As the second year of renovations on the Salt Lake Temple comes to an end, work continues both above and below — seismic strengthening and lower-level excavations at the bottom of the temple, and the removal of stones and placement of trusses along the temple’s towers, roof and upper walls.
The latest in a series of regular updates on the temple renovations and the upgrade of the nearby Church Office Building plaza was published Thursday, Oct. 28, on Newsroom. The Salt Lake Temple closed December 2019 for renovations projected to take up to four years, with the plaza closing in February 2021.
The “jack and bore” process for the temple’s seismic strengthening has pipes 3.5 to 4 feet in diameter and 40 feet long being gradually inserted into the original foundation, with soil being removed from inside. The pipes are then filled with reinforced steel, post-tensioning strands and high-strength concrete. So far, five pipes have been installed, with three filled.
On the north side of the temple, deep excavation continues to prepare for three additional lower levels of a temple annex, which will include sealing rooms, two baptistries, administrative offices, changing rooms and a tunnel entrance under North Temple Street from the Conference Center parking garage.
With the excavation nearly at the bottom level, the next steps will include pouring a concrete slab as a working surface prior to the beginning of formwork.
All five rows of horizontal bracing beams — called walers — in the large secant wall have been installed, reinforcing the vertical steel and concrete columns that form that wall.
Along the Salt Lake Temple’s highest reaches, finials and stones of various sizes are being removed from the towers and upper north and south walls, with each stone cataloged and labeled before being stored so they can be reinstalled at the original placements.
Also, additional roof trusses have been installed alongside original trusses, which remain in place. The new trusses help brace the upper north and south temple walls as part of seismic improvements.
Also on Temple Square, reconstruction work continues on the Church Office Building plaza, with new concrete laid and waterproofed. An elliptical concrete structure — to display flags in the plaza — is under construction.
