Saturday, September 25, 2004
Patience is a requirement when moving the marble slabs.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Lifting about 225, 800-pound marble slabs and delicately re-laying them doesn't sound like an easy task.
But that's what Jim Huber of Niles and Joe Catullo of Boardman have been doing for more than a month in front of the McKinley Memorial Library.
"This job is easy," the 52-year-old Catullo said about resetting the marble walkways.
"It's too heavy to do anything manual," added Huber, 43.
They are two employees of D.A. Terreri & amp; Sons of North Jackson -- Catullo for 33 years, Huber for 24 -- who have worked on the project.
Patrick Finan, director of the McKinley Memorial Library, said the decision to straighten out the slabs was made by the National McKinley Birthplace board of directors.
Board member Fremont Camerino said the project outside the memorial will cost between $60,000 and $65,000, including landscaping, tree trimming and sealing and striping the parking lot.
Finan said the work that started in mid-August needed to be done so visitors wouldn't stumble on the uneven walkways.
The slabs are the original ones that were installed between 1915 and 1917, Finan believes.
How job began
Huber explained that the marble curbing around the main walkway leading from South Main Street to the memorial and library was first removed. The slabs were then removed and stacked according to size.
The slabs were not only various lengths and widths, but they also varied in thickness.
The workmen reduced the width of the walkway from seven to six slabs. This was done because many of the slabs were cracked and couldn't be used in their original sizes, Huber said.
Once the marble was removed, Huber and Catullo said, a gravel foundation was put down. Then began the job of re-laying the slabs.
Some of them were cut to size using a portable concrete saw with a diamond-tipped blade.
It's exacting work because each slab is slowly lowered into place rather than being slid along the foundation. To accomplish this, workers used two suction cups hoisted by a machine.
The slabs were lifted by the pressure of the suction cups, moved into position and slowly lowered.
Since the slabs vary in thickness, getting an even surface was the most difficult aspect of the job, Huber explained.
Slow work
But patience actually seems to be the most difficult part of the work.
When the project of re-laying marble began, only eight slabs could be moved into position per day. The best day was replacing 30 of them.
The project is scheduled for completion this week.
Finan said he doesn't believe the marble has been moved since it was originally installed.
Huber and Catullo said, however, it appears some of the slabs were moved.
They explained the edges of some slabs had been ground to help visitors to avoid tripping over them, while holes were drilled in others so pressured concrete could be injected to lift them.
yovich@vindy.com