“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
These lines most famously refer to postal workers, but they fit the intrepid Young Construction team too. Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, crews are steadily continuing their work on the Abbey’s new Buddha Hall.
Snow has been a challenge lately, and Abbey residents play an essential role in keeping the building site accessible and snow free. Ven. Losang and other monastics take turns plowing the road so that trucks can come into the site. That will be essential when 15 concrete trucks come in to pour the slab.
We hope to pour the concrete slab—the part of the foundation that is the basis for the lower-level floor—in the next week or so.
What’s a slab?
A building foundation has several parts, including the footings, which were poured in September. Now comes the slab, which is like the floor of the whole structure. It has to be poured and cured before crews can insert the steel columns that will support the next level of the building.
Once the slab is set, carpenters can begin framing the interior walls against the Faswall blocks that create the outer walls.
“When” depends on weather
The timing of that depends on weather conditions. Both temperature and precipitation—especially snow—need to cooperate to provide optimum conditions for the concrete pour.
Meanwhile, carpenters prepare wood and pre-cut boards so they can start framing the downstairs internal walls as soon as the slab is ready.
And the Faswall continues to go up, building the outer walls of the lower level block by block. Take a look at why we’re using Faswall here.
A very long time
Wikipedia claims the “Neither rain, nor snow … etc.” quote was spoken by the Greek historian, Herodotus, about 2500 years ago. That’s roughly the same time the Buddha was teaching in India.
We are building the Buddha Hall to last at least that long, as we expect Sravasti Abbey to be sharing the Dharma for a very long time!