{"id":1614,"date":"2011-02-17T03:50:28","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T03:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2011-02-17T03:50:28","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T03:50:28","slug":"beckers-blog-hows-the-fishing-sp-1770971542","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/?p=1614","title":{"rendered":"Becker\u2019s Blog #12: How\u2019s the Fishing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: Joe Becker continues his report on the natural-stone segment of the St. Joseph Cathedral restoration in Sioux Falls, S.D.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>By Joe Becker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the long, cold, and snowy winter creeps along, so does our time away from the jobsite. We have been offsite since mid-November, but the absence seems longer.<\/p>\n

As the project manager, my involvement in this project started in the spring of 2008, and for two-and-a-half years there\u2019s been a file folder labeled \u201cChurch of St Joseph\u201d somewhere on my desk. With 95 percent of the paperwork completed, I put the file to the side and focused on other minor things, like finding more work for the company \u2013 because, yes, there is life after St Joseph.<\/p>\n

\"200_IMG_0087-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Click to enlarge<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Time is also creeping along for our installers. I\u2019ve never been a field guy, but — having been around them for 25 years \u2013 I can safely say that they\u2019d rather be working rather than ice fishing. Not every construction guy ice fishes when they\u2019re not off the job, but attempting to romanticize unemployment is a noble cause. <\/p>\n

We do have some work and on occasion I see Al in the shop picking up a project to install. He is usually smiling, but the smiles are even bigger; the fishing has been good.<\/p>\n

When we left the jobsite in November, Sioux Falls Construction (SFC) converted the church\u2019s interior to a temporary concert hall. It\u2019s been the tradition for the Diocese of Sioux Falls to have a Christmas concert in the Cathedral; it\u2019s a community event for Sioux Falls, and a big fund raiser for the diocese.<\/p>\n

\"200_HighAltar-Tabernacle-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Click to enlarge<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In spite of the construction, 2010 would be no different. SFC covered the marble floor with Styrofoam and \u00be\u201d plywood, brought in temporary seats, and built a stage for the choirs and orchestra. The construction team decided to leave the (entrance) marble floor uncovered to see how their new marble would perform under some pretty tough conditions. <\/p>\n

Salt, grit, snow would be brought in over the polished floor from thousands of shoes. The conditions are tough but are a reality in a cold climate where, from December until March, there\u2019s the chance of snow and ice. <\/p>\n

I did visit the church after the concerts and looked at the narthex floor. There were some noticeable scratches in the darker-color marbles, but nothing out of the ordinary that a buffing machine couldn\u2019t take care of.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a previous blog I mentioned a potential material issue with the Rosso Barocco marble used for the four large baldacchino columns. The potential turned into a reality, and the color of the marble was changed to Verde St Denis, a green variety from northern Italy.<\/p>\n

\"200_Baldacchino\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Click to enlarge<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This development unfolded in the months of November and December, as the original quarry never produced a Rosso Barocco block large enough for the columns. The projects\u2019 schedule, and the fact that the Rosso Barocco quarry closed for the winter, dictated this decision. <\/p>\n

We were all disappointed that the Rosso Barocco could not be used, but none more than Bishop Swain, who selected the material. I expect more conversation on this subject, but it\u2019ll have to wait for a future blog.<\/p>\n

As I write this blog in late January, container number seven is due to arrive in Norfolk, Va., this week. Crated inside the container is the marble for the cathedra and high altar. Timing is good as Al and the guys are ready to get back to work.<\/p>\n

\"200_IMG_2592-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Click to enlarge<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s good for the guys, and great news for the fish.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading,<\/p>\n

Joe Becker<\/a>
Twin City Tile and Marble Co.
St. Paul, Minn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe Becker has been in the natural-stone business for 26 years. He started with Cold Spring Granite as a draftsman and spent time in their stone installation and estimating departments. He is currently Vice President of St. Paul, Minn.-based Twin City Tile and Marble Co. <\/a>and oversees their stone operations.<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a92011 Western Business Media Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n

Get the best in insightful and informed coverage of the stone industry every month with Stone Business<\/strong> magazine. Sign up for a free subscription (or renew your current account) and don\u2019t miss a single issue \u2013 just click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"125_cathedra\"<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Even with a lull in on-site work in a Midwestern cathedral restoration, Joe Becker still finds plenty to do in putting the pieces together — including the need to change quarries in the middle of the job.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[5279,5278,1044,76,3809,4567],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-setting-in-stone","tag-baldacchino","tag-carrara","tag-joe-becker","tag-marble","tag-sioux-falls","tag-st-joseph-cathedral"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebusiness.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}