Earth Movers

Here at Downtown, the earth was moving! The contractors broke ground, and we are moving ahead on the addition to the building, providing much needed space for the Harrington Library Consortium, TPLS, and a meeting room and classroom.

The heavy equipment, including a blade, roller, and skid loader, were performing a motorized ballet:

And voila! The pad is ready for the next step!

This process is vital to having a good foundation. Good dirtwork makes all the difference in a building, whether it is a house or building that covers acres. The roller is a pad-foot roller, which compacts the soil better, particularly clay soil.

It was pretty loud, and the building did vibrate at times. In case you didn't see the article in the newspaper, we will be adding 3260 square feet to the building.

Progress is moving pretty quickly on the addition. The footings were poured next, after much drilling and jackhammering needed to connect the new foundation to the existing one. The giant crane was pretty cool. That is about 4 stories tall, ladies and gentlemen! The crane was connected to two concrete trucks, and the job took maybe an hour to complete. See, the right equipment does make all the difference! I guess a hammer might be better than a shoe. Hmm.

Here is the big crane truck.

Pretty impressive. What you can't see is the cement truck behind this guy, piping the cement to the crane/hose apparatus.

What is it all for? To pour the footings for the new addition.

Here are some crew members adjusting the rebar. The plan is taking shape, and you can almost visualize walls and doors, as well as windows.