Monday, March 26, 2012

Roof Trusses Rise Up

Suddenly the look of the building is changing.  Here's what you see as you approach the UBAC Hostel from RFIS...

New roof trusses are easy to see from the RFIS side of the wall.
And yet from the front gate, the only evidence of a roof beginning is a little wood sticking out over the lower side of the duplex.

Trusses barely visible on the lower section.
Looking up the stairs into the living room area it really looks like we're raising the roof!

Looking through the future roof at a canopy of trees
Continue up the stairs, turn left and look back at the room.  The bottom of the truss is slightly above the top of the wall - so the ceiling will be higher than the top of the wall.  Ron's got a plan for that.


Left door: master bedroom; middle door: office; right door: kitchen.
 Johanes is the foreman of the construction project.  His experience and leadership are much appreciated. 

Johanes and Ron talking about the next steps

Saturday, March 24, 2012

March 22 A Walk Inside the Hostel

Now that the stairway is dry and accessable and walls nearly up everywhere, I don't have to climb a ladder to view the rooms. 

The Hostel viewed from the front gate

The front gate as viewed from the front door of the hostel
 I got into the hostel through the front porches and up the inner stairway.



You can't enter the front door right now as it is high up in the air.  But when you will come in this door, you're in the mud room.  Continue forward and you're in the dining room / living room.

Looking back toward the dining room and mud room.
Looking back toward the dining room and mud room.  The first door on the left is to an office.  The next door toward the right goes in to the kitchen.  The other side of the posts (holding up a support beam) is the dining room.  The tiny door that looks like something out of "Alice in Wonderland" is for a laundry chute from the mud room bathroom.  Isn't that clever?

Beautiful view out the kitchen window
Upper balcony outside the master bedroom and living room
Now let's go down below the living room, to Stoker's apartment.  On their veranda, looking through the kitchen window across the apartment through the fromt door and living room window.

Inside Stoker's apartment below the hostel living room level

Mid March Top Floor Going Up

Once the top floor was poured, life got busy and I haven't been over to take pictures.  Phil Falconer graciously offered photos he has taken.  The bedroom and bathroom walls are going up fast. 





Eric DeHody works on the electricicals of the hostel
The Hostel is showing - above the wall from the RFIS campus

Thursday, March 8, 2012

March 7 Final Floor Poured

Only a day late, and early enough in the day - the concrete pump truck came again for the last time, to pour the final floor of the hostel: the upstairs of the upper level.

The concrete pump is back again!
Concrete, pumped from the truck, comes pouring out of the tube onto the upper floor
From here you can see the green entrance gate at the left.
Emmanuel, Z's day guard who has been helping with construction, smooths over the surface.
Since the concrete arrived early enough in the day, there was plenty of daylight through the whole process.  Other times they had to work into the night to get the surface smoothed out right.  We are thankful for a good hard working crew.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

March 6 Divine Delay

Today the cement pump was supposed to come pump concrete to the upstairs floor on the upper level, the final floor to be poured.  BUT, the cement pump truck broke down or had some sort of problem coming back to Yaounde from Douala.  So they did not come, concrete was not pumped or poured.

Disappointing delay... or Divine Delay?

This afternoon, about the time the concrete would be drying (if they arrived on time) or would be pouring (if they arrived late as usual) a HUGE rain and HAIL storm hit the property!  If the concrete had been poured, it would have been a MESS!!



I do believe we were just spared a big expense today.  Thank you for praying for this project.
Please pray that the cement pump truck will be repaired and that the final floor will be poured in God's time!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

March 2 Duplex: 1st Container in Place!

The duplex, for Covenant and Free Church RFIS staff, will be built on top of 4 containers.  This will not only get the living quarters up where breezes are more likely to flow, but will also provide good storage.

So the first of the 4 containers was put into place on Friday 2 March.

Pulling the container down the hill from near the hostel to its new home at the base of the duplex
Squeeze the container between support posts to get it lined up correctly.
Securing the container to the teeth of the bucket with chains,
Ron was able to manoever the container onto the supports.
 For the last picture, our camera batteries died.  I got the last picture from Phil Falconer!
Ta-da! First container is in place! 

March 2 All Lower Level Walls Done!!!

It's another landmark day in the hostel construction!  All the walls, upstairs and downstairs, of the lower part of the hostel are in!  And the floor on the upstairs of the upper level is almost ready to pour - Tuesday, March 6 is the day for that big event.

Here's how it looks as of Friday March 2

A column is being poured in the dining room to hlep support the roof trusses.
Upstairs floor of the upper level getting ready for concrete to be poured.
Pivot left for a better view: floor of upper level upstairs, looking at completed walls of the lower level upstairs.