Wednesday, December 7, 2011
BC Field Visit Wrap Up
This assignment required us to go out and visit the various construction sites that are scattered throughout the Virginia Tech campus, and make observations and at time suggestions on what could be done better. This assignment excited me for one reason, that being I was able to see the systems I learned in class being utilized in the field. From caissons to form work to safety to excavation, I was able to see something concrete in the field. I am a visual learner and it helped me understand the processes that were explained in class when I could see them out in the field. Another great aspect to this assignment was that it brought multiple courses together out in the field. At one site I saw excavation which I learned in my BC class, and at the same time I noticed that there was grading going on which I learned in my CEE Measurements class. Overall this assignment enhanced my ability to retain the knowledge that I had gained within the classroom and brought a greater appreciation to my curriculum by showing me that many of these classes are intertwined.
BC Field Visit 15
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The only site that was not slowing down due to the weather was the West AJ renovation. Walking by it the day before there was some work being done to the exterior, mainly removal of hokie stone, but today all of the subs that were on site were dealing with interior systems such as HVAC, and carpeting. This is the biggest advantage to this job site compared to the others. If the weather is awful work is still going to be done. This would make the schedule for the West AJ renovation a lot more flexible. It also appeared as I walked by the site that the scaffolding was off limits in such heavy rains. A week ago the scaffolding was being utilized a lot but I didn't see one person on it when I visited the site.
The only site that was not slowing down due to the weather was the West AJ renovation. Walking by it the day before there was some work being done to the exterior, mainly removal of hokie stone, but today all of the subs that were on site were dealing with interior systems such as HVAC, and carpeting. This is the biggest advantage to this job site compared to the others. If the weather is awful work is still going to be done. This would make the schedule for the West AJ renovation a lot more flexible. It also appeared as I walked by the site that the scaffolding was off limits in such heavy rains. A week ago the scaffolding was being utilized a lot but I didn't see one person on it when I visited the site.
BC Field Visit 14
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This was the second day it had been raining heavily and it seemed that all the construction around campus had been slowing down significantly. This was definitely the case at the Signature Engineering Building. There were no subs on the site at the time that I visited. There was one person working on a miniature excavator but soon stopped and went back into the office. This job site unlike the Turner St parking garage had 4-5 retention ponds scattered throughout the site. This helped collect the water and keep it away from the major parts of the job site. I can see the need to stop excavation work especially when its raining. Earth get heavier and more expansive then taking up more space in the truck and burning more fuel, the only question is that is how much more cost effective is it to stop working for a day than working and only getting a portion of the days work done?
This was the second day it had been raining heavily and it seemed that all the construction around campus had been slowing down significantly. This was definitely the case at the Signature Engineering Building. There were no subs on the site at the time that I visited. There was one person working on a miniature excavator but soon stopped and went back into the office. This job site unlike the Turner St parking garage had 4-5 retention ponds scattered throughout the site. This helped collect the water and keep it away from the major parts of the job site. I can see the need to stop excavation work especially when its raining. Earth get heavier and more expansive then taking up more space in the truck and burning more fuel, the only question is that is how much more cost effective is it to stop working for a day than working and only getting a portion of the days work done?
BC Field Visit 13
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The Turner St. parking garage project had also been slowed down as well. A week ago there were many different subs doing a bunch of different work around the site. On this day the only sub out on the site was Long Foundation. One team was out driving piles which you can see in the background of the third picture, while another team was putting together form work for the concrete walls. It seemed that the forms were not only being put together for the exterior wall but that they were forming some sort of booth that would be at the entrance of the garage along with a concrete column. There was heavy rain through out the day and it was beginning to take its toll on the site, there were trenches that were dug but now completely filled with water and the grading of the entrance was slowly deteriorating. One recommendation that I have for the Turner St. site is having retention ponds. I that almost every other site on campus had a retention pond, but the Turner St. site lacked one. I feel that with these they would have been able to reduce the amount of sediment that was being washed away by the drains.
The Turner St. parking garage project had also been slowed down as well. A week ago there were many different subs doing a bunch of different work around the site. On this day the only sub out on the site was Long Foundation. One team was out driving piles which you can see in the background of the third picture, while another team was putting together form work for the concrete walls. It seemed that the forms were not only being put together for the exterior wall but that they were forming some sort of booth that would be at the entrance of the garage along with a concrete column. There was heavy rain through out the day and it was beginning to take its toll on the site, there were trenches that were dug but now completely filled with water and the grading of the entrance was slowly deteriorating. One recommendation that I have for the Turner St. site is having retention ponds. I that almost every other site on campus had a retention pond, but the Turner St. site lacked one. I feel that with these they would have been able to reduce the amount of sediment that was being washed away by the drains.
BC Field Visit 12
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Out at the job site there was nobody working due to the weather. It had been raining heavily for the past day which stopped everything. The only people that were on the job site were those in the office. Though there was nobody working on site I noticed that a lot of the form work had been removed and was placed into piles according to their size and shape. It appeared that Holder had finished most of the form work and were ready to move onto the next phase of the building. It is interesting too see that nobody was out working on this day because of the delays that were already threatening the project. We were notified that the caissons themselves were taking much longer than expected, which pushed everything else back. With no lighting being present I would have expected at least a few workers out on the site.
Out at the job site there was nobody working due to the weather. It had been raining heavily for the past day which stopped everything. The only people that were on the job site were those in the office. Though there was nobody working on site I noticed that a lot of the form work had been removed and was placed into piles according to their size and shape. It appeared that Holder had finished most of the form work and were ready to move onto the next phase of the building. It is interesting too see that nobody was out working on this day because of the delays that were already threatening the project. We were notified that the caissons themselves were taking much longer than expected, which pushed everything else back. With no lighting being present I would have expected at least a few workers out on the site.
Monday, December 5, 2011
BC Field Visit 11
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The West AJ renovation is an interesting sight due to the scaffolding that makes it look like it has a large exoskeleton. This site was the most difficult to asses because it seemed like most of the work was being done on the inside. There was a bit of work being done on the outside that involved precast concrete which appeared to be going on outside the windows. My most pressing question about this site was the scaffolding. Blacksburg has a tendency to have brutal winters that get extremely cold. With the metal scaffolding it seems like they would get easily slick and could cause an unsafe working condition for the laborers. If I were to be running the schedule my main goal would be to finish the outer work before it began to get cold then while in the winter months work on the inside, this would allow better working conditions for the workers and less risk walking out onto the scaffolding in the freezing cold.
The West AJ renovation is an interesting sight due to the scaffolding that makes it look like it has a large exoskeleton. This site was the most difficult to asses because it seemed like most of the work was being done on the inside. There was a bit of work being done on the outside that involved precast concrete which appeared to be going on outside the windows. My most pressing question about this site was the scaffolding. Blacksburg has a tendency to have brutal winters that get extremely cold. With the metal scaffolding it seems like they would get easily slick and could cause an unsafe working condition for the laborers. If I were to be running the schedule my main goal would be to finish the outer work before it began to get cold then while in the winter months work on the inside, this would allow better working conditions for the workers and less risk walking out onto the scaffolding in the freezing cold.
BC Field Visit 10
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The second skanska site I visited was the new parking garage up on turner street. This unlike the ASA was in the beginning stages of construction. There was a lot of excavation and the caissons were just beginning to be drilled. Though the site looked very hectic and had a lot of equipment and material everywhere it seemed to be running smoothly and organized. On this site it seemed like the most important job at the time was removing the dirt that had been excavated. The one part of this project that brought me back to a BC exercise was was the topsoil that had been removed. If you were to look to the top of Turner St. you would see a 15 to 20 ft wall of earth were if you looked down toward Chu-Chos it appeared that no topsoil was removed. I can almost imagine the drawing of the topographic map and how I would go about and estimate how much earth needed to be removed. This paired with the excavator placing the dirt in the dump trucks showed me the practicality of the presentation we did on the building by 460.
The second skanska site I visited was the new parking garage up on turner street. This unlike the ASA was in the beginning stages of construction. There was a lot of excavation and the caissons were just beginning to be drilled. Though the site looked very hectic and had a lot of equipment and material everywhere it seemed to be running smoothly and organized. On this site it seemed like the most important job at the time was removing the dirt that had been excavated. The one part of this project that brought me back to a BC exercise was was the topsoil that had been removed. If you were to look to the top of Turner St. you would see a 15 to 20 ft wall of earth were if you looked down toward Chu-Chos it appeared that no topsoil was removed. I can almost imagine the drawing of the topographic map and how I would go about and estimate how much earth needed to be removed. This paired with the excavator placing the dirt in the dump trucks showed me the practicality of the presentation we did on the building by 460.
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