March 29, 2007, Thursday: Movin' on Up

The construction work is slowly working its way out of the basement. Rain, mud and waiting for various steel parts did slow up the progress for a couple of days. Despite these challenges the block work on the basement has been completed and the first sections of "hollow core" flooring were dropped in place and grouted in. The second level of the free standing wall has been poured but the 3rd level will wait until the rest of the flooring is put in place on the first level.

Next week will see more of the hollow core flooring set into place. Block work has begun on the 1st floor today so the horizon is being broken! Soon everyone will be able to see progress as they drive in to the school.

An updated projection of construction progress has been posted and it looks like completion is now set for mid-october.

March 15, 2007, Thursday: Steady Progress Being Made

The snow is gone and the "Hole" has dried out a lot this week with temperatures reaching as high as 80° although a few snowflakes were in the air this morning. The site supervisor said they may have to dig out some of the remaining mud from the interior rooms because the moisture is trapped and taking to long to dry. The periphery though is much improved.

The block work has been making good progress as has the "free standing" wall (roll your mouse over the picture from last weeks log to see the changes).

The delivery of steel has begun. Steel Lintels for the doors and windows will need to be installed before completing the block work on the basement. Steel supports will also soon be installed to support the placement of the prefabricated concrete floor that will start to be installed next week.

The first pour of the "free standing" wall was completed and the preparation of the forms for the second level is almost ready. The wall will be capped with a peak and circular window. The form for that third level is being built in the shop offsite. What you currently see in photographs will be about 12 feet taller once the "peak" has been added.

A new area of the project was begun this week, the drilling of geothermal wells. The heating and cooling system will use 30 wells that are each 300 foot deep. This will be very efficient and conserve energy.

March 9, 2007, Friday: In Like A Lion - Out like a Lamb?

March stormed its way in. Literally! On March 1st we received the first real blizzard in about 10 years. The January and February snows had just melted and the construction site was starting to dry out and then... 12 inches of snow. The next Monday though saw the workers return to work and continuing to lay cement blocks despite the new snow and accompanying mud.

Work obviously hasn't been progressing as fast as it could if things were dry but work is progressing. Most of the basement blocks are set and they are now preparing to pour a portion of the free standing wall of the community room/dining room. Once they have that done they can work the basement level blocks up to the newly formed wall and then the placement of the 1st floor will take place. I hope to get some good photos and video of that process. Speaking of which I just recently put a new video online featuring the block work and snowfall. More photos were also added.

The current weather forecast looks good for the foreseeable future. It should be dry with temperatures in the 50's and 60's. Construction should really take off these next couple of weeks. Hopefully the blizzard at the start of the month will mean it will be nothing but lambing weather here on out.