Permits & Inspections: Building Inspector call in for electrical room wall; will ask for Wing TCO needs;Elevator inspection planned for next week once heat detector in shaft resolved.
Safety: No issues
Schedule: Wing Floor 2 – Final cleaning today; waiting for countertops for sink install; starting punch list; waiting for some light replacements today (intumescent paint overspray) Wing Floor 1 – final painting underway now; maybe final cleaning next week and close to the trades. Sanctuary – Flooring in next few weeks, stage construction underway Hardscape/Landscape – Paving for dumpster pad and more sidewalks tomorrow, red dye needed for driveway concrete has caused delivery issues; memorial garden pads poured in 2 weeks, Monument sign base dig and pour in two weeks – have template from vendor for bolt placement; sign delivery in 30 days Kitchen – Friday scheduled equipment installation; FRP delivered today for walls; looking for glue Round Window – Delivery date probably by June 20; millwork is pushing for installation Additional site paving on Saturday.
Georgia Power/Green Energy: Still no word re: scheduled electrical shutdown and installation
Change Orders: 37 – Stage Trough floor box still pending – 24×24 instead of 18×18 approved 42 – Memorial Garden concrete bridge – Canceled 44 – Topping Out Social Hall Walls (sound) – to be reduced to roughly $5263 – Approved 46 – Sanctuary Winch Power – $814 – Approved 48 – Light Pole Remediation – pending 50 – Sanctuary Winch Installation – to be reduced (roughly $2000) 53 – Knox Boxes (emergency response access) – $1185 – APproved 54 – Wood Rafter Int Paing (Fire/Blg Insp) – TBD (labor by hour & materials) TBD – Moving Social Hall Thermostat TBD – Stained Glass LED Diffuser Panel
Parking Lot Light Poles: After weeks of research including four new photometric light studies, we now have a number of possible options under consideration to address the parking lot lighting issues with the HOA. The estimated change order will be in the neighborhood of of $20-25K. We will have more information next week on the final costs.
Water/Erosion: Still getting some water runoff to the parking lot/kitchen corner of the Wing. Field report noted some deficiencies for Choate to address.
Columbarium: We’ve received granite samples from Homecoming Inc for the new columbarium and will pass along to the memorial garden team.
New & Old Business: Review Sanctuary Lobby light issue in field; conduits are obtrusive; unistrut should be painted white; excess bolt thread should be cut Child-size toilet specified but drawings show adult-sized; Dawn to follow up w/ plumbing engineer 3 sets of doors were to have hardware salvaged; doors were trashed instead; Dawn to review possible replacements Gutter color samples need to be reviewed by CCCA (slight white color change from spec) Millwork for stage face TBD Due to cost increases, agreed to reduced footprint for playground rubber under the Oodle swing; fall zones still protected; oval shape vs vase shape preferred Remove mullions from 2 sanctuary doors Bryce’s flist of pending items incorporated by Choate in their list TSAV sanctuary speakers are now hung Most Transcend building cameras were installed this week and are working well Monument Sign details being worked out between Bryce and the vendor; expect all info needed for permit by end of day today. Admin furniture may start arriving this week
We recently brought you the latest updates at our annual congregational meeting. Since then, crews on site have been working quickly to complete the education and admin wing. While the Sanctuary will take a while longer, things are moving swiftly overall.
This week we reached a significant milestone with air conditioning coming online. This week we saw painters and flooring trades making substantial progress in the wing. We are on track to be able to move our furniture out of the Treehouse after our final treehouse service on June 19th.
As a reminder, we’ll be taking off in July from our regular Sunday services while Rev. Taryn is away and to give us time to finish the Sanctuary and for our staff to get offices and classrooms set up throughout July. It’s not too soon to mark your calendars for our soft opening on August 6th, where we will invite our UUCA community into the campus for the first time. Here’s a rundown of our summer plan.
June 19th: This last Sunday in the Treehouse, we will celebrate Juneteenth, we will honor fathers on their special day, and as we prepare to extinguish our chalice for the final time in our current space, we will affirm all that we as a congregation must and will do to meet the unique challenges of our times. When our flame ignites again in a new space, we will be ready for what lies ahead.
June 20th – 30th: UUCA staff and movers will be clearing out the Treehouse. UUCA offices will be closed except to those involved in the move. All groups should plan to meet offsite or via zoom.
June 30th: Our lease is over at the Treehouse.
July 3rd: We will broadcast what promises to be a fantastic worship from the UUA General Assembly in Portland, Oregon.
July 10th: Stay tuned for more information on a UUCA congregational hike sponsored by our Ens and Outs group.
July 24th: We are excited to join our Homeless Advocacy group as we invite our entire UUCA community to serve with us at Nicholas House.
August 7th: This one is just for us, UUCA. We will finally meet together for the first time at our new campus. This is our chance to discover our new home together and prepare for the grand opening in September. We will begin meeting regularly on Sunday mornings at our new campus throughout August.
September 18th: Grand Opening. This entire weekend will be filled with activities for all. Join UUCA, returning music director Don Milton, and guests from other UU churches for our home blessing.
Progress continues on our new campus! Get the latest update at our Congregational Meeting this Sunday, May 15, at 1 PM on Zoom. Register to join us at uuca.org/maymeeting
The high ceiling in the sanctuary will start being painted next Wednesday. This week, we’ve started work on lights in the grid area. The wood grain wall cover will begin installation on Monday the 23rd. Choate hopes to start stage framing on May 30th.
The grid lights on the second floor are done and ready for inspection. Friday of this week or Monday of next, teams will start laying ceiling tile. The carpet is on track for Wednesday of next week. Bathroom accessories will be installed on Monday, May 30th. The elevator wrap-up will be finished by Monday or Tuesday at the latest, and then teams will begin masonry and electric work to finish it.
Sheetrock ceilings will continue installation through Monday and Tuesday of next week. The floor tile will begin on Wednesday of next week. Next Thursday and Friday, teams will begin polishing concrete.
HVAC startup of the cassettes (air conditioning room vents) is today. The other HVAC should be up on Monday of next week. Stripping is done in the parking lot. The dirt and stone in the ADA ramp by the playground will be filled on Monday and Tuesday. Sidewalks continue development through the rest of the month. The plumber has started working on the waterline.
As the OAC meeting closed, the fire marshal arrived and gave his initial blessing to have a temporary occupancy permit for the wing building. We still would need the building inspector’s blessing. The way the county treats a temporary occupancy permit is that furniture can be moved in, staff can work, and training can occur. No public access is allowed.
Our new campus was buzzing with activity today during our weekly on-site meeting known as the OAC which stands for Owner, Architect, and Contractor. The new parking lot is well underway, the painters are busy power washing and priming the exterior, and the sheetrock is finally going up in the sanctuary after having gotten the blessing in the hard ceiling inspection last Friday. Crews are also onsite assembling our new parking lot pole lighting and bricking of the ADA ramp was wrapping up. Throughout the facility, finishes are starting to appear, and the construction site is beginning to look more and more like home.
Join us either this Sunday or next Sunday at 1pm for our Congregational Town Hall where Project Phoenix will share more information about the progress of our new campus. Register by going to: https://uuca.org/townhalls
We are excited to share photos from our OAC walkthrough this week. The building is coming alive with permanent power as new lighting is tested and turned on. Motion sensors detect occupancy and turn on lights as you walk into closets and rooms. The new LED panel, which will evenly light our historic stained glass, will give the effect of sunlight pouring through the windows whenever we desire, through the rain, shine, or night. The string lights in the social hall provide a fantastic ambiance, and the gallery lighting is sleek and modern. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so we hope the attached photos give you a taste of what’s in store!
Our progress has been stymied over the last few months, primarily by DeKalb County inspectors and the permitting process. Since March 16, 2020, the DeKalb County Department of Planning and Sustainability has operated “virtually” with remote operations due to Covid-19. Getting permits pulled and inspections coordinated has been challenging and requires enormous effort and pressure to push through. We are grateful to DeKalb commissioner Jeff Rader for his office’s help. It’s still bumpy, but we’d be even further behind schedule without our commissioner’s assistance. Today, we are still awaiting our hard-ceiling inspections resulting from delays in permitting and inspections and questionable additional requirements imposed by the fire marshal. We are seeing some movement finally on this front and hope to have the ceiling inspection completed within the next week.
Elsewhere, we are still seeing some delays in specific trades. For example, concrete is tough to obtain due to massive construction in the Atlanta metro area and difficulty in obtaining concrete mixing components brought to the SouthEast part of the country via long-haul truck drivers. A labor shortage in the trucking industry has put concrete orders out to a five-week lead time even for companies as large as Choate. We have will-call tickets in with five concrete companies in the metro area so that if other jobs cancel or a truck has left over, we are ready to take it on demand.
Due to all of the above, we have adjusted our schedule. We now expect punch list completion in July, with our first service at our new home on August 7, 2022. Our worship team and board will be announcing plans for July within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned to the Weekly Update to hear about the exciting options to keep our community connected throughout July.
Unfortunately, our perfect safety record ended this week when one of our window installers had an accident. While working on the upper transom above the exterior doors leading into the social hall, a subcontractor stood on the top step of a 7ft ladder and fell while holding the glass. The site rules require not using the top two steps of any ladder. The worker was wearing other safety gear, which protected him from the shattering glass. The job site was shut down briefly and the injured man was taken to Urgent Care. He was cleared by the doctor and returned to work (at a different job site) the same day. Choate qualifies the incident as a “near-miss” and used the event as a teachable moment for other workers on the site with a real-life example of why safety rules are in place. Choate is opening an investigation as the gentleman should have also had a second person with him but was not present when the incident occurred. We are grateful there was no serious injury and that this worker was able to recover quickly.
Finally, we offer the disappointing news that SouthFace did not award us the third grant we applied for last month. The news came to us over the weekend as a surprise. We are thankful for the first two grants and will follow up with SouthFace to better understand why the final grant was denied. SouthFace had recommended that we make energy-saving improvements at an increased project cost, including sanctuary EnergyStar windows, doors, and the vestibule. While we had counted on SouthFace funding for those impactful improvements, there is no doubt that the recommended measures will serve UUCA and our planet as we honor our 7th principle.
While it seems like we’ve nothing but disappointing news to report above, we are moving into an exciting construction phase. Work began this week on our new parking lot and will continue for the next four weeks. The exterior playground ADA ramp is coming along nicely, and millwork and cabinetry are showing up in the classrooms. The elevator installation and the exterior painting of the building both begin next week.
“GoodUse provides technical assistance and funding in the form of matching grants to nonprofits to assist them with resource efficiency upgrades to their facilities. These upgrades save the nonprofit valuable funds on utility bills that can be reallocated into their mission. Information about GoodUse can be found here .”
Permanent power was delivered on Friday! All temporary power has been removed. This has set the tone for a productive week at our new campus.
Elevator installation is now scheduled to start in late April. We are back on Kone’s (our elevator engineering company) schedule; work could start earlier, depending on Kone’s availability. The elevator area roof has been completed. Water-damaged sheetrock has been removed and new sheetrock will be installed. Sprinkler heads are being installed. The kitchen wall Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) wall covering will start on Monday.
The interior vestibule storefront has been installed and is being glazed. The electrical room wall required by the Fire Marshall has been installed. The mechanical room will be foamed and painted once a crew is on-site. The new sanctuary doors are hung. All windows are now installed except for the second-floor materials in/out window. Cabinet work will start on Monday. Control wiring for the HVAC system is underway.
Social hall double door glass will be installed this week. The LED light panels to illuminate the stained glass windows in the Social Hall niche are installed. The mechanical room roof shingles will be installed early next week. All exterior brick infill should be complete by the end of next week. All wood trim repair and replacement in advance of exterior painting is complete. Sample brick paint color patches are available for review. Our earliest day to start exterior painting is April 25th, given the paving schedule. Choate will order the base paint and will confirm the estimated life of the paint.
The sewer line and roof litres are complete. Curbing and sidewalks will start on Friday. The substrate for the new parking lot is planned to start on Wednesday. Choate had to hire a new surveyor, since the prior one was unreachable.
ECS has completed its preview inspection of the intumescent painting crew and set up and will conduct random spot checks of the work starting next week. The ADA playground ramp retaining walls and concrete inspections have started (we can expect completion by April 25). Our footers passed inspection. The sprinkler (dry system) drawings have been approved by DeKalb County, but have not been entered into the system. Once these approved drawings are uploaded, TSAV drawings are approved, and Transcend drawings are approved, the sanctuary ceiling cover and finish work can begin. This is planned for the end of next week.
Erosion control measures were taken in advance of Thursday’s rainfall.
