CNSTRCTN VOL. VI, #5 Front and Back (or One Side and the Other)

Memories, like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hands.

By way of review, here's what the elevator well (?)
looks like now post-drill.  Of course, the cylindrical item in the middle is the hole with a cover over it--that hole that required the magic drill.  The ladder gives some perspective as to depth of the well.

Now let's go to the other side of the building to see what was happening there on Wednesday.



What, another crane?  Yes, this time delivering a new generator to  accommodate the expansions of the last several years (we have another older generator).  Here it's being lifted off the flatbed truck that delivered it.  You should have seen all the maneuvers these large vehicles had to go through in order to position themselves correctly, especially the crane driver.  It was like watching a masterful dodge-ems or a dance of the titans of the road.

                                                                     

Here the generator is on a skid waiting for the final check and adjustments before it could be placed on the concrete platform that has been waiting for it for months.  Blogger missed the final move because her iPad ran too low.  As it was, the whole maneuver up to this point took at least a half an hour, and blogger must have an ungloved hand to take the photos.  It was quite cold that morning, so both the iPad and the handler were ready to come in.

Back to the other side:
Yes, bricks at last, stacked so neatly.  But you must look closely to see them behind the scaffolding in the second photo. Look at the bottom of the photo and you'll see the bricked portion of the new wall of the library.  Behind the fence-like barrier you can see all the bricks sitting on their sides (waiting to be grabbed?) and the concrete wall the bricks are covering, above the waiting bricks.
One more shot to help clarify.   Just below the ladder, close to the middle of the photo, you can see the extent of the bricklaying.  Enlarge the photo and you may be able to make it out (it is there!).
Well, it's obvious that the men made the best of the time the Thanksgiving holidays gave them.  The bricklayers were here on Friday.  If you're lost, it's okay.  Things will become clearer as we move ahead.

This is life on a small construction site, but stay with us.  Greater and more exciting things are on the horizon.

VOL. VI, # 4 Preparations, Preparations

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hands.


Just reviewing.





Actually, as you may guess, the corrugated part of the roof of the chapel extension is in place and the men are standing on it.



More on the east (chapel) end: the men came with the BIG truck to do the drilling in the elevator shaft this week.  The following photos will give you a look at the truck (has all but the kitchen sink, but maybe that too, hidden in there somewhere) and what it looks like doing its thing.

               

What you see in the last of the drill photos is what it looks like on the ground as the drill does its thing.  Enlarge the photo so you can see a cloud of dust (faint in this photo).  That is, of course, what the drill is pulling up.  Periodically there was a more dense and high cloud than what you see here.  At times the man stopped the drill and he and another man jumped down into the shaft and dug out the dirt that had collected.  You can see the mounds of dirt they threw out of the shaft.  Since blogger does not have the vocabulary here as in other places (you've no doubt noticed) she needs to make clear that what she is calling the shaft is like a little room with a hole about two feet wide in the middle of the floor.  The "room" about 5 1/2  feet deep. The hole is what they were drilling into to the depth of about 30 ft., if blogger remembers correctly, and will hold cables, etc. (?) needed to raise/lower the elevator.  That's all she knows (or thinks she knows).

Down at the other end of the construction area, things have been happening above ground.  Preparations are in process for placing the skylight frames.  In the opening you can see the top of a platform lifted to the opening for some work needed to be done there.  The man has probably gotten out onto the roof so the lift is empty.

CNSTRCTN, VOL.VI, #3 The Chapel also Rises

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hands.

The week began rather slowly, or so it seemed to blogger, until Tuesday.
That's when she realized that "they" were pouring concrete again.  This
time at the library (CLC) end where more blocks were laid to build up to
the roof.  The concrete was poured into the holes at the top of the
blocks.  These photos were taken after the sun cleared the building, creating the blue shadows.

Moving to the east, to the chapel area, things there were also moving quickly, very quickly. You can see how early the crane had arrived to begin the placement of the upright beams.              

 
So we see the men moving from fixing short beams into place between the vertical beams and preparing for the placement of the latticed ceiling beams (lay-speak).  All along the way the men are measuring distances, checking levels and generally being very particular about their work.  As you can see, this is all hard-hat work.  Welders move in at each step to fix the latest beam placed. (Be sure to enlarge this last photo in particular to see blogger's point.)  The last shot is a bonus, to be sure.  It isn't often in the history of libraries or of construction that a shot like this can come to us.  It's from our librarian, Mrs. Bankert, who had to mount a table to get it.  I leave it large for your enjoyment, but you can enlarge it further to get the facial expression of the man on the left.  He may have spotted our valiant librarian while his companion was shielding his eyes from the early morning sun.  Next time we'll see how they were able to be looking in one of our library windows.  Stay tuned.

RNVTNS VOL. VI, #2 East End Activity

Memories like birds, fleeting--they must be grasped and held in heart's hand.

East end?  Isn't that chapel?  Yes, but mostly de-struction instead of con-struction.  Eu, that doesn't sound so good.  But think of it this way: some things must be removed in order to make way for
the new and/or to be moved to the new.

   So here you have it.  Can you tell where in the chapel it is?  Blogger thinks most will know.  We all wondered what the task would look like in the doing, so the two photos should give us all a good idea.

The other big move at the chapel end is the pouring of cement for the new entrance and an additional space that still holds some mystery (until blogger can steal a look at the plans for Phase 2.)

  Looking out a counselor's office window gave blogger a perfect position to take a few photos that show how careful the finishers of the cementing must be.  Note that the man on the right of the second photo is balancing himself on the narrow strip of cement between the elevator shaft and the newly laid cement immediately to his right, in order to do the finishing of the other end of the newly laid cement (Thursday morning).  Pretty tricky.


Any activity at the west end?  A little bit that blogger could observe, but which she is rather sure is only that--a little bit of what really transpired there.  The fork lifter told blogger that the workmen are getting ready to do more to the roof (at least that's what she got out of what he said--he speaks professional!)



Blogger finally got down to the Art Department to photograph some of the new equipment down there.  Oh, to be an art student again and work in the department now!  The sinks are not new to you perhaps, having appeared in an earlier posting, but here you see them in all their glory, i.e. being used.  New drawing boards--pretty nifty; and good storage space--a dream come true.

                                                                 .
So dreams come true all over the place here.  Check in next week for the further adventures of...
                                                           RNVTNS.    

P.S.  A friend called blogger attention to the fact that VOL. V,  #2 was missing.  It was sitting in "draft" alas, but wasn't cold yet.  So the viewer can backtrack and see what blogger forgot to publish.  Oops!                                                                                                                                                      

RNVTNS: VOL. VI, # 1 Down to where the Action Is...and Up too, of Course

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

So here's the week's news: action inside and out.
First we'll go to what happened at the east end.  Drilling for why? blogger could only guess, but he (driller) had to stop because school was in session when drilling is a no-no.  It's amazing how sound travels through cement and steel.







Also at the east end some action inside chapel.  The window frame of one window is removed?

Why for????, but here's proof.

The opening is still open (boarded up at night), so it must be serving some significant purpose.

Moving to the west, we find lots of activity what with crane assist, and ceiling cross beams (lay-
speak), and welders on hand, and corrugated sheets being placed this very morn,
blogger has been kept busy.!
 Note the welding in the photos.  Blogger always gets excited when she can capture welding.  For why?????  Be that as it may, you can see the progression from the laying of all the assorted beams (ah, lay-speak) to placing of what is starting to look like a roof.
  So up to the very minute (exaggeration since they didn't stop working after this shot was taken), here the story.  Stay tuned for the further adventures of RNVTNS!

RNVTNS VOL. V, #4

Memories like birds, fleeting--they must be grasped and held in heart's hand.

Monday:  As of 11:00 only light work at the chapel end.This photo was taken earlier, around 10:00.  Seems reasonable to expect the cement mixer some time soon.

 Tuesday:  Looks like the deed is done: footings poured.

Wednesday:  Still at the chapel end, a tantalizing development on the exterior walls of the building.  The markings in this photo are for the holes needed for the placement of girders.  By the end of the day more holes will be cut.

Thursday:  While outside, blogger noticed a workman unscrewing a panel of a chapel window.  Going inside and following a workman into the chapel, she found a crew of men taking the windows apart.  This was the moment blogger had been waiting for--to see how it was going to be accomplished.  Watching for some time yielded a number of photos.  Only two are shown here, but the second one has an interesting aspect.  The man on the left is from the company (his own) that will clean and repair the panels.  He's concerned that the men are being careful (they are--they are from another company that does this kind of work).  As this is being typed, the panels are leaning against the wall in a few places in the chapel.  These windows all have a sort of storm window on the outside, as you can figure looking at these two photos.
A very eventful and instructive morning for blogger.  This job has its perks!

Tomorrow will find blogger out of town, so what happens on Friday will be documented next week.  Until then...

RNVTNS VOL. V,# 3 Things Moving, Moving, Moving

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

The movement around here just this morning makes blogger think of the old Fats Waller song, "The Joint is Jumpin'", as she recalls from her big brother's record collection.  Well jumpin' it has been, keeping blogger almost running from one end of the roof (off and on the Sisters' patio) to the other.  Yesterday brought frustration when she realized that for the second time she had missed a floor being poured, this time the chapel floor.The photo right next to the poured floor is a shot of the elevator shaft and new entrance foundations as they are being prepared.  (The white boxes on the bottom right are air conditioners in second and third floor classrooms.)  Men were working around that area early today, as you can see.

The sight of the crane from a 4th. fl. window drew blogger out to the patio to begin the "snapping" of photos on her iPad.  It got more interesting the longer she stayed outside.  The next photos are of the commencement (more or less) of the work at the collaborative learning center (aka media center or library).

Lots of measuring and double checking with a level until all the roof beams are in place.  Then the side beams are placed by the crane operator and the checking with a level is repeated.  Very meticulous work with lots of ascending and descending of ladders.  Blogger is mightily impressed and thankful!Blogger was not outside when she took this photo, but at the faculty room window.  Else she would have had to wear a hardhat (seriously).  She has one from the theater construction, by order of that site manager (one learns about OSHA also while working this kind of gig). In this last photo, we can see the man welding the side beam in place.  The welding continued, blogger is sure, until all the beams were secured.  

Well as the reader can see, it has been quite a ride this morning.  Blogger will have to venture out this afternoon to see the further adventures of

RNVTNS.