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!