Day 28

The ICFs arrived today and work got started putting them together to create the foundation wall system. Once they are put together, rebar is inserted to provide necessary tensional strength and then concrete is poured in the opening. We are hoping to start pouring the cement after the long weekend.

While the ICF crew was working, the final gravel layer for the fire access road was being compacted using a steam roller (I guess "road roller" would be more accurate).


The ICFs have arrived.



The ICFs are placed along the footing to create the grade beam.



Here is a closer look at the ICF grade beam.



Adding the final touches to the fire truck road.

Day 26

The rest of the foundation footings were poured today. The construction site looks like it did last week so I will not be posting any pictures today. The next step is to construct the ICF foundation, which will rest on top of the footing. Concrete will be poured in these forms to create the foundation walls for the expansion.

Day 23

Another hot day - our construction crew must be baking!

The access road looks great and hopefully, the rest of the trenching and framing for the footing for the exterior walls is completed today. A mudsill will be used to attach the ICFs to the footing, which I expect will be poured early next week.



The frame is where the footing will be poured and the red caps mark the rebar.



A view of the footing taken from the SE corner of the existing building



Footing along the north side of what will be the new Multi-Purpose Room

Day 20

Progress continues to be made but is not as dramatic as the excavation. Now that the pilings have been poured, the footings must be framed and poured. We are using Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) for the exterior walls, which are far stronger than stick-built walls and include 2 layers of foam insulation built-in.

Crushed concrete has been spread over a membrane in the access road in the back of the school. This will be covered with another membrance and then gravel.

The construction site has now been fenced, with the exception of the northwest corner where the new access road ends.




These exposed pilings (with the cardboard forms on them) will provide support to the raised floor of the Performing Arts room.



If you look closely, you can see the trench in front of the tree with the plywood hoarding. The lumber in the foreground will be used to frame the footing to be poured in this trench.

Day 13

Thankfully, Sunday was hot and dry enough to allow the drilling crew to get started drilling and pouring the pilings today. Fencing was dropped off as well so that the construction site will be secure. The trees closest to the construction were hoarded with plywood to protect them from damage.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for more rain on Tuesday so progress will again be delayed.



Drilling the holes for the pilings



Once the hole is drilled out, the rebar cage is lifted and placed in the hole



The cement is poured into the hole encasing the rebar cage and voila, a piling!



The fencing is ready for assembly

Day 8

With all of this rain there has been no progress since Day 5...

Day 5

Today was the last day of excavation. Once the footprint of the new building was dug out, the fire truck access road was also extended.

The existing fire truck access road was extended from the north side of the school along the west side...

... and now ends at the basketball court.

The access road now includes a circular portion to allow fire trucks to turn around

The locations for the foundation pilings were also marked out in preparation for drilling in the next couple of days (weather permitting)

The construction site at the end of the day

Day 1

Well, the day we have all been waiting for has arrived (along with 2 dump trucks and a track hoe). Since the construction is starting over the summer, I thought it would be a good idea to track the progress of the project with this blog and some pics to give everyone an idea of what is happening. My words and photos will not be an adequate substitute for the real thing so I encourage everyone to come out to the school to see the progress for themselves.

Larry Plett, who is managing the project for us, had told me that the excavation would start today so I arrived prepared with my camera. Let me rephrase that... I arrived with Gwen's camera (and I am sure she is just as amazed as I was that I touched the camera all by myself). I apologize if the pictures are not the best but hopefully they will give you some idea of what is happening "on the ground".

As for my commitment to this blog, I will try to update it every few days or so and add pictures when I can. Please feel free to make comments if you are interested in a specific aspect of the construction and I will do my best to respond. If I do not have an answer for you, I will ask Larry (because he knows what he is talking about).

Check out these pics!

Excavation on the site, including the extension of the emergency access road behind the school, should be complete in 3 days. Here the track hoe is loading the top soil into a dump truck. The soil is being piled neatly behind the SCS hockey rink.

The size and layout of the expansion will overlap the SE corner of the basketball pad so the cement has to be cut and removed.

Although the drilling and pouring of cement pilings for the foundation are not scheduled until July 8th, the rebar cages used for the pilings were being wired by hand today.

The end of day 1!