Sunday, April 13, 2008

Concrete in the Ground!

Thursday was a milestone day on the site. The first concrete was poured!

The location of this photo is the north west corner of the main building. It will be the 1st floor, front corner. It is the bulkhead below the entry level and parking lot. The main parking lot and school entry is on the upper left and level in this photo.
For a sense of scale, these vertical rods are approximately 18 feet above the footer slab. In this photo you are looking north toward the entrance drive.
I was unfamiliar with the term"tying steel". These are "untied" vertical steel reinforcement rods.
The process of tying in the cross grid steel with the vertical is shown in this image. The intersections are precisely marked and tied in at the appropriate points.
This photo shows the difference in the cross tied grid and the untied verticals on the right side.
There is an unbelievable amount of reinforcement steel on site just in this area. It is all bundled and tagged when it arrives. Then it is inventoried, sorted, and laid out for access by the construction manager.

This is an exciting step forward. Now we are not just "moving dirt"! A building is arising from the ground. Though it is difficult to see from the site, we are finally beginning building. Steel beams should begin arriving soon and then we will see rapid construction changes on a daily basis.

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