Up On The 2nd Floor

The 2nd floor deck is in place and the contractor has started pouring cement up there.  Today, we took some key members of the Hill Country staff on a tour of the building under construction.  Everyone was wearing their hardhats and yellow safety vests.

 

The stairwells are not yet in place so the staff had to climb narrow construction stairs to access the 2nd floor.  The hike was worth the effort.  Several staff members were able to see their "office space" before the walls are even built and in place. 

 

The cement was only poured on the 2nd floor where the offices will be located.  They still need to pour cement along the 2nd floor walkways.  The decking material is still exposed where the roof will be installed.  The photo above is looking from the 2nd floor meeting room (above the Dental wing) over towards the Medical wing. 

 

As you know, concrete is heavy.  Prior to pouring it on the 2nd floor, additional lumber bracing was added on the 1st floor to ensure the decking maintained its shape during the application of the wet cement.  Once the concrete is dry, the weight is dispersed and the bracing can be removed.

 

The crew from Harrison Drywall (they're based out of Chico, CA) was using an interesting tool to determine the wall placement on the second floor.  It's the Hilti Layout System and it uses GPS and lasers to show exactly where the walls should be placed according to the architect's drawings.

The Hilti Target Plate

Tablet with architect drawings on a moveable tripod

 

A tablet with the drawings downloaded is mounted on a tripod with wheels.  This communicates with target plates attached to three building posts to triangulate and identify the location of the walls.  It is accurate to 1/8" and has made the layout process much simpler as the technology computes all the measurements for the contractor.  This $30K piece of equipment is new to the construction field, having only been in use for less than two years.

 

A big Thank You to the crew at Harrison Drywall for using state of the art technology on the Center of Hope!

 

And, a big Thank You to a loyal blog reader - My Dad.  He reminds me when I don't update this blog often enough... Thanks Dad!