Tuesday April 28, 2009

Another gorgeous day although it was really hot again. Today people cut the shapes for the soffett on the North sister's suite and Sarah and I nailed them in. Before we could do this Sarah and I had to remove the handrails from the sloped roof. I did not volunteer to climb up there since I am scared of heights but I held the ladder! This took up most of the day and it was not easy. The trusses from the roof system were not all straight so the soffetts had to be cut and cut again just to wedge them in. Also it was difficult to nail them in at such an awkward angle because we could not seem to get our hammers enough space to hit the nails in under the trusses. I also helped doing some of the cutting with the jigsaw and chiseling for the soffett.

Monday April 27, 2009

Just when I thought we were done with the gravel! Apparently the curtain wall with the mud ramp was not dug out enough. The soil underneath was still really soft and it would not be good to pour concrete over top since it would most likely crack. Adrian dug it out with the big crane thing and then added more gravel... way more gravel than what was needed. So we had to dig out the surplus gravel and then level it out again. Also the other west room, great room, needed more gravel so we added more and then leveled it out again. I think it may be safe to say we are finished with the gravel now. After the gravel Renee and I moved large bundles of wood from the street that were delivered so they would less likely be stolen.

Saturday April 25, 2009

We finished the gravel!!! I never thought it would happen. The hardest room to finish was on the west side in front of the curtain wall. This is where we had to build up dirt so we could create a ramp for several different machines that needed to come in the building. Therefore, we had to dig out the ramp, which was really muddy, and add in more gravel. Everyone took a lunch break but I was not hungry so I finished this room by myself. Today was the hottest day of the year so far in Urban Studio so I was drenched to say the least. Once this was done Megan helped me pump more water out of the ditch on the exterior of the North wall. After this, I went home around 3 and finally had lunch.

Friday April 24, 2009

Yesterday felt like Friday because of our party and the wonderful weather so I was all off today. The weather was still really nice and we continued graveling. Just when you thought you couldn't get enough gravel. My lower back in killing me from it. You figure my arms would hurt the most but I guess all my swimming has kept my arms strong. We finished a good majority of it today. We won't have that much left to finish tomorrow which is great. I am really getting sick of the gravel.

Thursday April 23, 2009

Today we continued with more of the gravel work. The weather is starting to get really warm so this is no easy task. Gravel shoveling really takes a lot of out you and we are exhausted by the end of the day. Using the sharks has made things a lot better than on the first day with wheelbarrows and buckets.
Also, we had a party! There was bbq chicken and pork and it was so good. We then went and played some football for a little which was hilarious since none of us could run in steel toed boots.

Wednesday April 22, 2009

More shoveling gravel! We finally feel like we are making some progressed because we finished one of the larger suites. The shoveling is really making my back and arms sore! I will be glad once we finally get this over with. We also continued on the east side of the interior rooms. Around 4 other people stopped working so we can have the site cleaned for some sort of event tomorrow. We continued on the gravel shoveling and leveling. I wonder what we have going on tomorrow because Robert and Adrian said we shouldn't eat before we come to the site tomorrow. I am excited!

Tuesday April 21, 2009

Today we pumped water from the front (east side) of the building. This was done so that we could put more solid dirt in the small gully that sounds the exterior side of the footing. We also had a lot more shoveling of gravel, as well as using the sharks to get more gravel all around the interior of the building. We used the Transient to help us level out the gravel that we shoveled in the front room. The day was cut short because we had some pretty crazy rain around 4:30.

Monday April 20, 2009

Today I was in Raleigh on an internship interview. I got the internship!

Friday April 17, 2009

Today my parents came to the site. Robert was able to explain to them the details of our project and they were very impressed. I am happy they were able to see all the hard work that we have put into this project. They left to go see the 909 Dillard street, the other Urban Studio project from a year ago, and I got back to work. There was a LOT of shoveling and transporting gravel. We were using the sharks, which are basically motorized over sized wheelbarrows, and it helped make the shoveling go a little faster.

Thursday April 16, 2009

Today Megan and I were assigned to clear the water from the exterior of the North side of the building. This is so that we can figure out how deep we need to dig for the piping that will be used by Duke Energy. We figured out that we need to dig at least another foot down along the whole North side of the building. The mud was so thick though and it was close to impossible to get all teh digging done. We did the best we could as far as clearing the water but we need the ground to dry up a bit more so it will be easier to shovel. Although it is supposed to rain for the next few weeks so this may all be pointless to have started today.

We continued on shoveling gravel.

Wednesday April 15, 2009

Today we started collecting the gravel in wheelbarrows so that we could transport them to different parts of the site that needed to be leveled out more. In addition we need them to surround some of the plastic tubing that will go around the perimeter of the building. The gravel is supposed to go up along the waterproofing membrane that we applied last week.

Tuesday April 14, 2009

Today was similar to yesterday. There were a lot of people up on the roof that already were waiting around for jobs to do as well as people down on the ground looking for jobs. Therefore, there was another day of organizing wood. Also I helped fix the silt fence to help reduce the erosion of dirt from the site. I ran a few errands and I also helped pump water from all the rain we had the night before.

Monday April 13, 2009

We worked really hard on Saturday and got a lot of things done. There was not much to do today we I just tried to stay busy by finding little jobs around... organizing wood, removing nails and screws, organizing the clubhouse. I wish things were more organized today because there were a ton of us just searching for jobs and standing around.

Friday and Saturday, April 9th and 10th 2009

Friday and Saturday we continued the waterproofing membrane and attempted the corners. One we started in one area then other people (from moving other materials around) would mess up other areas that we had already finished. Finally we got a system down where we blocked off the areas we finished so people wouldnt step on and scrape up the membrane. In addition we had trouble with getting the sticky side to stick to the ICF. We even tried to clean off the dust off from the ICF but this did not help. Instead we took some of the old scabbing from the concrete pour and used it to screw into the wall while we waited for the heat to melt the membrance to the ICF.

Saturday was a long day. It started at 8 and we ended at about 1:30 but we were able to get most ofthe corners done. I can't believe how long it takes to get the membrane done.

Thursday, April 9 2009

My ankle feels a lot better and was able to do more moving around on site today. We also continued on the waterproofing membrane on the exterior of the building that we have been working on for the last week or so. I am wondering how we will attempt to do the corners without having too many holes. I am assuming that the more overlaps the better but it still seems difficult to do since the membrane is so hard to work with.

Wednesday, April 8 2009

The swelling from my ankle has gone down but it was still really sore. I helped with gathering wood and taking out the nails and screws from them. I tried to keep a lot of the pressure off my ankle because I did not want to make it any worse.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

My ankle was really swollen and I couldnt get my boot on. Therefore, there was no jobsite for me today.

Monday, April 6, 2009

There was some awful rain and caused a lot of really thick mud. I was trying to jump from one hard spot to another but I missed judged it and I ended up jumping into a big pile of mud. My foot got stuck and it twisted my ankle really bad. Luckily it was towards the end of the day but I know it is still going to hurt a lot tonight. I seem to not have a lot of luck with my ankle on the job site. Earlier in the day we continued with the waterproofing membrane but it was really annoying because for some reason it was not sticking to the ICF. We had to screw it in and hope it will stick once the weather warms up again it will melt to it.

Saturday, April 4 2009

Today was a nice day. It started pretty cold but as soon as we started working it warmed up. I was there from 8am to 1:15pm. We mainly worked on the waterproofing membrane and since it was so warm it made the plastic really sticky. Also the concrete that we primed from a few days earlier was very messy so we had to dust it off and prime it again. And then we had to start priming in more areas in the front of the building. We had a lot of hard corners in the front and there was a lot of wooden I beams that were in the way and we had to move. It was rather tedious but we got the majority of the front of the building done.

Friday, April 3 2009

The rain surely came this morning and for most of the day. We received a message in the morning saying we needed to meet in the studio because of the rain and there really was not much we could do on the job site anyway. Caroline, Megan, Ana, Denise and I were working on the paperwork as far as receipts and the job orders. Finally we were also able to help pick pictures that eventually will be printed and go in the studio as an exhibit to see the work that has been done on urban studio all year.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Today was a relatively nice day weather-wise. We finished up a lot of the odd jobs from yesterday and starting with the waterproofing membrane. This was a sheet of plastic roll with a sticky side that goes to the bottom of the building to the bottom of the concrete footing. Before this was done the concrete had to be primed with a oil based paint. This helps the plastic roll stick to the concrete. It took about 7 people to do because it was so sticky it kept folding on itself. Maybe tomorrow will go better but it is supposed to rain.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Today was a lot of little jobs around the site. There were no big jobs that took a long time to finish so I just bounced around all day helping people out. From moving piles of wood, to holding ladders, and nailing in bracing there was always something to jump in and help with.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Today I was on the roof helping nailing in the bracing between the rafters. This was not an easy job and it was very uncomfortable. However I was very proud of myself for being up on the roof since I am normally afraid of heights. A lot of the rafters were bowed so it made it difficult for the bracing to get in... which is exactly what the bracing was for - to help straighten then boards out.