Showing posts with label Field Visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Field Visit. Show all posts
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.
BC Field Visit 9
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This site really shocked me. I recognized the contractor from a project up on north main that was completed at the end of last year. I never noticed that nobody on site had PPE. When I say they had no PPE they had nothing, in fact some were even wearing camouflage. Looking back on last year it was the same thing, none of their workers had any PPE. This project was interesting and really showed the difference between a small contractor and one like Skanska, which is massive. As you can see above I was hesitant to take pictures of this site just incase a manager on site would think that i was trying to catch their works without the proper safety equipment. This seems like a big risk not only for the workers but for also the company. To buy the proper equipment for the workers seems like a much better investment than what could happen if OCEA or somebody was injured. This site is a good small example of what is going on with skanska and its much easier to see what is going on around the site. The excavator working in the picture is digging for utilities while somebody was measuring the depth. This is something I just learned in Measurements Class CEE 2814. I think that this is the best part of this assignment is that it helps bring together more than just BC classes.
BC Field Visit 8
I first saw this site from the top of the parking garage when performing a site visit at the Barton Malow construction site. Seeing as we had just learned about wood frame construction I thought it would be appropriate to include one in a field visit. At the job site there was nobody working but I was able to see various aspects of the wood frame such as cripple, jack, and king studs, along with sills, souls, and headers. These can be seen in the top picture. It was an interesting change in pace from the steel structures that have been going up around campus. What interests me the most about wood frame is the ability to customize to a smaller degree. It seems that its easier to alter a design to make the structure look one way or the other and that ability to do this is what really interests me in the residential side of construction.
BC Field Visit 7
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This site is located across the street from the ICTAS building. The shoring that was used on these sidewalks appeared to be reusable. This site was interesting for a couple of reasons. One side of the sidewalk had concrete already poured and it was curing to the point where people could walk on it, but at the other end there was no concrete and you could see the gravel with the number 1 rebar placed on top of it. This was a good example of the concrete process. Another piece to this project was the operator of the excavator. He was extremely skilled which allowed him to be extremely efficient. At one point there were two pieces of sidewalk that were fairly large. Without hesitation he picked up one of the pieces and dropped it on the other which broke it in half and allowed him to load it into the dump truck easier. The skill that this operator has helped to make the process more efficient not only at the site but most likely off site where the dump truck unloads all its debris.
This site is located across the street from the ICTAS building. The shoring that was used on these sidewalks appeared to be reusable. This site was interesting for a couple of reasons. One side of the sidewalk had concrete already poured and it was curing to the point where people could walk on it, but at the other end there was no concrete and you could see the gravel with the number 1 rebar placed on top of it. This was a good example of the concrete process. Another piece to this project was the operator of the excavator. He was extremely skilled which allowed him to be extremely efficient. At one point there were two pieces of sidewalk that were fairly large. Without hesitation he picked up one of the pieces and dropped it on the other which broke it in half and allowed him to load it into the dump truck easier. The skill that this operator has helped to make the process more efficient not only at the site but most likely off site where the dump truck unloads all its debris.
BC Field Visit 7
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I first saw this site from the top of the parking garage when performing a site visit at the Barton Malow construction site. Seeing as we had just learned about wood frame construction I thought it would be appropriate to include one in a field visit. At the job site there was nobody working but I was able to see various aspects of the wood frame such as cripple, jack, and king studs, along with sills, souls, and headers. These can be seen in the top picture. It was an interesting change in pace from the steel structures that have been going up around campus. What interests me the most about wood frame is the ability to customize to a smaller degree. It seems that its easier to alter a design to make the structure look one way or the other and that ability to do this is what really interests me in the residential side of construction.
I first saw this site from the top of the parking garage when performing a site visit at the Barton Malow construction site. Seeing as we had just learned about wood frame construction I thought it would be appropriate to include one in a field visit. At the job site there was nobody working but I was able to see various aspects of the wood frame such as cripple, jack, and king studs, along with sills, souls, and headers. These can be seen in the top picture. It was an interesting change in pace from the steel structures that have been going up around campus. What interests me the most about wood frame is the ability to customize to a smaller degree. It seems that its easier to alter a design to make the structure look one way or the other and that ability to do this is what really interests me in the residential side of construction.
BC Field Visit 6
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The field visit to the Signature Engineering Building is an example of a project within its first stage of breaking ground. The major focus of this stage is the foundation. At this point a majority of the work was being performed on the Toms Creek corner of the site, but you can see that closer to the center of the project site there are caissons that have been poured. This site to me seemed to be very unorganized. One of piece of evidence for this assessment was the material that was built up at the center of the site. It can be seen in the center of both of the pictures above. This material seemed to be pouring over onto the access road into the job site. While there it appeared that the bobcat was moving frantically in order to free up the road. Organization of a site to me seems to be important to the schedule. If it takes time to move one piece of equipment in order to get another one through you lose efficiency and time. When you lose these key pieces to any job you start to pile up more cost and more delays, this is huge for a company that wants to make a good impression on a customer such as Virginia Tech which will never stop building. Efficiency is critical, just like in our ICTAS presentations, and will not only save you money but will also make you a valued contractor.
BC Field Visit 5
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As seen from the images above the new ASA building has made significant strides towards its completion. While viewing this site I noticed that most of the work was being done on the inside so it was hard to see what advances were being made. When I went around towards the back I noticed a lot of work being completed on the lower portion of the building with other laborers doing what seemed to be finish work up top from a boom lift. It seems that the typical way to finish a building is the top down. this makes sense because it prevents materials being moved back up and creating delays that might be caused from clean up or damages. One part of the building that caught my attention was the stairwell located in the rear of the building. It was still exposed and you could still see the steel system that made it up. I'd like to also note that all workers had proper PPE. This seems to be one of the most important aspects of Skanska's work seeing as they have signs out side of the entrance that lists the number of hours since an accident.
As seen from the images above the new ASA building has made significant strides towards its completion. While viewing this site I noticed that most of the work was being done on the inside so it was hard to see what advances were being made. When I went around towards the back I noticed a lot of work being completed on the lower portion of the building with other laborers doing what seemed to be finish work up top from a boom lift. It seems that the typical way to finish a building is the top down. this makes sense because it prevents materials being moved back up and creating delays that might be caused from clean up or damages. One part of the building that caught my attention was the stairwell located in the rear of the building. It was still exposed and you could still see the steel system that made it up. I'd like to also note that all workers had proper PPE. This seems to be one of the most important aspects of Skanska's work seeing as they have signs out side of the entrance that lists the number of hours since an accident.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
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With the new parking garage that is going to be built by Turner street, the excavation and leveling part of construction was underway. While I waited outside and viewed the site from the other side of the street I noticed that there were two trucks that had entered the site. There were two excavators on site one with a jackhammer attachment and the other with a bucket attachment. The one with the bucket attachment was on a step above the trucks when loading it. There was also a bulldozer on site as well. One improvement that I noted would be to create another way for the trucks to enter and exit the site. They used the same entrance to exit and had to make a turn in order to get into position for the excavator to fill up the truck. If there happened to be 3 trucks on site at one time it would make it very difficult to make a turn and the contractor would lose money because of the stand down time.
With the new parking garage that is going to be built by Turner street, the excavation and leveling part of construction was underway. While I waited outside and viewed the site from the other side of the street I noticed that there were two trucks that had entered the site. There were two excavators on site one with a jackhammer attachment and the other with a bucket attachment. The one with the bucket attachment was on a step above the trucks when loading it. There was also a bulldozer on site as well. One improvement that I noted would be to create another way for the trucks to enter and exit the site. They used the same entrance to exit and had to make a turn in order to get into position for the excavator to fill up the truck. If there happened to be 3 trucks on site at one time it would make it very difficult to make a turn and the contractor would lose money because of the stand down time.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Weekly Report
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On my way to class one day I noticed that there was scaffolding set up along the right side of Pamplin School of Buisness. I saw that Seager a waterproofing company had their men out on the scaffolding with caulking guns in their hands moving around the hokie stone. It was interesting to see the difference between a large scale site such as the ASA building and a small task such as the work that they were performing along Pamplin. My biggest question is how does Virginia Tech go about finding a subcontractor and figuring out the best price. Do they have waterproofing contractors on hand and if so why not just use the subcontractor for waterproofing on the ASA job?
On my way to class one day I noticed that there was scaffolding set up along the right side of Pamplin School of Buisness. I saw that Seager a waterproofing company had their men out on the scaffolding with caulking guns in their hands moving around the hokie stone. It was interesting to see the difference between a large scale site such as the ASA building and a small task such as the work that they were performing along Pamplin. My biggest question is how does Virginia Tech go about finding a subcontractor and figuring out the best price. Do they have waterproofing contractors on hand and if so why not just use the subcontractor for waterproofing on the ASA job?
Monday, September 5, 2011
Weekly Construction Report #2
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My visit to the ASA job site today showed what mother nature can do to a schedule. I arrived at the site around 2:15 pm after walking across campus in a downpour. When I arrived at the site I noticed that there were no workers out on site indoors or out. I assumed that work for the day had been stopped because of the bad weather. What I began to think about as I noticed that nobody was on site, was how this would play out in Australia. We had just learned about how the workers refuse to work unless they are covered from the elements as they walk from their break room to the job site. I wondered would something such as a covered walk way help the work from freezing up on the ASA site. Do the Australians have it right in asking for a covered walk way albeit some walkways cost upwards of $50,000. Seeing as Blacksburg weather tends to be stubborn it will be interesting to see how long the job site is down due to the storm that is heading up the east, and what adjustments will have to be made in order to get the project back on track.
My visit to the ASA job site today showed what mother nature can do to a schedule. I arrived at the site around 2:15 pm after walking across campus in a downpour. When I arrived at the site I noticed that there were no workers out on site indoors or out. I assumed that work for the day had been stopped because of the bad weather. What I began to think about as I noticed that nobody was on site, was how this would play out in Australia. We had just learned about how the workers refuse to work unless they are covered from the elements as they walk from their break room to the job site. I wondered would something such as a covered walk way help the work from freezing up on the ASA site. Do the Australians have it right in asking for a covered walk way albeit some walkways cost upwards of $50,000. Seeing as Blacksburg weather tends to be stubborn it will be interesting to see how long the job site is down due to the storm that is heading up the east, and what adjustments will have to be made in order to get the project back on track.
Monday, August 29, 2011
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