Parking Garage 092309

Wednesday
12:00 pm
Partly Cloudy

Caisson work is progressing northward. There were an additional two steel workers from the drilling company assembling ReBar. That means that two two-man teams were working simultaneously and within about 15 feet of one another.

The project also presents new insights into building with existing site conditions. The site is a parking lot, which means it is impervious for rainwater. To solve this a drainage pit had to be excavated at the southern end. Also a one-foot berm was created running north-west from the drainage pit. Any water running down over the parking lot is diverted into the pit.

Material storage will be interesting to observe. Once the caisson drilling progresses to the middle of the site, the storage of the caisson sleeves will become an issue that has to be dealt with.

Trailers are all located at the far northern end of the site. Home football game days create traffic congestion so no work is performed on Saturday or Sunday.


In observing a new drainage line that was being installed one can see three pieces of equipment in use. At the far end of the trench an excavator is used to removed the soil. A worker is fitting a drain pipe in a trench barrier. The white machine above the trench is backfilling the trench with stone and soil. In the foreground, one can see a sheepsfoot roller for compaction.



Also got a glimpse of some drainage covers from the Everlasting Vault Company of Randallstown, MD. These vault covers have travelled nearly 300 miles from Maryland to Blacksburg.

More to follow on Wednesday the 30th.

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Parking Garage 091709

Wednesday
9am
Overcast

Construction has been underway at the new parking garage structure on campus. Just over a month ago an enclosing fence, runoff screen, and trailers were installed around the site. The site itself consists of an existing parking area. Trees and curbs were removed with excavators and dozers. Starting last week the caisson entourage showed up on site. Caissons will vary in size from two to four feet diameters. A crane and a caisson drill have begun drilling at the north west corner of the site. This photo was taken from the balcony of building across from the site.

The above photo shows the ReBar construction area. Workers use this space to build the caisson cages on site. This seems to be a space and labor intensive way to work. What is the cost/benefit of constructing on site as apposed to off-site and transporting it. It may have to do with paying for transportation twice (material to shop, shop to site).

The video shows the movement of the steel from the assembly to temporary storage area.

In observing the caisson drilling rig I noticed a safety cage which encircled the caisson excavation. This safety cage was roughly waist height and obviously meant to protect workers on the ground from falling in to the pit. Today I observed the drill rigs space needs. The caisson drilled is parallel or in-line with the tract. To the left was a spoil pile where the drill would shake loose soil (which appeared to be a shale of some sort) and to the right were some additional bits which could be swapped out when needed.
Note to self: consider safety enclosure for caisson, spoil area, removal of spoil, extra drill bits. Also there appeared to be a barrel of oil on the drilling rig which seemed to allow easy access to the drill apparatus.

Site Visit 090709

Monday September 7th, 2009
Partly Cloudy


Construction of new basketball practice facility is complete. Some minor site work is being completed and the construction enclosure has been reduced to a single trailer, parking, and utility hook-up. They appeared to be taking down a notification board. The trailer looked as if they were packing up to move to the next job. There were some excavators at the rear of the site, but that work seemed connected to a new project down the hill.



Below are two photos taken from a similar perspective. The first shows construction in progress in December. The next shows the finished product.

Construction is where the action is. The 'under construction' photo and phase of the basketball facility has so much more going on. Several months ago a crane was in the middle of leveled area of soil. After the rat slab was poured and the metal decking was installed it was used as a large storage area for various trades. Now it serves a single purpose.