Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘mechanical systems’ Category

Rough-ins starting

Posted in 2nd old, 3rd old, 4th floor, basement, livingroom, mechanical systems on March 15, 2011|

Mechanical rough-ins have started

Electrical and mechanical rough-ins started this week. The plan is to convert the existing boiler (installed in 1997) to hot water (currently hot water and steam) and install new air conditioning equipment. Each room will have their own heating and air conditioning units.

The exterior walls have been furred out to accommodate insulation. This will help with the overall efficiency of the building. There is currently no exterior insulation, other than air space. In addition, this will allow new wiring to be installed.

Asbestos removal continues in the basement.

New floor joists were installed in the bathrooms and the floor is down. Several of the existing floor joists had significant notches (up to ¾ the width of the joist) cut into them to accommodate different plumbing and remodels over the past 80 years. This was not safe to install the new bathroom without taking care of this structural issue.

Finally, a new subfloor was installed on the 4th floor. Several of the old floor boards were very thin or cracked. In addition, this separation was required for fire codes.

Next week, the windows for the old side should start to arrive and be installed. They are being replaced with a double pane insulated window.

The asbestos removal continues – this is the tent set up outside of B2.

Exterior walls are being furred out to accommodate insulation and provide a tight seal between levels.

2nd floor — north side — where the hallway continues to the new side. This will be the future site of a laundry room.

Taken in the new Room 200 — from the educational space looking into the two new sleeping rooms. 

The new 3rd Old bathroom — the floors have been replaced.  Plumbing should be installed in the next few weeks.

A new subfloor was installed on 4th floor. This is taken on the south wall — right next to the fire escape.

Read Full Post »

Walls are up and the floor is gone

Posted in 2nd old, 3rd old, 4th floor, Demolition, livingroom, mechanical systems on March 8, 2011|

From the housemother's living room -- looking up into 2nd and 3rd old bathroom -- up to the roof.

If you walk into the chapter house today, the most striking thing you will find would be standing in the housemother’s living room and looking up and you can see the roof. The floors in 2nd and 3rd old bathrooms have been removed to accommodate a new bathroom layout – which will include private shower stalls and finally fix the flooding issue in the housemother’s room and B1.

At least twice a year, the housemother’s room would ‘flood,’ or more accurately ‘rain’ from the ceiling, which then would drain into B1 – often times damaging contents in both rooms. For the past several years, the flooding was due to pipes going bad inside the walls – both plumbing and heating systems. These are costly repairs, as the plumber would have to make a hole to fix the issue – often times several holes to find the issue – then the wall or ceiling would have to be repaired. Thankfully, ‘moms’ Engelhard and the residents in B1 have been good sports over the years.

The radiators have been removed and recycled – along with the old AC equipment in the basement under the kitchen. This is making room for a new heating and air conditioning system to be installed over the next several months.

The walls are framed on 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors.

Mechanical, electrical and fire sprinkler rough-ins are scheduled to begin this week.

From the 3rd old bathroom — looking into the housemother’s living room.

3rd floor — from Room 300 — looking to the south.

2nd floor — standing by the south wall (Room 203) looking to the north (200).

Basement ceiling is down.

The few items left from the old chiller equipment.

Read Full Post »

Metal studs rock

Posted in 2nd old, 3rd old, 4th floor, mechanical systems on February 24, 2011| 4 Comments »

The rooms start to take shape. Taken from the southeast corner of 4South.

The rooms on the old side start to take shape as walls are being framed – 4th floor walls are up and 3rd floor is underway.  Metal studs are being used on the old side – a great fire safety improvement.  The new floor plan will be two or three smaller sleeping rooms off a central study room.

The boiler room saw some action with the removal of asbestos.  Thankfully, asbestos was only used on the joints and fittings of the 1964 heating system. The existing heating system is a combination of steam (for the old side) and hot water (for the new side). It will be converted to all hot water – which will allow for air condition to be installed throughout the entire house.  It will be a more efficient heating solution since we will no longer have to heat the water to the boiling point and will hopefully save on repairs (ask me about the $2,500 butterfly valve we had to replace a few years ago).

A little mechanical work happened early this fall when the bottom of the 1964 300-gallon hot water storage tank failed.  The house manager reported that a loud ‘hissing’ sound was coming from the boiler room and when they opened the door it was spraying water everywhere.  At the same time, our 1997 hot water heater went on the fritz (not surprising – it was nearing the end of its life). Thankfully, we were able to work with Tom Colvin, 1970, President of Colvin Engineering Associates in Salt Lake City to find a fantastic solution.  We now have a 100 gallon, 399,999 BTU hot water heater that can produce 514 gallons of hot water an hour – plus, it is 93% efficient!  Thank you Brother Colvin!

Oh, and 91 windows were ordered this week.

Standing in 4north, looking to 4south. 

3rd floor — standing by the south wall (room 302) looking to the north (room 300 – grey wall, 301 – red wall).  The new metal base plate shows the new layout.

Taken in the boiler room — the blue pipes used to be covered in asbestos.

OLD hot water heater and storage tank

The old hot water heater and storage tank — RIP (hot water heater 1997-2010; storage tank 1964-2010)

New hot water heater — no more storage tank! (Thank you again Brother Colvin)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts