Mega Post

This mega post will make up for the three previous weeks of no posts! Part of the reason for which was uWaterloo's first snow day in 5 years. While the rest of us were thrilled about this, the construction crew dislikes precipitation of any kind. They worked this past weekend clearing snow off of the site so that this morning they could resume work right away.

Since we have been out of the loop for so long, we will just get floor by floor updates so that we are all caught up on what is happening. Starting at the bottom:

Floor 1

All of the walls are now in place, and the plumbers have been at work (as evidenced by the interesting looking pipe on the left). The water is due to the high volume of snow that we received on Friday. This is the view as seen through the doorway from the existing building.

Floor 2

This is the current view of the long end of the Atrium, where it connects with the new building. Note the window on the left with the light on - that is a brave soul's office! She hears perhaps more than she wants to about the process of construction...

 This is the current view of level two of the addition from the existing building. You can see the evidence of plumbing work here as well, in the pipes and the ducts waiting to be installed. All of the weight bearing walls are installed for this level.

This is a view of the overhang outside level two from the existing main entrance (not in use at the moment). The doorway to the right will be the new main entrance when all is said and done. It is actually quite toasty in this area, even though that wooden door is open to the outside. The trick is the little device in the bottom left corner of the photo. It is a mighty little gas heater which lends its heat to the entire sheeted-in area and its aroma even beyond!

Floor 3

Last week they poured the floor of level three. They used many of those little gas heaters to heat up level two underneath, in order to encourage the cement to dry before it froze. It was a cold day, at least -10, so this is again testament to the mighty strength of those little heaters!

This is level three today. Cement is dry, but snow has left pools of water. You can see the rebar markers where the block walls will be erected. Level three is special because this will be the location of the new archives storage area. Due to the weight that this area will need to support, the floor underneath the archives room was poured with a special type of concrete, with allowances made for the shelving units that will use rails incorporated into the floor.

So there you have it - that is the up-to-the-minute news on the Conrad Grebel construction site. Stay tuned for another update on Friday!