Week 34, Part 2- Mechanical: Rolling Trusses!

After Owens cleared away some dirt piles, CNI staged the trusses out in front of Mechanical-



And it was time to get rolling!-



I think this was later the same afternoon, this is the southwest corner of Mechanical-



Well, not really the same afternoon, but it did go quickly. This is the southeast corner of Mechanical. The Blower room is the easternmost room, generating low pressure air for the aeration process-



And this is the northwest corner. The open area is where a trailer will back in and haul away sludge pumped from the Belt Filter press in the room to the east-



In that previous picture you see the Genie lift against the north wall. A CNI crew member is gaining access to the north gable wall, securing it to the truss system-





Here is a before and after look at the UV Disinfection room, before and after trusses-





This wide view is from on top a large gravel pile at the west edge of the job, looking due east. Operations is back-left of picture, Treatment is back-right, partially obscured by Mechanical with all the wood trusses in the near-right foreground-



And that's all for this week!

Week 34, Part 1- Mechanical roof begins, Details at Operations

With the CMU wall finshed last week at Mechanical it was time to pull down the tent and scaffolding-




A view from the northeast looking over the tarped phosphorous removal (PREM) structure (equipment not installed yet)-



And from the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, looking a bit northwest-



While they get ready for trusses let's look at the Operations building. Here one of the overhead doors for the Screening Room has been installed. This is the east face of the Operations building where the untreated waste water enters for processing-



Another large, overhead door is being installed on the north wall of Operations. This is the Maintenance & Storage room-







CNI's crew is installing the standard entry doors-



Challenger Electric is wrapping up Operations rough-in. This is a bank of sweeps in the Maintenance room for a control center-



Outside some conduit has been run for light switches in the open bay-



And finally the roof work begins at Mechanical-



The first job was placing a horizontal truss over a portion of the UV room which extends beyond the profile of the other rooms-



Here you can see better how the UV room pushes out in the south wall. This truss eventually was laid flat and secured to the pressure-treated sill plate on top of the CMU wall-



And let's step back for a minute- here's the main processing structures right now as viewed from a hill to the south. Mechanical on the left, waiting for trusses, Operations up in the middle with black felt on the roof, and the Treatment building on the right with the handrails & catwalk system on top of the walls-



And, if you stand on the Trail of the Couer d'Alenes right in front of Mechanical, and really focus on your peripheral vision, you just might see this-

Week 33, Part 2- Mechanical, LS-2 and Treatment views

R&R Masonry finished our CMU walls for the Mechanical building this week. The 2nd lift was topped off and wrapped up Monday with a grout pour-





Rod (City of Plummer Public Works Director) and Alan (Project Engineer) reviewed the UV Disinfection room early in the week-



Challenger Electric finished conduit work under the UV room slab-



Here are before & after shots of the UV room for the week. The 2nd shot represent finished height- 12 feet of CMU block above foundation walls-





Valves were installed at the Effluent Lift Station (LS-2)-





And at the end of the week the inspector (moi) climbed down into the Treatment building aeration basin to look at the Aero Mod equipment. The first shot is the 2nd stage Aeration Basin. Steel diffusers will be installed at the bottom of these full-height pvc pipes fairly soon. In the background you can see some black objects at the top of some pipes. Those are screened inlets carrying the water to another phase of Treatment-



This is the Clarifier basin. The bottom of the ladder is 16 feet below top of wall. All of the "rooms" in this building are 16 feet deep. Pipes are attached to gray suction hoods at the bottom. The hardware beneath the catwalk deals with "return activated sludge" so I won't go into any further detail on that issue. It's almost lunchtime as I write this! (and that's all for this week...)

Week 33, Part 1- Operations interior and Pipe installation

This week saw further progress in Operations. The plumber began to rough-in cold water service and drain vents-



Here is a view from inside a future office room-



The Screening Room now has insulation on the north and south walls-



Challenger Electric continued to rough-in receptacles-



Project Engineer Alan Gay reviewed progress in Operations after a meeting-



The "Art of Piping", forever hidden behind drywall-



Speaking of piping- Owens continued work on underground piping between the Influent Lift Station and the main plant. All of the pipes have to pass beneath the Plummer Creek culvert where we previously installed sleeves. One segment of line was run through a sleeve this week but weather did not permit more work-





Back on the main site Owens installed water line and a fire hydrant-

Week 32, Part 2- Two track week- Operations & Mechanical

When the weather cooperates, Owens Construction presses ahead with underground piping. The last major phase of underground work involves connecting three critical process lines from the main site to the Influent Lift Station area. Two are connected to vaults near the Influent Lift Station (LS-1) but the third is our Effluent Line which heads to a manhole near LS-1.

Here Owens is working with a trench box to run a gravity sewer line north out of a manhole at the edge of Toetly Road-



Here is a view of LS-1 and nearby vaults/manholes.(LS-1 is the concrete box with the tall, square hatch.) A total of five vaults or manholes are sitting within a short distance of LS-1-



Back in Operations another subcontractor is making quick progress. All Walls is installing steel studs for some of the walls and rigid insulation where called for in the plans. ACI mechanical is still installing HVAC ductwork at the same time-



At Mechanical, with the first CMU lift finished, R&R Masonry prepares to pour the first “bond beam”. This is a complete horizontal pour of grout that connects all the blocks at the four-foot layer. Here you see insulation being poured vertically in some of the open cells within the CMU wall. Each vertical space has either insulation or grout & rebar-



And the grout goes in with the help of a pump truck outside-



Here is the raw Bond Beam poured into a horizontal channel cut into the CMU blocks. This layer of grout is cleaned up and struck level when the crew doubles back after a section of pour-



Meanwhile, Challenger Electric continues to work on conduit runs. This is in the floor of the UV Disinfection Room. They are laying under-slab conduit which will carry power to the UV units. Just to the right of the electricians are the floor drains with under-slab piping-



The day after the Bond Beam the masons began laying the 2nd lift of CMU. You can see the CMU block pre-staged on the scaffolding behind the wall. The job of keeping grout and block flowing into the tent is critical to good production-



In the middle of winter the sun is quite low on the horizon and creates an interesting look late on a clear day. You might think we had lights inside the tent-



Back in Operations the CNI crew began installing blocking between the steel studs-



And to make sure we know where these blocks are later, we'll take a few pictures!



A general view for this week- the tar-papered roof on Operations, the inflated tent on Mechanical and a nice, firm, not-muddy site to walk on!