Z-forms, flow throughs, and other tools of the trade

(btw that little yellow thing is our multi gas monitor "sniffer" making certain no toxic waste is in the air...)

Twice our z-form shields collapsed. We had a ten foot unshielded dig under a steam tunnel, and a typically dry sewer line decided to rage during our replacement of the existing pipe creating a three foot deep soup of caca straight from the chemistry building. S*&! happens. When you're tying in to an existing sewer line, however, it may happen in the form of a river. And when it happens behind the UVa Chem building, you just hope that the undergrads remember to put their hazardous waste in the proper disposal bin... So fierce the raging river that our three inch pump made not a dent, and a four inch diesel line was required... All in a days work. We gotter' done and got outta there before four PM.

Well at least the 4" Godwin pump (see bottom right) is working and the sewage swamp is low enough to walk around safely.

Setting the pipe - Dan you are the man for getting under that steam tunnel - yes we use chemical detectors aka sniffers... yet it stinks, especially the pipe glues for PVC.

Whattup Harley - we got real flow :)

Real art rests in our streets

"The art is IN the walls"
—Sally Mann

So spoke Sally Mann upon exiting the gallery. I have never heard a more accurate summary of an exhibit. While some acclaimed "artist" had draped some dreadfully dreary rags along the wall, Mrs. Mann spent her time studying the lay of the sheet rock, the joinery along the edges of the wall. An exceptional builder had framed and remodeled the gallery. A perceptive eye, Mrs. Mann saw under the sloppy tripe to the beauty beneath - where 2x4 studs and 16 penny nails sculpted a gracious and human space. The real art rested in the walls.

There is no one word in any Aboriginal language for the term 'art'. Art forms are viewed as an integral part of life and the celebration of life. —Penny Tripcony

Art - the word now used of toothpaste spills came from a glorious Roman past - Ars - meaning skill or craft. It may be applied to any action that requires skill - as such many of the greatest artists I have ever known work in the field of construction. Industrial artists of the third millennium - greater civilization is their craft - indoor plumbing, electricity, running water. Trademarks of the work, the ars, of our land.

Those two 24" water mains running like Tron characters through a ditch line - those are pieces of modern industrial art. High art. Pure art. More whimsy than you can shake a stick at. The real art rests in our streets. Trackhoes and shovels are our paintbrushes. Earth is our medium. And back to work.

Steam Tunnels Part 2 -

OLD MAP OF THE TUNNELS - ALLEGEDLY FROM THE EARLY 90'S


The Bold and the Ruthless gets a new site - nice graphics tweaks too plus a great map of the tunnels... These folks are clearly having fun with the local scene - on a side note the edible Charlottesville deserves some credit - and during the recent summer at the South Lawn Project many a construction worker enjoyed the figs, apples, and plums in Pav IX, the pears in Pav 1, and generally napping around in the rest.... something about those serpentine walls... Perhaps when (if) they finish exploiting UVa grounds they'll explore the outlying lairs of C-ville too... Woolen Mills is awesome. The lochs along the river. And then there are the rolling hills..... Ah well fun stuff....

NB potential night hikers - the new steam tunnels we're laying are SERIOUSLY not great places to explore. There's no space plus two flavors of nasty bodasty insulation around the lines and the tar laid down to seal the boxes is still emitting toxic fumes.

DON'T DO IT (I know, thrill of the hunt and all, but really, there are much more beautiful places... this is just a dark, smelly, toxic hole.)

For more information read here Channel 19 News from last year.

Tunneling under UVa's famed steam tunnels

The UVa Steam Tunnels have a long and glorious past dating to the 1950's. Since then many students have spent hours and days wandering the underground maze. Working beneath them poses certain obstacles- hand digging is required and shoring must be installed as work progresses. OSHA guidelines for excavation are available, and must be tailored to apply logically to the situation.

1)The top view of a 50 foot long ditch. Visible as raised areas from the yellow ladder looking down the ditch are a steam tunnel, an electric line, another steam tunnel, a water main barely visible, and then another steam tunnel. That is a 24' ladder and it rests on the bank above a sewer line we need replace and move a few inches down and to the left. Digging under the steam tunnels must be done by hand. That's what makes it what it is.


The outside of the tunnel




A view from half way under a steam tunnel, about two hours in to digging ~11AM. By ~3PM we were through to the other side.

The next day with the laser set and Mike digging to make the grade ready for more pipe.

toilet humor

It is construction, and at the beginning of the day we were greeted with someone's Thanksgiving remains. We're not just talking s--- here, we're working and negotiating with it on professional level.

With that in mind some antics are certain to arise, providing certain levity and well... toilet humor.

A collection of favorites



















And it is all good, because at the end of the day we are all greeted with some of these

First cuts - cutting asphalt three different tools

The first cuts aren't the deepest... in fact we often start with a rough score ~ 2" deep cut in most asphalt.... and though both the Stihl cut-off saw and the walk-behind cutter both use 14" diamond blades they're not interchangeable.... different recommended RPMs make a difference.

The big green behemoth we rented for some long cuts proved a disappointment - aside from blowing hard to reach fuses (under the bolted on cover) Mike Fitzgerald pointed out that with any minute wobble on the wheels the extra large cutting blade would bind on the edges leaving a sloppy cut.

Stadium Road starting... today

We've been waiting for this for months. The last two weeks being the most brutal, waiting around for some real work to begin after ebbing times at MR6. This morning we met with the WM Jordan safety meeting. We're doing the site work for UVa's new ITE building beside the stadium. Five crews, sixty days, sunup to sundown six and seven days a week. 20-30' trenches and a few thousand feet of pipe - this is gonna be fun.

olks to get code straight and then began our inspection of the site.

Not for profit... wtf! NB: This is America - we are for profit

Contractors outnumber soldiers in Iraq due to accountability issues. Up until the 1970's New York University managed and operated a real live spaghetti factory under its tax exempt status. Actively competing against other spaghetti factories that did pay taxes. When does it stop? May we algorithmically evaluate organizations to determine which have ceased to benefit the public with sufficient dividends? May we return the losers into the survival of the fittest ocean of free market capitalism?

In theory non-profits exist to supplement the government in cases where high degrees of specialization would be prohibitive for organization at a national level. In practice these organizations take advantage of a tax break and leverage it to compete against independent for-profit businesses. Here in Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity comes to mind. Mediocrity doesn't do it justice. These folks suck. $250,000 affordable houses built cheaply on second-rate labor. Buying up the only inner-city trailer-park - one that actually didn't suck - to convert it into more of their aforementioned abodes. And then there's their store. Overpriced chachkas & used tools you can buy new for less at Lowes. Competing with the junkyards, the antique malls, and every other used stuff store in town... Granted Salvation Army has one too, however I'll go toe to toe with anyone on Salvation Army - they feed thousands of people here in town, and that's very important. In a country like America it's critical that no one starve. Our wealth is abundantly clear to anyone that's been anywhere else, and to our collective credit the thought of someone starving to death in plain view is unthinkable.

These stooges obtain 501(c)3 status and forgetaboutit - they're no longer in the business of business - they're tax exempt and as long as they don't produce much of anything they're safe. Ideas and imagination are top priorities at these places. Accountability as to whether these ideas actually function is non-existent.... arg

A bitta bologna on the sandwich

Follies are often known for their central piece - whimsical centers with fun and perhaps some, albeit little, function. At the center of the sandwich aka courtyard rests a comfortable 6 inch slice of pink insulation. These fine fellas rode in from the coast to install it across a ~80x~200 foot section. Beneath this is a ~1' steel reinforced concrete footer atop approx 6 inches of gravel. Which I've heard rumor lays atop another 10' or so above two stories of vivarium stuff (houses for research critters). This sandwich requires structural steel (think toast) because of the plans to create another medical building atop the structure in a few years. Above the bologna is a layer of something we'll come up with a name for later...

Setting a storm structure

Setting a storm structure with Howard Desper at the helm - Larry and Justin on side and the Mexican Jesus making certain the stairs are lined up. Really this is basic and obvious, however amazingly this gets screwed up occasionally - other than that it's straight forward - line up the stairs, put plenty of tar in the joint and keep it level.

Construction work in the 3rd Millenium

It'll be going on two days from work when this pulled muscle heals and two things are certain.
1) I've been brought to my knees by a relatively minor back injury - a pulled muscle that started swelling several days ago and that I ignored until it whimsically kicked my butt.
2) Being outdoors every day rocks.

Construction is akin to the army in its merger of heavy machinery, reckless personalities, and occasional fubar scenarios. Herein is a sampling of the events that result in the construction here in the lawdy lovin US of A,

Despite the age of supercomputers, robots on mars, and no end of other great geek stuff there's a world building America's infrastructure - and it is rad. From the felons and freaks to the immigrants and artisans there is a realm of industrial American culture working together 24/7/365 to build the great follies of the early third millennium.

setting a valve - working the nightshift

This first bit of folly for ya'll


Howard Desper, Foreman, Jesus Zamorra + Larry Fitzgerald in the ditch with Hawk and James "Teeter" Coles - Justin and myself on the bank. Mueller valve on an 18" line - took about three hours to drain these lines.....