Up with the Gable Ends!

It is truly exciting to see the building taking its form! I can't stress enough how much a quality installer plays into the success of the build. The tightness of the site, the challenge of scheduling trades, meeting demands from different angles. Robbie Vernelson of RDV Contracting and Humberto Mendieta of ICF Construction have made a remarkable partnership. And the commitment and morale of their crew is to be commended. These are quality workers who know how to make a project move quickly, giving thorough attention to detail, all while adjusting to the expected and unexpected events on a busy job site.

The procedure for assembling a gable end, in order to ensure proper dimensions and alignment without endangering workers by needing to cut high up in the air, involves "dry-stacking" the forms on the floor first. This especially helpful because of the louvered openings in four of the eight gables on the building. Follow along here for a brief sequence of assembly.

Forms are numbered so that, once cuts are made and pieces are separated in order to pass up the scaffolding, they will be stacked in the appropriate order on top of the wall.

Each form with an angles chalk line will be brought down and cut on the ground. Safer, faster, more accurate.

With these ARXX Steel ICFs, the hole for the louvered openings is simply cut out with a reciprocating saw.

The special round buck by V-Buck is made to order, right to rough opening size, and conveniently fills the spot cut for it without a worker needing to lift a saw.

3rd Story Progress Video Clip...

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Project Gallery: Chidley North Residence Hall

Pour Day 7 - Video

Pour Day 7 - Second Floor complete

RDV Contracting owner, Robbie Vernelson, monitors progress. RDV's crew consists of nine to 10 workers.

Jeff Philips of InFocus Design Studios shoots some footage of the pour. It could be pointed out here that he seemed to be wondering, "What's the big deal?" concerning pour day. That's a great question. When you have a crew and a pour team (including the concrete supplier and the pump truck operator) that know what they are doing and have a good working relationship on site, pour day is indeed quite uneventful. So, while the film may not be that exciting, that's precisely the point. We've dispelled some pretty big rumors and assumptions about ICFs as a result. In fact, the project engineer's inspector and assistant superintendent, were catching up on something clearly other than the pour down on the ground while the pour was taking place two stories up. On the first pour, the inspector was there every step of the way...up on the scaffolding, right by the hose!

Perfecting the plumb of the wall once concrete is screeded at the top.

Steel beam pocket is packed tightly and trowled by hand.

One more partial story (7' plus) of ICF on this wing. The roof system will extend from that point and include 10' dormer windows.

The "core" of the building, parallel to the concrete truck here, will rise two more stories.