Saturday, 6th February, 2010
Work Party
A team from the church has been working at the building site today. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there. They've been doing the stuff that needs doing by us before the builders come back to finish off the floors. This shot shows Alain in the foreground with Keith and François standing near the wall.
This is Alain again, he's working on what looks like one of the places where we're going to be putting a power socket.
Jean-Claude hard at work, though I'm not sure what he is doing. Some digging, it would seem. There is (was!) still quite a lot of builder's rubble that needed to be moved out of the building.
Pascal clearing branches. We have trees all down one edge of the property and they're not in particularly good shape. Plenty of wood to be moved and disposed of.
A "hard at work" photo where I don't have a clue as to what is actually being done. As trenches have to be dug for the heating pipes I'm guessing that's what was going on here.
A huge "Thank you" to everyone who made it down to the site today and put in so much effort! Particular thanks to François who organised the work and made sure that all the materials required for the job were in the right place at the right time.
Tuesday, 19th January, 2010
Opps... belated birthday
Well, this blog is now one year and two days old. Despite having mentioned that this momentous occasion was approaching I totally forgot to update the blog on Sunday.
I have a meeting with the other members of the building committee on Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the bits and pieces that we need to do before the builders come back in to do their stuff. We have to get cabling in place for the electricity and at least some of the pipe work for the heating system.
The idea is that we'll run the electric cabling along the outside of the walls of the main hall, drilling through where necessary. The cladding will then cover all the cables. For the heating we have to decide whether we're going to have the piping for the radiators buried in the ground or have it running along the walls. I know nothing about this kind of stuff, technical advantages/disadvantages or the like so will leave the decision to those who know what they're talking about. Presumably, at least, buried looks nicer.
Tuesday, 12th January, 2010
Getting some work done
Happy New Year 2010!
In five days this blog will be one year old. I guess we'll have to have a cake with a candle to celebrate. I've never kept a blog going this long before.
Some of the guys from church have been working on the building site today. Claude has sent me some pictures and I have his permission to put them up here. They'll probably also appear on the French blog sometime soon.
First up, a shot taken in front of the building. The type of weather we've been having lately is quite evident, although we've not had it as bad as some folk in the UK. Today's work has been clearing rubble out of the entrance hall in anticipation of starting to lay conduits for cabling and pipes. That is a job that we have to do before the builders can come back to do the floors.
Despite the low temperature it's hard work! I'm very grateful to Claude for the photos and also to him for giving up his time to go do some work at the building. I'm guessing that the person behind the camera is François from the building committee but I'll have to check.
In theory, the windows and doors should be ready for installation by mid-February. I've just recently paid the deposit for that work. Also received a whole pile of bills in the last week or so. I've never moved so much money around digitally before - being able to do it all from my computer beats walking into town to go to the bank.
Final thing to say. We have just received 12,500 Euros from the Commune of Libramont towards the work on the building. This is the first half of what they have promised us. We are extremely grateful for their support.
Wednesday, 30th December, 2009
Half is more than nothing
We didn't have a service this past Sunday. The person who had the key to the school wasn't able to get out from where he lives because of ice. He tried with chains on his tyres and still couldn't make it. We tried phoning the director of the school to see if he would come and open up for us, but he wasn't there. So everyone had the morning off. That was the first time that there's not been a Sunday service since I've been in the church. Wasn't much we could do about it though. That afternoon I had to go to Libramont to see a friend so I popped over to the building site to see how the roof was doing.
So far half of the roof is in place. I'm guessing that they didn't get the whole thing done because of the atrocious weather we've had recently.
This photo was taken looking back towards the old building. I tried to get a shot from upstairs but there was too much ice on the window - both inside and outside.
And finally, a picture of the scaffolding. I suppose that they'll have to move the whole lot round to the other side to finish the roof - quite a job.
One of the things that is visible in the second photo is a gap between the roof and the top of the wall. This is because the wall wasn't cut quite right. It's not a problem in itself because the gap will be filled and there'll be something nailed up on the inside to cover the ugly bit - and I can't think what it's called at the moment! Answers welcome in the comments...
Monday, 21st December, 2009
Bad weather
I was hoping to get to the building yesterday to see the roof with all its "slabs" on. I would have gone either before or after our Christmas service. However I wasn't able to make it. We had quite a heavy snowfall and driving was no fun at all. Even the short hop from where we currently meet to the building site was too much to consider. So I'm going to have to wait until the snow clears before I can get over to Libramont and take some photos of the almost finished work.
In other news - the temperature hit -16°c in Bastogne on Saturday night. We felt every degree of it because we went to the RTL Christmas Parade in town with some friends. It was still fun though.
Friday, 18th December, 2009
Feeling roofless
Meeting at 9:00am at the building along with one of the other members of the building committee and the architect. Signed some papers to place the order for the windows and doors.
Took some photos whilst I was there. The first one is taken from upstairs in the old building looking down. The man in the cap with his back to the camera is the architect. His hands are in his pockets because it was very cold: -6°c.
First shot of the roofers in action. Again taken from upstairs. They are putting on the first of the sections of the roof. Each slab includes a waterproof bit (yeah, technical...), insulation and a plaster board. It looks kind of like building with Lego blocks.
This one is taken from the ground floor with some roofer's legs visible. We stood watching them as they put all the scaffolding boards in place and then started hauling the roof slab up.
It's a great feeling to see things moving along like this after a rather long wait. We won't have the building "closed" before the end of the year but we're not to far behind. By the end of February 2010 we should have the doors and windows in and then the floors will be down along with the exterior cladding.
Thursday, 17th December, 2009
'Twas a dark and rather cold night
Went and had a look at the building this evening as I was over in Libramont for a rehearsal for Sunday's Christmas service. All of the wood that was on the ground is now up in the air in the form of a roof. Well, at least the structure of a roof. The other bits are sitting out front waiting to be put on.
Here is a grainy photo taken in the dark. My camera isn't really up to the job so they're fuzzy and indistinct - but it's definitely the beginnings of a roof. It was -4°c so I didn't stay there long.
Tomorrow morning I'm going back over to LIbramont to meet with the architect and another member of the building committee to sign the order for the windows and talk to the builder about doing the cladding on the building - him doing it that is, not me. Will take some more photos.
Monday, 14th December, 2009
Lots of wood
The roof has been started! We went to the building site first thing yesterday morning because I was hoping to be able to put together a PowerPoint presentation to show the congregation. That didn't work out because of technical problems...
Anyway, there is plenty of evidence of work. This shot is of the main supports for the roof. We've had snow which instantly makes anything look pretty.
Next up is a view of all the scaffolding. Not really much to say for that as it speaks for itself.
Finally a photo from the upstairs window of the old building. Not sure why I've not thought to take photos from there before. It gives an idea of the scale of things I suppose.
Once we'd visited the site and were on our way to church I had the bright idea of going back and writing "Joyeux Noël" in the snow on the large beams. However the snow didn't last that long so I'll just say it here - Joyeux Noël, Happy Christmas to all.
Saturday, 12th December, 2009
Some new news
I received an e-mail this morning from someone in the church who was in Libramont yesterday. He drove past the building and saw that some work was being done on the roof. Exciting! I can't get over there today but will stop by after church tomorrow and take some photos. We could well have a whole roof by the end of the year, although it's cutting it a little fine...
Tuesday, 17th November, 2009
Still here
It's been a while since the last update. Time flies!
Things are moving slowly at the moment. The roofer has made repairs to the roof of the old building. For the moment we are waiting for him to start putting the roof on the new hall. All the parts are made, it's just a matter of him turning up and being able to get on with the work.
We're hoping that the roof will be on by the end of the month. If it is we'll still be more or less on schedule to have the building "closed" before winter really sets in.