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Archive for the ‘lighting’ Category

They day before the fraternity property returns

Posted in dining room, furniture, kitchen, lighting on August 15, 2011|

65 new mattresses arrived today

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16 is a big day – all the fraternity property will be moved back from storage. Due to the extent of the renovation, the chapter had to store its property off-site.  We kept the large round coffee table, grandfather clock, piano, trophy case, library table, conference table, milk machine, Hobart mixer, and freezer – along with all the composites, chapter records, supplies, etc.

Today, a few deliveries were made – including the washers and dryers for second and third floor, 65 mattresses and rest of the dorm furniture (bunk beds, dresser, wardrobes and desk). Tomorrow the new living room furniture and copy/scan/print machine will arrive.

The house corporation also met with the locksmith today — the chapter will be installing a master key system for all interior doors and a card system at all entry points. This should help manage the who has access to the chapter house.

Thank you to all the graduate brothers who have donated to the project.  Our young PhiGams are going to have a safe, modern chapter house to call home during their college years.  If you haven’t donated yet – we can still need your help!  Visit the How to Donate tab for more information.

The living room is ready for furniture — minus the fire door on the right (which will be installed upstairs tomorrow).

The dining room floor was sealed and waxed today. Chandeliers were hung late last week.

The first piece of furniture was brought back to the chapter house last weekend — the grandfather clock. It has been in foster care for the past few years as the exact date of construction was not known.  It is working properly and keeps excellent time.  The small white box to the left is the carbon monoxide detectors that are now required to be approved university housing.

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2nd floor walls going up – finishes selected

Posted in 2nd old, 3rd new, 3rd old, carpet, drywall, lighting, paint, tile on May 26, 2011|

Walls going up in what was room 212 – will be 210.

As quickly as the walls in the 1964 addition came down, they are now going back up.  Once again, cinder block is being used on 2nd floor and hopefully 3rd. While more expensive to install, the lifetime maintenance of cinder block is significantly less than drywall. Because the 3rd floor was built with wood studs and plaster, our engineer wants to make sure the floor can hold cinder blocks before they are installed.  We will know this early next week.

As of the end of this week, there will no longer be any asbestos in the building.  While the Board knew the building contained asbestos when the project started, its extent was not known.  The asbestos removal is significantly over budget, by $30,000.

Drywall crews are working on the 1931 side of the building and should finish up in the near future. The tile installation crews will start next week in the 2nd and 3rd old bathrooms.

The finishes have been selected.  Walls will be painted a shade of beige, carpets are shades of browns, bathrooms will be tiled in shades of grey and beige, and new solid core wood doors will be installed.  PLEASE NOTE: the photograph’s DO NOT capture the correct colors.  They are posted so you can see the general look.  As an overall package, the colors, textures, tiles and other finishes are stunning.

A special thank you, again, to Jerry Solomon (Nebraska 1951) for his help in identifying photographs of Lambda Nu’s Innocents and athletes.  There are still a handful of unknown graduate Brother photos – please take a look and post a comment if you know the identity of the Brother.  The House Corporation is still collecting composites. Email the House Corporation if you have copies of composites not included in this collection.

Entrance into the new room 210 (approximate location of the old room 212). This was taken standing by where the supply closet was located.

2nd floor — taken in the southwest corner (was room 209).

2nd new bathroom has been stripped.  The old cast iron waste stacks have been taken down and will be replaced to accommodate a new floor layout.

Cinder blocks awaiting approval to be installed on 3rd floor (room 312).

The windows on 2nd and 3rd floor of the 1964 building have been removed. New windows will be installed in the next few weeks.

What’s left on the 3rd new bathroom.  If you look carefully, you can see the remains of an old window on the east wall.

Educational area of room 300.  Drywall is up and the mudding is underway.

Sleeping room 300a — located on the north side of the 1931 building. This will sleep three men.

The women’s restroom on 1st floor has been demoed. The grey wall in the back is part of the housemothers bedroom. The women’s restroom will change to an ADA complaint unisex restroom. What was the men’s restroom on 1st floor will now house the electrical and computer equipment.

Finishes — please note that the following photographs do not do the actual colors justice.  These are posted so you can get a general idea of what the finishes will look like. 

Paint — the walls are a light beige, metal trim will be painted a light brown and ceiling white.

Carpet — sample on the left will be used in the hallways, the grey on the right will be in the study rooms and browns will be in the bedrooms.

Doors — new doors will be solid core oak and stained.

Bathrooms — tiles will be a grey; counters will be the darker piece of grey and the partitions between toilets is the sample at the top of the photo.

Examples of lighting that may be used in the dining room, living room and bathrooms.  All study rooms, sleeping rooms and hallways will use recessed lighting.

Not pictured — the living room’s wood floors will be refurnished.

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We’re rockin’

Posted in 2nd old, 3rd old, 4th floor, building codes, green building, insulation, lighting, mechanical systems on May 5, 2011|

Changes in the boiler room

As the undergraduates draw another year to a close, the project made progress this week. The insulation crews have been in and drywall is being installed. The project is slightly behind schedule as the City of Lincoln required and handfull of structural changes to bring the chapter house up to current building and safety codes. However, the project is still on schedule to be completed by August 15. Demolition begins on the 1964 addition on Monday, May 9.

The City required updates of the 1931 roofing structure. To accommodate the changes, the project was either going to have to remove and rebuild the entire roof to address venting issues or fill the roof structure with spray foam insulation. The second option was selected, even though it was a cost overrun of several thousand dollars, it was significant less than rebuilding the entire roof.

Insulation is also being installed on the second and third floor exterior and interior walls. The interior insulation will help keep the sound down between rooms, while the exterior insulation (including the spray-foam in the roof) will save the chapter funds on utilities for years to come – not to mention, make our building a little greener.

Recessed lighting is being used throughout the entire project. As these lights are recessed into the ceiling, it will be less likely they will be damaged and there will be no globes to break. For fire safety, the City required fire-proof covers to be installed around each fixture. These arrived and are being installed this week.

The mechanical contractor has stripped the boiler room of all the old pipes, tanks and pumps. The current boiler (installed in 1998) will be reused for the new fintube heating and air conditioning system using hot and chilled water. The old system used steam heat for the 1931 building and hot water for the 1964 addition. Switching to hot water for the entire system means it will cost significantly less to heat the chapter house, in addition to being simpler to operate.

Drywall has gone up in 3rd old. 

Interior and exterior insulation is being installed. This is a photo of standing in one of room 300’s bedrooms (approximate location is old 301) looking into the new room 301 (old 302). The interior insulation will help cut down on the sound transmission between rooms.

Spray foam insulation was installed in the attic last week, as required by the building codes. This photo is taken from south wall of the 4th floor looking into the room 401 (formerly known as 4-South).

Fire proof tents were installed around the new recessed light fixtures.

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