We'll plan to get underway at 9:00 Saturday. Sunday after meeting we will dive in again.
We're getting close to setting a "move in" date, but there remains lots to do. We hope Friends can continue to carve out time to help with these last projects. When the heat breaks, we will have outdoor shovel work. Indoors, base boards and door casings are going in now. Walls need to be prepped for final painting and then the actual painting. Trim work going up now will need holes filled and final coats of urethane. Opportunities are available Saturday all day, Sunday afternoon, and Monday all day. Please schedule in advance with Greg so that you don't arrive to work and find no one there. Call 783-4401 or 742-4343 or reply to this email.
Today we have let the subcontract for applying asphalt to the handicap parking spots and the walk ways up to the front entrances. The Building Committee is getting down to decisions on furnishings. Lots is happening every day.
All but two doors are now installed. We have not yet set a moving date, but we are getting close to being able to do that. Arrangements are being made to get the plumber and electrician back to do their finish work and to purchase furnishings. The work for this weekend includes installing base boards and door casings. There are some odd jobs of re-attaching cabinet doors (easy screw driver job), cutting and installing factory prepared thresholds, and a few small painting projects. There is outdoor work a-plenty for people who want do dig holes in our sandy soil (for drainage tiles) and also shoveling loam away from the foundation for the placement of a crushed rock perimeter. As usual, if you can work please contact Greg in advance at 783-4401 or 724-4343 or email clerk [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org.
Looking ahead, once the baseboards are all in, we will move to final cleaning and touch up painting of all the dings and scratches we have inflicted on the walls through all the interior finish work.
If you think you might be inadequately skilled, read on for an experience that is not atypical: A volunteer reported he had been told by others in the past that painting was not his gift. "Better to just set the brush down." At the Meetinghouse he became an excellent painter and quality control specialist. We are simply unaware of what we can accomplish until we commit to the task.
Tomorrow David Erikson (Weare Meeting) and Brian Daniels (Kate's spouse) will begin installing doors. We volunteers will carry on from them on that project after they get a good start in on Aug 10. Soon it will be time to install door casings and base board. This weekend we will have more urethaning work available (base boards) for volunteers. Jesse Heath will be helping out with some of the finish detail punch list items - door and cabinet installation, door jamb extensions for all the exterior doors. If you, dear reader, can work any this weekend, please be in touch with the Greg Heath by Thursday night (783-4401). Friday, he and Ruth wll be off for the weekend up at the Conneticut Lakes.
We are preparing cabinets, doors, door frames, and baseboard for installation. Now is the time for the push. We'll be working on Tuesday and Wednesday the 20th and 21st, then again this Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th in the afternoon. Be in touch with Greg if you can work. 724-4343. If other times work for you, that's fine during this stage of the work. Contact Greg and he can set you up to make a valuable contribution.
Our professional tile setters are moving along this week and will be finished soon. We volunteers are continuing to prepare doors and baseboards for installation. Cabinets are being delivered Thursday evening the 15th. They are unfinished so some will be painted and others stained.
It's important to remember that all this labor is saving us roughly $40,000. The effort is truly a labor of love, and it amounts to a collective gift of value far beyond what can be quantified monetarily.
If you can help out on Thursday evening the 15th, call Greg Heath on his cell, 724-4343. Come any time from 5:30 to 9:00. Volunteer work continues on Saturday, Monday (with exact times uncertain), and possibly Sunday afternoon. Saturday workers, please be in touch with Sara Smith at 738-6221 or by email at sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com. If Sunday works for you, also contact Sara and she will sort out if there can be a team leader present. Summer travels present planning challenges for us. Ruth Heath and Sara plan to work on Monday. Please contact Ruth about working on Monday. Since Ruth and Greg are traveling Fri-Sun, please contact them via cell phone.
This weekend we sanded all the base boards and finished up sanding the interior doors. About half of the base boards have been stained or received a coat of primer paint. Monday morning the tile setters will begin. The cabinetry that is involved with finish plumbing or electrical has been ordered. When it comes in we will be finishing it and installing. Then those trades can return, and we can have switches that actually turn on lights and, more importantly, toilets that flush.
We are reminded of the Shaker perspective that propels one to work for the sake of the community of worship,... and that forms part of the bedrock that is one's relationship with the Divine. The Shakers distilled that message into one phrase that says so much: “Hands to work and hearts to God.” We see this attitude expressed in our own community and are so deeply grateful to be a part of it.
The work to finish the staining, painting and application of urethane can be done at any time. Similarly the landscape work to prepare for placing rock against the building can be done at any time, but the best time for that work is early in the morning or late in the day to avoid the heat of the day. I plan to be at the site Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after work and I love to have company. If you can come then, "Great!" If you can come at other times, please contact me for instructions by emailing clerk [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org or by calling 783-4401 in the evenings or at work at 225-6644.
As for this weekend coming up, there will be no work on Saturday, July 3. That is our party date (11:00-3:00, at Linda Chynoweth Peter's home) - a time to appreciate outgoing clerk Sara Smith. Sunday and Monday are great opportunities to make progress at the meetinghouse. It is necessary to be in touch with me in advance if you plan to work then. Ruth and I will out of town - leaving from the party and it is not yet clear whether we will be back on Monday to work.
Once we install the doors and baseboard and remove the protective floor covering, the effect will be dramatic. By then it will be nearly moving day!
Faithfully, Greg Heath
The cork floor is now installed in the Meeting Room. Tile will be finished up in early July. These flooring jobs are being done by subcontractors.
Soon granite will be delivered to be placed along the perimeter of the building. Our neighbor across the street has volunteered to place the stone with his equipment. We'll just need to have a few on hand to assist with shovels and iron rakes when that happens (to be scheduled).
We have 2 immediate tasks for us (this Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon). One in-doors and one out-doors. We will
Saturday start time is 9:00. Sunday start will be after Meeting. Please let us know if you plan to come. If the labor available is too low, we may cancel a day or end work early. Response through Friday night via email is fine to clerk [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org. Telephone 783-4401. During the planned work times 724-4343 (a cell phone) will be in use.
Our next priority is to prepare the floor in the Meeting Room. Please reserve time this coming Sunday after Meeting if your are able. We'll be moving lumber, paint supplies, and tools out, sweeping and vacuuming carefully, scraping up any paint blotches or other unevenness on the floor, and finally laying out a large roll of plastic, the vapor barrier required in this type of installation. From there the pros will take over. We won't work more than a couple of hours. Any time you can contribute will be appreciated.
Thanks to the crew of workers who came and unloaded all the Marmoleum on Monday! That - and much moving stuff about - and floor cleaning - was a really successful event that made the floor installation possible. It will be all done - or mostly done - tomorrow, and Wow, it looks great. Wonderful color selection, Linda!
And this progress means another moving party! We will be using Steve Booth’s box truck to move the Meeing Room Cork from Concord Carpet on Fisherville Rd. They are open in the mornings on Saturday. If time and energy allow we will also plan to move our interior doors up from Sara and Jay Smith’s house. An alternative time for that move will be Sunday after meeting.
Anyone who can be available this Saturday or Sunday afternoon, please reply to this message or call Greg Heath at 783-4401. He will have his cell phone on tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday as well. That number is 724-4343. Sorry for the last minute planning, but such progress with the floors was not anticipated.
Oh, yes, Dave Woolpert arranged for two new signs that have been placed: one at the entrance to the drive and the other at the fork in the road out near Route 4. They look great and will add to our visibility. Once we take occupancy the state will place signs from their Blue Sign Program out on Route 4 itself.
We have an unexpected and urgent need this Monday AM to help unload 2000 lbs (in 44 boxes) of Marmoleum tile being delivered sometime between 9:00 and 11:00.
At 6:30 in the AM on Monday we will have a more pinpointed time of arrival.
If anyone can come over and lend a hand to unload, this would be great. Just let us know by replying to this message or calling 783-4401.
Fortunately the boxes do not need to be moved far from the truck to the storage spot inside. Also let us know what time is okay to call you on Monday AM. Thanks. Greg and Ruth Heath, Co-Clerks. Clerk [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org
What an exciting time! This week we have ordered the flooring - cork for the Meeting Room and Marmoleum for the Fellowship and Class Rooms. It will arrive shortly so our attention is turning to those items required to be ready. This is a great time for both skilled painters and anyone who thinks of themselves as "unskilled." We hope to have a big turn out of workers to get a lot done in a short time. Then we can move on to the floor install on June 12 weekend.
Helpful items to bring :
Please be in touch with Greg Heath if you can come - Saturday any time from 9:00 to 4:00 and Sunday after meeting until 4:00. GregoryHeath [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org or 783-4401.
The long weekend presents us with different opportunities for the weekend. Dave will be leading people (Saturday 8-2) who would like to do some of the following:
1. Trim out and paint the drop down stairs to the storage space.
2. Iron rake roots out of the loam that has been spread.
3. Urethane all the trim on the windows - filling the visible nail holes with colored wax putty first.
4. Shovel loam out from edge of building to just beyond drip edge in preparation for placing stone.
All are great volunteer jobs. If you get a chance to see the great job everyone did on the trim so far, stop in. The windows are all finished and look great. Big thank you to Brian Daniels and everyone for all that window work! Another coat of urethane will keep them forever!
Greg will be leading people who have Monday available on some of the same kinds of tasks. Questions about Monday should be directed to Greg.
By the way, when I stopped in there on a 95 degree day it was 75 in the meetinghouse! Nice!
This weekend the floor tile in the first bathroom was completed. And the second bathroom floor is on it's way to completion. We finished wrapping the beams and they do look great! Attached is a picture taken as the last board went up. Many thanks to Grace, Mark and Sara who made child care possible so that we could welcome Brennan, Kathryn and Brian to the crew.
Please contact Sara at sara [dot] rose [dot] ssmith [at] gmail [dot] com or 485-4231 if you are able to work this Saturday, April 17.
This week we are ready to order our lighting fixtures! As soon as the trim is up on the beams, the electrician can return to do his final work. That will be another great mile marker.
For this Saturday's work, as usual, come if you can whether or not you've been able to let Greg know in advance. His contact is gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net or 783-4401.
Keep holding us in the Light,
Sara Smith
This past Saturday we stained enough trim to fill up the entire meetinghouse with the boards laid out on saw horses! Today our boiler is fired up and the building heating system is starting to work. The floor temperature rose 8 degrees this afternoon. This is a huge, and long awaited step.
Come one, come all: Saturday any time from 9:30 until 4:00. If those times don't work for you, please contact Greg and he can set you up to work at another time. His phone is 783-4401. Email is gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net.
Work Party on February 27th. Now that painting and sanding is done, we're moving on to staining and sealing window trim and the tongue and groove boards that will wrap our high beams. Come any time you can from 9:30 on. We'll probably shut down around 4:00. Bring a lunch if you plan to stay through. It helps to know if you are coming so work can be properly set up for the right number of hands, but we're also happy to be surprised! Please contact Greg Heath at gregoryheath [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org, at home on 783-4401 or cell phone on 724-4343.
There is lots of low skilled volunteer work for this Saturday at the meetinghouse. We had a big load of wood trim delivered on Monday and it will need to be sanded and finished before we put it up. Our pellet boiler won't be working until next week, but the propane heater works quite well. Come any time between 8:30 and 5. Let Sara (SaraSmith [at] ConcordFriendsMeeting [dot] org) know if you need child care and she will see. Thanks to all who have helped so far. We finished the painting in four weeks! Bring a lunch and make a day of it! Next Saturday is also looking like a good work day. Sara will be out of town from this Friday to next. Next week Greg will be back and can answer work questions.
Our next opportunity to work on completing the interior painting comes Saturday, February 6. We'll be working in the Fellowship and Meeting Rooms. Work will be high and low, repair work with spackle, brush work, and roller work. We can also use knives to trim the excess foam insulation from around the windows to prepare for the installation of trim. Come any time after 9:30 and plan to stay as long as you can or until work wraps up at 4:00. Bring a lunch and snacks too! It's best if you can let Greg know your plans. gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net or 783-4401. Also Greg has a new cell phone: 724-4343.
Our next paint party is scheduled for Saturday January 30 from 9:30 to 4:00. We will be giving the top coat of paint to the two bathrooms and the lobby. We'll also be prepping the walls in the Meeting and Fellowship Rooms with light sanding and joint compound to the dings and knicks. Come one and all! Please contact Greg if you plan to come so we can have supplies available for you. gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net or 783-4401. Soon we will be staining and applying sealant to the to the trim lumber for the windows and beams and tiling the lobby, bathrooms and kitchen.
The Meeting has received a wonderful contribution from Ken Bean, our painter. He gave us a very low quote to do a ton a work, which was for all the cathedral ceiling rooms. He did that work, and contributed his labor to finish the entire building first coat of paint over the primer. It looks great! This work, as expected, makes many repairable imperfections in the walls stand out upon even at a cursory inspection. Our job, now, is to make those repairs and get the final top coat on where needed, which is most of the building.
The housing committee hopes to have a lot of volunteer assistance to get this work done and the first opportunity is this Saturday. Given Ken's contribution, the work plan has changed. Starting at 9:30 we will be lightly sanding and filling imperfections, then sealing those spots with paint. We'll also be edging in order to roll the second coats. It's careful, detail work. Then final top coat of paint over the walls that need it. If you can come, please bring a lunch, sanding blocks, and putty knives. It is very helpful to know if you can come to help and what hours you plan to work. Please contact Greg Heath at gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net or at 783-4401.
On Monday January 18 the construction crew finished siding the two front porticos. We also finished the primer paint coat in the rooms with low ceilings. A few meeting members and 4 volunteers from Organizing for America (who were inspired to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy with a day of service) painted up a storm to get this big job done!
This coming Saturday, January 23, is the next opportunity for volunteers to paint. We will be doing the final coat on the ceilings and the first of two coats on the walls in the low ceilinged rooms. Experienced painters are needed for this job. We'll be starting work at 9:30 and winding up by 4:00. Come for any part of the day that works for you. If you have trouble working above your head, plan to come in the afternoon when we get to the walls.
Please contact Greg Heath (gregoryheath [at] comcast [dot] net or 783-4401) if you expect to work.
Sun., December 27, 2009 - 5:19pm — Sara Smith
We began work on Saturday December 26, Boxing Day. We started with one door in its case on a sawhorse and some hand sanding blocks. Using 220 grit, and sanding with the grain, it took about 45 minutes to sand one side. The door has some minor flaws which will be hard to see, but it looks great. The next step will be to take it out of its frame and off the hinges so that we can sand and finish all around. I was surprised at how easy and fast the sanding was, so it should go well.
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Canterbury, New Hampshire 03224-2043 USA
Links:
[1] http://sbooth.smugmug.com/Friends/Friends-Meetinghouse
[2] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH01-a%203%20sided%20fit.jpg
[3] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH02-Arnie%20Alpert%20attacks%20weeds.jpg
[4] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH03-Brian%20Daniels%20sets%20sills.jpg
[5] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH04-Carolyn%20Mallon%20and%20friend%20Stephen%20clean%20up.jpg
[6] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH05-Cory%20Luneau%20after%20setting%20tiles.jpg
[7] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH06-Jay%20attacks%20streaks.jpg
[8] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH07-Jay%20joins%20in.jpg
[9] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH08-Jay%20Smith%20trimming%20out%20doors.jpg
[10] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH09-Jesse%20&%20Greg%20Heath%20set%20a%20cabinet.jpg
[11] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH10-Linda%20Peters%20and%20Rich%20Kleinschmidt.jpg
[12] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH11-Linda%20views%20fabric%20and%20wood%20from%20all%20angles.jpg
[13] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH12-Omere%20checks%20the%20plans.jpg
[14] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH13-Omere%20Luneau%20after%20prepping%20thresholds.jpg
[15] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH14-Pulling%20weeds%20-%20Kathy%20Urie,%20Roby%20Yager%20and%20Meeting%20School%20Students.jpg
[16] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH15-Sara%20Smith%20fixing%20dings%20in%20the%20walls.jpg
[17] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH16-Sill%20glued%20in%20place.jpg
[18] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/sites/all/files/images/GH17-Zane%20Knoy%20on%20a%20break.jpg
[19] https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/Meetinghouse%20Construction
