This week has been about underground surprises. It was discovered that there was more to our plumbing problem in the playground. There were issues in the drain pipe that connects to the city sewer on Lamar Street, so it was decided to replace the whole cast iron line to the street with new PVC pipe.
A backhoe was brought out to dig up the line, and several surprises were found in the trench. The first thing found was really cool and exciting. The floor of the old church that burned down in 1959 was uncovered.
Second, a not so great surprise was discovered. We found our drain line did not run straight from the playground to Lamar Street, but instead, made a ninety degree turn and went under the Terrill House parking lot. Not wanting to incur the expense or headache of jack hammering out the concrete of the parking lot, we got with the city, and they installed a new tap into the street sewer line. That way we could lay a new drain line that ran straight and connected into their new tap. So, digging continued and what did we find? More buried walls and concrete from the old church that the backhoe could not dig out, as marked in the picture with red spray paint. After a little investigation, I was able to piece together what we were encountering. In the overlay picture, you can see the the old church footprint that is buried under the current playground.
The next step was to bring out jack hammer equipped machinery to cut a path through the old walls for the drain pipe. Work will continue on Monday, and when completed, we will have nice, working plumbing.
I got to operate the Bobcat jack hammer. It was awesome!
On the inside of the church, tiling is nearing completion, the rework of the HVAC system for the platform area was completed, and the stained glass features in the Parish Hall got their first coat of paint.
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