Mid November thru Mid December Time Lapse

The second floor has been poured and the framing of the 2nd floor exterior wall is progressing. Steel for the south wing is on site.  Construction is running behind about one month so the hope is the building will be totally enclosed by the end of January.

Tomorrows low is predicting to be -10 degrees.

2nd Floor and What's Next

Additional Photos

The 2nd Floor was poured on Friday December 2nd.  Above you can see workers prepping the floor in November

What is that?   This past summer it was discovered that the well contained in the small brick building (far right) was collapsing and no longer repairable. It has lasted 60 years and been relined many times as is normal. But it is no longer feasible to fix it so a new well is being drilled and the well house will be renovated and updated.  It will be up-to-date and meet all the latest code requirements.   Estimated Cost is around $200,000.  The 2nd larger well house was recently modernized and is in great condition. Our two well system will provide plenty of water security for the future. 

Now that the 2nd floor is poured siding has begun for the two story section of the building.  The area that has only plastic sheeting is an interior wall where the one story south wing is soon to be attached.  They are working on more footings for that section at this time.  Additionally lots of steal has been delivered the last few days.  The goal currently stands to have the building completely enclosed sometime in January. 

Plumbing in the ground for the 2 story wing is almost ready for inspection and then electrical work in the ground will begin.

The south wing soon to be started will be impressive in that it actually has a larger foot print than what has been built up to this time.

Mid October thru Mid November Time Lapse Video

Much of the steel frame is now completed for the two story portion of the building.  They will soon pour the the 2nd floor.

Framing & Footings Progress

October was a great month for construction, dry and sunny.  The project is still running a little behind schedule but they are working from dawn to dusk and Saturday mornings taking advantage of the good weather.  Winter is coming.

The top of the tornado shelter was recently poured. It is noticeable when looking at the live feed. They are now working on prepping for pouring the floor of the 2nd level.  They will place corrugated steel as the base and frame forms around that.

Recently the west and south footings have been poured.  The east footing will come last when they are done with using heavy equipment in the interior.

They are also starting to fill in the framework with metal strips that will hold the exterior walls.

It might not be noticeable but they are also working on plumbing digging trenches and setting pipes.

They hope to have the entire building enclosed sometime in January and will then work on brick laying throughout the rest of the winter and spring.  More Photos

Construction Video September 16-October 15

It a was better month weather-wise for construction.  The day after September's Fall Festival, the first load of steel arrived. Besides steel for the two story portion of the building, cement slabs were set in place on the cinder block tornado shelter.

Construction is currently about a month behind schedule because of all the rain we had this summer.  Hopefully mother nature cooperates the next couple of months so that the building can be enclosed before a predicted wet winter with a delayed spring gets underway.

Time Lapse 30 Days of Construction

Lots of rain the last month but construction continues to move along. The structure so far consists of the elevator shaft and the portion designated as a force 3 tornado shelter which consists of  the study hall and one religion classroom. The day after this video was completed a load of steal arrived and was unloaded so expect some major progress coming soon.

Time Lapse Construction Video #2

Video #2
July 8, 2016 -August 15, 2016

Walls Sprout as Elevator Shaft Rises

More Photos:  Elevator Shaft Rises - 1st Walls Go Up

Construction is now well underway. The elevator shaft & interior walls on the north side classrooms and study hall are under construction and additional footings are steadily being completed moving toward the east.


To help give you perspective here are 2 diagrams.

The first is a satellite image with the outline of the building superimposed.  The main entrance lines up with the DJ Sokol Chapel and the south entrance to the science and math wing lines up with the south door dorm entrance.

This 2nd Diagram is a blue print indicating the location of current construction highlighted in yellow.

View Larger Blue Print

Excavation: Time Lapse

May 18, 2016 - July 8, 2016

Building Progress: In the Ground

The nice smooth building site is transforming into a lumpy mess.  Such is what makes progress!

Green, gray, and black conduit, water, and Sewer lines are now scattered around the building site.

Changes are not particularly visible to the naked eye but anyone who has checked the live videocam regularly have seen steady work.   Most of the progress is "in the ground".  Slowly but surely conduit, water and sewer lines are being laid.  Footings continue to be dug and the first cement blocks are on sight for the construction of the elevator shaft.  More Photos

A ladder pokes up from the bottom of the elevator shaft.

Cement Block and Mortar for the Elevator Shaft

Outside of the fenced construction site a line is being run from the school site that will carry rainwater from the roof to the retention pond below the school near Mount Michael Road.  More Photos

Rainwater Retention Pond

The Site is ready. Now what?

The last couple of weeks the building site has been pretty quiet. Is anything happening?

A few trailers and storage bins have been set in place and utilities have been extended to the site beyond that most of the work is behind the scenes.

The architectural firm BCDM is busy completing shop drawings and Meco-Henne the general contractor is ordering materials. A construction fence will be put up in the near future and then construction will begin in earnest.

Construction will first commence in the northeast corner and work outward from there.  The reason for that location is that the study hall and one classroom located in this quarter will have special reinforcement features as a storm shelter built to withstand a force 3 tornado.  As footing sections are completed masonry crews will begin laying block. another early work will be the elevator pit. Footings for the building should be completed around mid-October with block work continuing on through November.  Temporary enclosures will be created in December to allow brick work to continue through the winter.  Drywall will start sometime after spring break and the summer and fall will be devoted to the interior.

Everything is on schedule for opening for the 2nd semester of the the 2017-2018 school year as planned.

Dirt & Dust

For anyone who was watching the live webcam this week it is clear that the primary theme was "Dirt & Dust".  The week was dry with temperatures in the 90's which is great for getting work done but there was a steady stream of dust in the air as four long dumpers deposited uncountable loads of dirt to be packed and leveled.

Also going on this past week was work on moving one of the light post which is being move a little bit south to make room for an additional road along the south and east sides of the new building. The road is a building code regulation so that firetrucks have access to all sides of the new building.

Extension of the the exsisting rainwater culvert about 25 yards and the building of a rainwater basin to hold run-off from the new building roof were also projects underway.

It looks like site prep is finished or close to finished and ready to move on to construction. There should be some surveying work going on real soon.

More Photos

Fill Dirt Added To Building Site

Dirt being moved from south campus to the construction site.

Starting on Friday June 4 fill dirt was being added to the building site. The source of this fill dirt is from another place on the Mount Michael grounds located behind the tree line south of the water treatment plant and apple orchard.  It's entrance is directly across from the intersection of Mount Michael Road and the schools drive way.  

They made lots of progress on Friday but a heavy down pour of over one inch of rain Friday evening left things pretty muddy. Never-the-less the work crew was back at it on Saturday.  They scrapped the muddiest top layer to the ends of the site to dry and commenced where they left off.

The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building will be on slightly higher ground than the existing building once all the dirt is hauled in and compacted.   It is estimated that it will take about 50 uncountable loads to provide enough material for the desired elevation.    

More Photos: Site Prep - Fill Dirt 

Dirt dumped on the construction site to raise the elevation

Site Preparation

Dirt work has begun and will take about 10 working days.  If the weather cooperates this first stage should be done sometime in the first week of June.

During this phase they are removing trees, removing some old no longer used cable that is buried in the area and leveling, raising and packing dirt.

The Live WebCam is now available  with links on the School Homepage, News Blog and this Construction Blog.

Construction Is Set To Begin

The contract has been signed today with Meco-Henne Construction. Work on the new building will begin in earnest the week of May 16^th. 

This is a very important day in the history, and future, of Mount Michael Benedictine School.