Building Update- Entry # 7

Want to see something cool?

 

These pictures were taken exactly one week apart-

Neat, huh? I just thought it was an interesting comparison, Especially since it rained both Monday and Tuesday. However, they did work in the rain. On Monday they continued the roof sheating. On Tuesday they continued fascia (we talked about that last week, remember?) and nailed the roof on. 

On Wednesday they began interior pickup, meaning knee walls went up to the 3/12 cathedral ceiling to block off the attic. If you really want to know what that means, stop by the job site and ask Paul. He explained it to me, and I took notes, but relaying that back to you would be like Paul trying to read an X-Ray.

I have no idea how much lumber is being utilized for this project, but I have seen the bill for the lumber and I am thinking it's a
whole lot of boards! These pictures are taken from the reception area, which has the most light coming in from the large window openings. I tried to get other pictures from the back of the structure but it is too dark.




I am happy about 3 things - Other than there being ALOT of windows in this building, there is also a window in what will be my office, a window in what will be Dr. Jackett's office, and a window in what will be the break room. Wait, we are getting a break room. That makes 4 things I am really happy about.
We just don't have the room in our current space
for a break area/room. It will be so nice after all these years for the staff to have their own space, and not have to eat lunch in the same room where a cat abscess is being treated!













These pictures show the North side of the building. You can see the dog kennel area in the back corner. The cat ward and the isolation ward are also located along this wall, as well as the staff bathroom, a storage room, and my office. The public bathroom is located in the corner at the front of the building, which will be in the reception area.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week they ran the eves and the venting, and on Friday they added plywood and trim to the porches. I love the wrap around porches!










The photo below is how it looked today at 2:30 in the afternoon. Seeing the comparison between the photos above (again, cool!) I can't wait to see what it looks like next Friday!



June 28, 2013

STAY TUNED....



 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Building Update- Entry # 6



Letting the world know this new building is ours

Is there any better way to spend a rainy day at home than catching up on some work? Since I am a week behind with the building updates, I decided to spend my day off on getting caught up. The original plan for today was to do some kayaking at Wright's Lake, but Mother Nature has blessed us
with some rain. So I sit at home on the couch, in front of the TV with my laptop actually on my lap, while surrounded by my pets and enjoying a steady rain. What a great morning!

Now on with the building update...these pictures are from last week, June 18th-21st.

On Tuesday the Trusses were delivered.



It was pretty exciting to see the big truck with the crane show up. Now we are ready for the next phase of this project!

June 19, 2013



June 18, 2013


It is really amazing to see the changes in the building as construction progresses. It is fun to walk around inside the structure, envisioning the finished product room by room. We picture the equipment already in place, the cat boarding condos in the reception area, what colors the walls will be. We are also excited to have our own bathroom! We have shared the public bathrooms in the shopping center for many years, and it will be a luxury to have our own!

A glance at the inside












Most of this week was spent rolling the trusses. They finished plating and detailing the frame and completed the upstairs storage room. By Thursday they started the porch trusses.

By Friday they finished the porch
trusses and started "Fascia".


Google describes "Fascia" as:
fas·ci·a/ˈfaSH(ē)ə/n.
1. A wooden board or other flat piece of material coverning the ends of rafters or other fittings.



They also "Sheated" 3/4 of the roof.

TheFreeDictionary.com describes "Sheathing" as:
sheath·ing (shng) n.
1. A layer of boards or of other wood or fiber materials applied to the outer studs, joists, and rafters of a building to strengthen the structure and serve as a base for an exterior weatherproof cladding.  



Which is a good thing because now it is raining!     I hope everyone is enjoying these updates. It has been fun for me to do this Blog, chronicling the process of the new building. This is how the building looked on Friday afternoon:  June 21, 2013- This is a view of the front entrance. June 21, 2013- This is the view from the rear of the building.   TO BE CONTINUED......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building Update- Entry # 5

I do realize that I am a week late with my update. Am I the only
person in the world who feels that sometimes having a job interferes with real life?  That is what happened last week. Except the Blog IS work related, and I do work on it while AT work, but sometimes work related work gets in the way of other work related work. Does that make sense? That being said, in order to keep the posts on a weekly layout, this post will be a building update for last week- ending June 14.

The process of framing the building began during the first part of the week.



June 11, 2013

June 11, 2013

The framing continued through the week. By Friday the upstairs storage area had been completed and they finished plating and detailing the frames. I was told that a total of 96,531 nails were used by the time the framing was done. That sounds like a high estimate to me, but what do I know about construction? I think our contractor is telling another "fish story". Although there are quite a bit of nails lying around on the concrete...maybe he included those in his count?
 

June 12, 2013

June 12, 2013

June 12, 2013





June 14, 2013

 



By Friday they had finished framing the walls in order to be ready for the trusses. Now the place is really starting to take shape. The picture below gives you a bit of an idea how it will look when it is complete.

June 14, 2013

 

TO BE CONTINUED....







Building Update- Entry # 4

5/31/2013

To continue our story...the last time we met, they were spreading gravel. The building process is really getting interesting now! I know...spreading gravel is not very exciting when you think about it, but it's what comes next that is the exciting part!





Tying rebar is the next step in the process-

This looks like a long and tedious process. In fact, it took one whole day. They laid 3/8 rebar at 18" o.c both ways(contractor speak). It has also been reported that under the rebar they had to spread 236,976,500 grains of sand one inch thick. I saw the sand with my own eyes, but I think those contractor guys are telling us what's known as "a whopper".



               It looks really cool when it's complete!

On Thursday morning, we awoke to a wonderful thing!

Well, not awoke per se' because we did not spend the night here at the clinic. Let's re-phrase that: On Thursday morning, we arrived to work to find a big surprise! yes, that is more accurate. A big surprise! Don't you love when something out of the ordinary happens during the work day? Like, when flowers get delivered, or a nice client brings in cookies or snacks for us. That really makes our day. Anyway, back to our story. We arrived on Thursday morning to see this thing parked over at the property:

What kind of truck is that, you ask? It looks like something with a long snout, doesn't it? This is the cement truck, come to pour the slab. This long snout part is able to stretch across the lot and drop the cement into the structure, then the worker guys smooth it out. They started pouring the slab at 5:30 in the morning and were done before lunch. They poured 57 yards of concrete on Thursday.



I know what you are thinking: "Did you guys put your hand prints into the cement"? Well, we talked about it a few days before, but when the time came we were just too busy taking care of animals here at the existing clinic to be able to find time to do that. The good news is that there will be more concrete later. Maybe we can bring our pets that day and do their paw prints on the patio?

 

 

Today the framers snapped out the walls and started plating. With the outside temperatures reaching over 100 degrees today, the framing contractor had to erect and EZ Up so the framers could have some shade. The big boss contractor (Bruce Wirtanen) got a little worried when they also strung up a few hammocks and put a mister up on the shade canopy.
OSHA says you have to stop work if the outside temperature reaches 103 degrees. I am sure they were hoping to go home early, and probably did! I give those guys a lot of credit, working out in the heat like that.

The lumber was delivered today, and the framing begins on Monday. By the end of the week, the new place will start looking like a structure!

It is really great to see how many people this project is employing. Many of them are local, from within the Pleasant Valley area.

Some of these folks are even clients of Pleasant Valley pet Clinic, as is the man in the photo to the right. It will be rewarding in the years to come when these folks bring their animals into the veterinary hospital that they helped build!

 

TO BE CONTINUED.....