Daily Log 9/22/2011 Performing Arts

Today we went and visited the Performing Arts Center on campus, this new building will be the signature building for the Performing arts here at Virginia Tech. This building has run into some issues regarding the foundation system and a stream, it was very interesting to see what the contractors were doing in order to maintain their schedule and still meet building codes and inspections. This building shows us that with tightly scheduled projects it is possible to have problems and fix them without cutting corners. Attached is the daily log report, some photos of the caisson drill, a link to a video of the men blasting in the caisson hole, and a drawing of the caisson rig/operation.

9-22-11 Daily Log Report (Reddick Construction)

The video offers an awesome insight into how the contractors deal test for stability in their caissons. When the contractor thinks they have hit a piece of bed rock solid enough for the concrete to attach to then they will send a man down into the hole using the triangular support and a lanyard, he will then drill a hole into the rock using a drill, then he will fill that hole with blasting material, after this they will pull him back out and go through some safety procedures and then blow it up. This allows the contractor to see if the rock is hard enough for the concrete. See the video description on my youtube channel for more information.

This site offered us a good insight into some major issues that buildings and contractors run into here on campus, and that is the poor foundation. This site had a caisson schedule that was supposed to be finished in one month and when we visited the site it was in its six month of caisson construction. The main issue was that the contractor did not expect to run into a creek underneath the building, but that is exactly what they did. The way that they were handling this was by increasing the number of caissons and changing the depth of some of them. Because the job was scheduled properly though the contractor can have these issues and doesn't have to worry about going over their schedule yet.