Featured Article about Pre-engineered Steel Buildings

Mission - Possible - Building A Church In A Week
Patrick Gillam
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Can people with no construction experience erect a hurricane-resistant building in a week? The answer is yes - at least, when God is on their side.

Scott Coulombe and a crew of seven built a light gauge steel church in Santa Rita de Copan, Honduras, Central America, in one week of March, 2004. Here's how it came about.

Coulombe is also a hands-on guy who happens to make a living designing, manufacturing and selling framing components for light gauge steel buildings.

Missionary Clifton Bullock of St. Johnsbury, Vt., is a Christian missionary in Santa Rita.

On a visit to the mission in 2003, Coulombe noted that the wet, termite-friendly conditions of Honduras were ideal for steel buildings. He also noticed that Missionary Bullock and the local church congregation started to build a concrete foundation for a pastor's quarters and church.

Coulombe thought of the rejected building components that lay around the yard back at the plant and thought, I could build a church out of that stuff.

Back at the plant, Coulombe used a magnet to pick up rejected screws after the work day was done. He knew many of the fasteners would be salvageable.

A generous donation permitted Coulumbe to ship a container of steel building components and accessories to the Honduran mission in November of 2003.

Finally Coulombe, a member of Community Baptist Church of Gorham, N.H., recruited a work crew from the church that supports the mission, Chester Bible Fellowship of Chester, N.H.

The days of the week

By now it's March 2004. Coulombe, Bullock and six others who'd never before built a steel-framed building have brought their gloves, tools and enthusiasm to the mission.

It had taken the Bullock and his people 18 months to lay the foundation, make the concrete blocks and erect the first floor church walls. Few could imagine completing the shell in seven days.

Their materials lay in disarray about them. It was junk steel - twisted and white rusted parts rejected from the manufacturing line.

The crew sorted and staged materials, and began erecting initial the framing. The missionary's children, Josiah and Micah, set to work sorting the good screws from the bad.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

The foundation measured 35 by 70; almost half of that space was enclosed in the block walls, and the other 60 percent was intended as an open-air meeting place. Coulombe and crew installed a second floor across the block walls using 18- and 16-gauge joists and locally purchased 26-gauge corrugated steel roofing.

And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Standing on the second floor, the crew erected the walls for the second story. They used 6-inch steel studs for the framing, running steel straps horizontally on which to attach galvanized sheet metal cladding.

And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

The roof, normally one of the most challenging aspects of a wood framing job, went relatively easily for the now-somewhat-experienced crew. They cut the roof rafters on the ground and moved them by hand into place across the second-story framing members. The light weight of the steel components made it possible.

And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

With roof trusses in place, the crew affixed sheet metal cladding, enclosing the church. And, over the 1,050-square-foot open-air meeting area, they erected rafters to the top of the 3.5 meter block walls.

And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

All that remained was installing the canopy over the open-air portion of the church. Crew members moved confidently now, spurred by their accomplishments and the prospect of a complete task in sight.

And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.And the crew saw that it was good.

On the 7th day, the crew rested - and rejoiced. At the beginning they had been rookies, but now they were accomplished builders.

Many in the congregation actually wept at the sight of their finished church. They saw what had been done, and saw that it was very good.

Codes and safety

Honduran termites will eat entire support posts in a season, Coulombe says. And the weather can be severe at times. Now these people can have a structure that gives them shade and shelter for years to come.

The crew doubled up elements for safety, even with 16 gauge elements. It's sufficient to hold up against hurricanes, termites and flooding. These are advanced measures in a community that has zero building codes.

Hands and feet

Scott Coulombe likes to see projects completed, so this mission project was fulfilling on many levels. You can donate $500 and get your picture in the paper handing a big check to a worthy recipient he says, but you can also get out there, roll up your sleeves and do it.

You've got to put feet to the idea, he says.

God knows all about building something in a week. And now, so do eight New England churchgoers who'd never before built a building of light gauge steel.

Postscript: American crew members in the raising of the Santa Rita mission church were Tim Peloquin, Bryan Moquin, Pastor John Ziemba, Jim Radzelovage, Peter Johnson, Pastor Cyantano, Scott Coulombe and Missionary Clifton Bullock. Jane and Christina Bullock, Clifton's wife and daughter, kept the crew fed and watered.