Church Flooring Part III

This is the third and final phase of a three part project to replace the carpeted areas of the church. The first part entailed doing the side and main altars and was completed in 1998. The second phase replaced the floor level carpet and was completed in 2004. This final phase replaced the carpeted steps and the landings around the two altars.

And this was another spectacular success. This project differed from the previous two in a couple of important ways. It was larger than the first project and more intricate than the second. Because of the tremendous number of cuts, this stage took as long as the second stage although in that one over 4,000 square feet of tile was laid.

The remaining carpet and carpet glue was removed on Friday the 15th of April 2005. At that time the tile lines were popped onto the concrete floor. This is very time consuming as there are 4 levels that have to be marked and they had to correspond to the ground floor grout lines. This work was completed at 11:30 that evening.

Saturday marked the start of laying tile. An area the approximate width of the altar from the ground floor to the altar level was laid. This lead to an interesting Saturday evening Mass and renewal of wedding vows as there were orange cones and blue tape keeping people from walking on that newly laid tile. A small crew worked this day giving us a head start. This also allowed us to determine if there were unanticipated difficulty ahead. There was not.

Sunday after the 5:30 Mass, a larger crew came out to help. Many worked till about 1:00 am even though we decided to shut down at midnight! Lessons learned from the previous tile project. Don't work too late. But we were fresh and making headway.

Monday was just more of the same. Laying tile. Lots of cutting and fitting.

Tuesday began the same way, laying more tile and cleaning grout lines. But in the evening we had a great crew show up and almost all of the laid tile was grouted. Really fantastic.

Wednesday was more of the same, laying tile and also beginning the arduous task of working the curved edges. Ever notice that tile is straight and our steps are curved? Lots of work is necessary to make the tile fit properly. First the top tile has to be cut to conform to the curved riser. Obviously since a straight blade is used to make the cut, the curve is not perfect. A grinder was used in some areas to remove excess material. Then each edge was sanded with 36 grit sandpaper. This improves the curve conformity and applies a bevel to the cut edge. This is followed by an 80 grit paper to close up the tile pores and further shape the curve. Finally 120 grit paper is used to polish the edge. Now if you don't think this is a whipping, try it some time. We are still getting dust out of tools!

Thursday the last of the tile is laid and grouted. The sanding work begun Wednesday is completed on all the tile previous laid and the tile laid Wednesday is cut and worked. Control joints are chalked. Clean-up of the whole church began. The project is essentially complete.

Again the individual that was instrumental in making this happen was Tom Farrell. The hours and hours of planning really paid off as you can see in the final product. Other valuable members of the core team are Robert Sauceda, Eric Rochester, David Williams, David Hemmi, Frank Puskarich, Michael Rochester, Chuck Cale and John Farrell.

The following is a picture rememberance of the event. The original tile project began in 1998 with the tiling of the main and side altars. 10 intrepid individuals started on that project and 4 survived until the last day of that phase. These same 4 gentlemen were also involved in the 2004 tile project to lay tile on the main floor of the church. Amazingly, those same 4 worked on the third and final installation of tile, taking care of the steps leading up to the altar. Those 4 are Tom Farrell, David Hemmi, Eric Rochester and John Farrell. Honorable mention goes to Dave Williams who worked on two of the three phases.

Pictures from Day One, Saturday

Robert Sauceda and Tom Farrell finishing up the middle as a test.	Wow, lots of tile to be laid still.
Lots of tile to be laid, part 2, different perspective. Besides, what else would I take a picture of at this time?	Either a butt shot or floating a rough spot on the floor.
The ooze. Could be a movie.	Let's think about this. Too late, carpet is gone. Must tile. Besides, don't we always need somone with their hands on their hips?

Day Two, Sunday

David Hemmi, Steve Priddy and Eric Rochester waiting to get in to do the work.	Setting up stations and getting ready to get in the church.
Laying out the tile in preparation.	Getting set up.
Almost finished with the setup.	Here is our progress on the north side at 10 pm.
Here is our progress on the south side at 10 p.m.	Here is our north progress at 11 pm. Pretty good!
Here is our south progress at 11 pm and apparently an obligatory butt shot.	Really is looking good at 11 pm.
The tile cutting station.	Heck, where is everyone?
Oh there they are. Union rules, breaks have to be given. Babies.	Well we knocked of at 1 am. Not bad.

Day Three, Monday

Getting going on the south side.	Here is where the day started off on the north end.
The south area, getting there.	The north area, almost done.
A little bit of time spent here on cuts and outlets.	Cleaning up, early tonight, 11:30.

Day Four, Tuesday

Look, it takes 2 people to finish the steps John F. started and got to this point.	North done, ready for grout.
South almost to the steps, starting to grout from here moving north.	The front is also done and awaiting grout.
We are even fixing some old problems.	Cutting the radius. Next, grinding it.

Day Five, Wednesday

Cleaning grout.	Laying tile and buffing.
All this clown needs is a red nose and big shoes.

Day Six, Thursday

All done but the cleaning, looking north.	Looking south.
Cleaning up. Lots of dust.