Welcome to the Faith Family Church New Building Updates page! Newest entries are on top. This page is regularly updated. We are now in the building phase this year and moving forward to be on our land by April 2009. Here you will find the latest and greatest updates with pictures of what's going on out at the land. Our land is just north east of Arizona Ave & Queek Creek Rd in Chandler if you want to drive by and see it yourself.
Faith Family Church New Building Concept Design
Oct 23 - Fertigation Site
Aug 20-21 - Midnight Slab Pour
Aug 1 - Flyover - Arial view of construction from model airplane
July 9 - Living Stones
June 22 - Bunnies, Bolts and Blacktop
June 9 - Landscape Planning
June 7 - Construction from the air
May 30 - Construction Update
May 30 - Only God can do This
May 21 - Mel's Intro to Earthwork
May 14 - The General Contractor
May 13 - Digging Footings
May 5, 2008 - First Earthwork on the land
March 16, 2008 - Well Complete!
On Sunday afternoon it was finally time to drop the pump and motor down inside the casing and begin pumping water out of the well. The well was drilled down to 900' but a huge water supply was found at 820' and so it was decided to put the end of the casing - the 6" wide metal tube - at that depth. Then it was time to drop the pump and motor in. It was strange seeing the site without the big green dilling truck over the well.
Here's the motor and pump. Its a 3.5 hp motor rated at 35gpm or 50,000 gal per day.
The casing is 3' above ground level. We will be raising the grade 24" at this spot so the well will only project out of the ground about 1 foot. The PVC they are using is the thickest PVC I've ever seen. They put check valves every 200' to keep the water from dropping down in the pipe when the pump is at rest.
This is the wellhead, the top of the well. Pretty simple.
First water up!
Running the pump. The pump will run for many hours as part of starting up a new well.
One big advantage of having the well at the beginning of the project is that we can use our own water for dust control which saves the cost of purchasing water and trucking it in. Because we will be using the well throughout construction it will be a mature well by the time we open our new facility. This is a big step forward in the development of our land.
March 3 - Video Update - We've struck water!
February 27 - 900' deep and casing being dropped in
There is much more to drilling a well than you might think. We got all the way down to 900' where the best water is. As we drilled down we had an interesting combination of rock and sand. The sand is good from the point of view of making sure lots of water is available. The difficult side of it is that the hole wants to cave in which has required the hole to be cleaned out several times. Every well is its own adventure.
Time for casing. It's 1/4" steel in 20' lengths which goes down into the well and becomes the permanent liner. We upgraded to a thicker casing based upon conditions we encountered during drilling. The water is an absolutely critical part of this project, so we felt it would be wise to spend the extra money to have a very strong well.
Hoisting a stem in place. On the right side you can see one of the pipes being lifted up.
Aligning the casing. The crew took their time to make sure the casing was in just the right position as they prepared to weld.
Not one, but three beads. They went around each joint with three serparate beads. The first bead was a superstrong steel weld in the middle which connected the two pipes. Then they used a softer steel to weld additional beads on top of and just below the first weld. It took them extra time, but it gives the best performance.
January 29, 2008 - Video Updates on the Well
Micky the Driller & Pastor up close on the drilling
Jack explains a pipe change
January 25, 2008 - We're 340' Deep
The rusty pipe is actually the drilling pipe that is turning around. At the end of the week we drilled through 20’ of rock which took about 5 hours. The drill bit bounces up and down when it hits hard rock. There is nothing subtle in drilling.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! A special clay mix is pumped down through the pipe into the ground and comes out the bit at the bottom of the shaft. They add detergent to the clay to keep it from balling up.
There's more to it than you might think. After the mud surfaces, it is channeled through two mud pools to allow the heavy rock and sand to settle out, then this ‘clean’ mud is pumped back down through the shaft to lubricate the drill bit, carry out cut rock, and the heavy mud keeps the walls of the drilled shaft from collapsing.
Here’s that V8 powered mud pump. It’s been really enjoyable getting to know Mickey and Chuck. They have no problem grinding, drilling, welding, torching, pulling, digging, shoving or turning it over. They also know the best places to eat lunch.
January 17, 2008
SRP crews burying the irrigation canal along Queen Creek Rd in front of our property. This is like having our work done for free. When we first bought the property there was the thought that we would have to pay to have this ditch buried. But in God's timing, SRP is doing it at no cost to us. They dig a brand new ditch, put in the pipe and then bury it. Later they will put the new water pipes in the old irrigation ditch and bury it.
Jan 17 - Setting up for the well. This is part of the drilling equipment that is needed being set up on our land. We are drilling a 900' well. The two flags point to the exact spot where we will drill. When it comes time for dust control we can use our own water instead of trucking the water in. And so you ask: Why in the world are you drilling a well when they are going to be laying water in the new road??? Good question. Actually it is much cheaper for us to drill this well than it would be to hook up with city water. Although water was found at the 60' level we are going down deep because the water is much better down there. The water will be tested and chlorinated. And when it comes time to water down the construction site we will save over $200 per truck load of water because we can use our own.
Surveyers mark the spot for the well placement. I just thought you would want to know.
The drill head. A mud solution is pumped down through the pipe and drill bit, and then it flows back up to the surface carrying the loose dirt with it.
Jack Blankenship and Mickey the driller.
We have a deep gratitude for FFC member Jack who took on the well project. He found Mickey and helped cut costs, while ensuring that we get what we need. Jack has significant well drilling experience on his farm in Kansas. Driller Mickey started drilling wells with his dad when he was only 5 years old. I was talking with Mickey today and he told me he has officiated 5 weddings and 1 funeral.
The drilling controls. Just one for those of us who like to look at knobs and switches.
