Sloping the Floor

Now that the slab is out the site sub-contractor is moving around soil to create the sloped floor and the lower flexible area. It seems odd to see equipment in the sanctuary. An earthen ramp has been built to get the equipment in and out of the large area where the star of david was. In the photos you can see string and stakes as the builders measure elevations of soil to create the space of our renovated sanctuary.



In the image on the right you can see view of the space. The two men in the left side of the picture are Marc Tapper and Bob Luchetti, our architect. Where they are standing will be the fixed seating and in the middle will be the flexible area.







In this view you can see how the column in this distance and where our steps will be. What you cannot see is that along the edge of the wall will be the ramp to the lower bimah. On the other side will be the ramp to the upper bimah.








The space is really starting to take shape and we can imagine how it will look!

Say good-bye to the floor

Today the floor slab and the rest of the block columns were removed.


Now that the concrete has been removed the next step will be remove some soil and compact it to pour the new slab and sloped area.



As you can see the space looks a bit different. This is a major hurdle in the transformation of our space. On the right of the picture you can see the slender gray column that marks the edge of the bimah. To the left of that column will be the accessible ramp. The new Ark will directly in front of the opening that where all the sunlight is coming in on this picture.

Removing the Columns

One of the subjects that we discussed at length during budget discussion of the renovations was the columns.

It was very hard to visualize and many people questioned whether it was worth the money. Now that everything is exposed, the new steel is in it may be easier for people to understand what was going on.

Underneath the wood paneling at the the edges of the old bimah is a concrete block wall that ended in a concrete block column. The grey plane of concrete block is where the old menorah were.






This photo shows a worker welding two beams on to existing block. The idea here is that the beams transfer the weight from the roof to the new column and allows us to temporarily hold up the block while we remove the old and add the new.





Its all very exciting to see this finally happening!