KEC Week 12

The past few weeks the focus has been on foundations.  The East wing of the building has a full basement which will be used for mechanical and electrical rooms, laundry, and storage space.  The rest of the building foundation is a slab on grade with frost wall foundations.

 [ concrete crew laying out foundations, they "step" down at this corner to allow the Earth Duct to come under the slab]

To build the foundation you start with the footing.  Wooden forms are used to create the footings.  Sometimes reinforcing steel or rebar is required in the footings.  After the forms and rebar are installed, the concrete is placed in the footing.  When the concrete hardens, usually about a day later the forms are stripped and then the foundation walls are formed on top of the footing.  

[foundation wall in progress, some wall is complete while the foreground shows rebar in progress]

[ basement foundation wall in progress, that opening is for a louver into the mechanical room for fresh air ]

[ concrete crew working on basement foundation wall forms; in the foreground is the elevator pit]

[this is the NE corner of the building, near the new kitchen, the carpenter is installing a brick shelf that will support the stone veneer]

You usually start by building the outside formwork, then install the wall rebar, and then close up the wall by installing the inside formwork.  Then concrete is placed in the walls.  Often this is placed using a concrete pump truck.  Again, when the concrete hardens the forms are stripped and now the foundation is complete.   Since the basement is a finished space, it is important to properly waterproof the outside of the foundation walls, provide good drainage along the wall and away from the building, and provide insulation.  We will start this work in a couple of  weeks and I will discuss these methods in more detail at that time.

Where there is no basement we have frost walls.  The steps are generally the same, start with the footing and then build the wall.  The main difference is that this is only a frost wall which means you only go deep enough to prevent the effects of frost heaves in the winter when the ground freezes.  In New England this is typically between 3-1/2 and 4 feet deep.  Since there is no finished space behind the frost wall and the slab is on grade, waterproofing is not usually required on these walls, but it is still a good idea to use damproofing and insulation.

   

[here is the frost wall with just the outside forms up]

[here the frost wall has been closed with the inside forms up]

While the foundation work has been advancing, we have also started work on the site utilities.  We have connected the site storm drains, domestic water service, and sewer service to the town utilities in the road.

While all this activity is taking place on site there is also a lot of work in the office, pre-planning site activities.  Shop drawings are being prepared by the various subcontractors for the elevator, timber frame, mechanical equipment, and electrical equipment as well as coordination drawings locating all of the piping and ductwork below the slab, above the ceilings, and in the walls.  These shop drawings and coordination plans are reviewed by the design team and the Construction Manager to coordinate with the design and each other's work to ensure when all the materials arrive onsite they can be properly assembled without any issues.  This is a very critical part of the project that avoids issues on site which can lead to delays and costly changes.