Group begins work with interior designer for schools

On Monday, October 26th, Jill Becker, interior designer from Struxture Architects, met with a group of Wapsie Valley stakeholders to begin discussing the interior of the new elementary schools. The group consisted of four community members, two staff members, two custodians, a board member, and two administrators. At last night's meeting, the group looked at carpet samples that were selected by Ms. Becker. The new buildings will have carpet squares in the classrooms and office areas and terrazzo flooring in the corridors. Carpet squares are very appropriate for new school construction because they are durable, and, in the event of a spill that isn't able to be cleaned up, the single carpet square can be replaced without removing an entire section of the carpet.

The group was able to look at about eight different carpet "collections," or groups of carpets that have similar colors and patterns. After some great discussion, the group chose a collection and Jill will now begin to pull together interior colors for things like paint, cabinetry, and colors for trim. Jill's service as an interior designer and the cost of the interiors are alreadly included in the cost of the project, so samples that we see will all be within the budget of the general contract.

The buildings will be very similar to one another in terms of interior colors, though each building may have distinctive "touches" that make it unique. As superintendent, and from Jill's perspective as a designer, our goal will be to have buildings that are very comparable, yet have a few distinguishing characteristics that fit that particular building.

Steel Roof Joist Installation Begins

In Readlyn, the work has begun to install the steel joists that will support the roof deck. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the joists were delivered to the site, and on Tuesday, October 20, the work began to install them. The joists that will support the roof deck over the gymnasium/cafeteria are nearly completely installed, and, as you can see from the video, the work has begun to install over the office and classroom areas. The video is taken looking west, so you can see the start of the roof, an interior wall and portion of the corridor, and then some additional work on the roof joists.

Floors Poured in Fairbank

We've mentioned over the past few posts that the interior and exterior walls are taking shape in Fairbank. This week, we're seeing the "slab on grade," or the cement floors going in on the northwest "wing" of the school building. As you can see on the video, much of the floor in this part of the building is poured, and you can see that another sizeable portion is prepared to be poured. Eventually, the cement will be covered with a variety of floor coverings, including terazzo in the corridors, and carpet tiles in many of the classrooms.

Interior Block Work Continues in Fairbank

At Fairbank, the work to lay interior and exterior block continues. As you look at the attached photo, (looking south) you can see the workers lay block on the interior corridor, with the growing exterior block walls in the background and foreground. Dry weather is a real benefit as Schuler Masonry continues their work.

Steel Joists Delivered to Readlyn; roof to begin in the next couple weeks

As you can see from the attached pictures, a truck delivered the steel joists that will support the roof deck in Readlyn. The delivery came on Friday, October 9th, and Larson hopes to begin assembling the roof in the next week or so. Teachers and administrators were on hand in the morning to re-route students coming to school or entering the building. The building site in Readlyn is fairly small, so every last inch of space is important. Because of that, you'll see the crane lifting the joists from the truck, carrying them over the exterior wall, and setting them down again inside the building. From a novice's perspective, it was a tricky proposition, but they handled it well.

Doorway to the future...

This past week, a good portion of the floor was poured in Readlyn. This week, with a poured cement floor, as you can see in the attached video, door frames for a few classrooms can be seen propped as part of the interior of the building. As you walk in the "front door" of the building, seeing those door frames really helps the coming corridor take shape.

Even rain can't stop the progress in Fairbank

In the video that I've attached, you can see (as you look northeast and east) that the exterior walls are really jumping up out of the building pad. The shape and size of the building is becoming readily apparent; you can now really see the outline of the building as the exterior walls at the north end of the building are nearly complete and that progress is working its way steadily to the rest of the building. While the recent rains make for muddy footing, the exterior walls continue to progress. If you know any meteorologists personally, ask for a favor: dry weather and continued progress.