More work pics

Here are a couple of pictures of a big concrete pour. What you see is a stair tower shaft. It is 16' tall and 12" thick. We poured two towers like this one and also an elevator tower that holds three elevators. The elevator tower is pretty complex because it has lots of embeds that will be used to connect the elevator equipment. They attach the embeds to the rebar before they pour and that way they are embedded in the concrete.

To pour these towers you have to pour from the top, which is 16' up. A pump truck is used to get the concrete from the trucks up to the top of the tower. They're pretty cool machines.

As you can see from the picture, the concrete trucks back up to the pump truck and discharge into a hopper that feeds into the line. The pump pushes concrete up the line and into the shaft walls. That isn't easy considering concrete weighs about 2,000 lbs per cubic yard!

This was the first of five stories. When it's all done the towers will be about 75' tall. I'm sure it will get more interesting the higher we get.

The last picture shows the workers placing the concrete. The hose hanging down is the end of the pump truck line, and if you look close you can see the concrete coming out of the end.

The guy standing at the far end is the pump truck operator. He has a little control remote hanging around his neck that he uses to direct the line, kind of like nintendo. (Maybe Brad's computer games can get him a job!) That way he can see what is going on and still direct the arm

of the pump truck.

The guys behind the worker holding the concrete hose are using a vibrator to consolidate the concrete so the settlement is uniform throughout

the wall. That way you avoid any weak spots.

I will post more pictures as we continue. We'll also have pictures of the baby's room soon. We are planning on painting this week.

Back at School

I'm currently in Tucson attending a graduate class. The baby seems to like school because she keeps kicking to get out, especially during long lectures. The medical campus (school of nursing, medicine, pharmacy and public health) is undergoing a lot of construction, much like the rest of Tucson. I've probably spent more time my car due to detour travel than meaningful travel.

Medical Campus (College of Pharmacy on left, College of Medicine/University Hospital straight ahead, College of Nursing on right, College of Public Health behind me)

MY CLASS

(most are older with MANY more years of experience...a humbling thought for myself)

Work pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the storm water management system. These corrugated steel pipes are 170' long and are 8' in diameter. We had to dig quite a hole! These pipes tie into a couple of drywells that go 120' into the earth. All the roof drains and landscape drains flow into this system. We've spent a lot of time getting all the underground systems in place. People don't usually realize how much work is done before starting the actual building.

Here is the drill rig that dug our drywells. They are lined with a concrete sleeve, as you can see in the picture on the right. They then fill the shaft with rock that will allow the water to dissipate easily. You can't see it well in the picture, but the concrete sleeves are perferated to water can escape them. The rock and sleeves give the well strength so cars and trucks can drive over them without collapsing in.

This is one of the stairway towers. The building is all steel, but the stair towers and elevator shafts are concrete. We will pour these shafts about 75 feet high. When they are finished the steel subcontractors will erect the building and tie their steel to these shafts. As you can see, we have only poured a 4' pony wall, but in about 5 weeks all three towers will be 5 stories high and our steel guys will be ready to go. Then the project will really get moving!

That's about all I have for now. I will post some more pictures every now and then so you can see how things are going.

House and Us

(Hope you enjoy our new blog! This should solve any inability to view pictures via email.)

With the front room now finished, we have no regrets. I was known to murmur on occasion, but as I see the finished product, I have become its biggest fan. One room down, three to go.
Here is a pregnant picture as requested...the belly looks smaller from the front... I promise...

Boe and Blue have become good friends. Must be the love of root beer they share.

Please feel free to view the blog whenever, though I can't guarantee regular posts.