Continuing Indoor and Outdoor Progress

The electricians were called to an emergency job elsewhere today, so completion of light fixture installation will be delayed until next week.  The painters returned today, and landscape contractor Thierry Fray and his crew came for a final conference with landscape architect Cheryl Jensen, and contractor Tony Suhrer before digging trenches for drains and electrical conduits next week.  The bookcase crew is shooting to begin assembly next week, too.
Perhaps the biggest news today is that the cherry tree has about a dozen big, ripe cherries on it!

This painter is priming the walls in preparation for painting tomorrow.

The electricians have some more work to do with these overhead fixtures in the stack room.

Cheryl Jensen, Tony Suhrer, and Thierry Fray consult over landscaping plans.

Cheryl, Thierry, and his crew get into details pertaining to location of drain lines, downspouts, electrical conduits, and sidewalks.

And here is the bookcase crew sawing, sanding, staining, and varnishing - as usual.

The New Wing is Nearing Completion

The boys have focused on getting the stack room completed so that we can begin to assemble bookcases soon.  Thus, the texture coating and painting are completed, and the electricians are hard at work installing light fixtures, outlets, and switch plates in the stack room.  When they are finished, we can begin to assemble bookcases and then move books to clear the old wing for its renovation.  Meanwhile, a little more texture coating and all the painting awaits in the research room, the fireplace room, the storeroom, and entryway.  And the bookcase work continues.

Part of the exterior is getting a plaster surface instead of brick.

We'll have plenty of light when the electricians finish their work.  See the nice texture on the walls and ceiling and their color.

Jean, Gary, and Emily sanding, sanding, sanding . . . .

We have several hundred powder-coated steel bookshelves, and each must have a strip of molding applied to its front edge.  Here's the set up for that work.  From left to right:  The molding strip with its unfinished backside; clamps; the wooden jig to hold the shelf upright; and on the jig is a blue tube of en expensive glue that glues anything to anything; and in the jig is the shelf.  The bottle on the right contains acetone that is applied to the rag in the lower right corner to clean the surfaces of the shelf and molding before gluing them together.

The molding strip is glued and clamped to the edge of the shelf and allowed to set about 30-60 minutes.  We have enough clamps to do six shelves, one after another, but see the previous blog to see how many shelves need to be done.  If all were placed end to end, they would equal one-half mile, or 560 total shelves!  (That's also a half mile of molding that had to be cut to length, sanded, stained, and varnished with 3 coats of Varathane!)

The Storm after the Lull

Although the bookcase building has been going right on schedule, building construction progress slowed over the past couple weeks because of scheduling, miscommunications, and inspections, but here we go again.  The dry wallers got back to work with some cool tools that allow just one person to mud and tape all the joints in just one day.  Very impressive!!

Jim caught Art in the act of sanding one of the panels that will support the computer bench.

About 300 bookshelves, each neatly wrapped in butcher paper, are piled up here waiting to be unwrapped, have a strip of red oak molding glued to one edge, rewrapped, and stored back in this room until the book cases are assembled. 

George is using a remarkable tool that applies mud and tape simultaneously to the cracks between the sheet rock panels.  Before he could start, the dry walling had to be inspected to see that the nail spacing accords with City building code.

Shortly after mudding and taping, George smooths the tape and removes excess mud with a wide blade putty knife.  He has another tool to cover the nails.  This fellow really knows what he's doing and takes great pride in his work.

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Just in this past week, great progress has been made on the interior of the new wing, but not all of it is readily apparent.  For example, the entry way floor has been prepared for tiling and carpeting, but if you had not seen the rugged bumps in the concrete and the beat up linoleum, you wouldn't appreciate the beautiful, smooth concrete floor - and you won't see it after the tile and carpet are lain.
But the sheet rock has been applied to the ceiling and walls in the stack room, and the wooden ceiling has been emplaced over the research table area and map cove.  
Not the least, the bookcase building project continues, and the first phase is close to completion.  The second phase - building just as many cases as we've already built -  must commence soon.  Jim Friestad will be pleased to have your help!

Ceiling work is going well now that the insulation is in.

The sheet rock gives a feeling of size of the stack room.  Those beams in the corner will be emplaced on the wooden ceiling above the research tables.

Look what is stored in the Fireplace Room:  The light fixtures!  Boxes of them!

The bookcase project has boiled over to a tent outdoors, but what you see is just about all we have to stain and varnish before assembly.

Karen Harris and Dave Pettitt are volunteer stainers extraordinaire!

And the roses are in bloom!!

We're Back On Track

With the arrival and installation of insulation today, the work in the interior of the new wing resumed after a 3 week hiatus occasioned by the installation requirements for a fire and burglar alarm system.  Both the insulation and security system should be completed on Monday, to be followed shortly by ceiling work, dry walling, and floor preparation for carpet and tile.  The exterior work has been moving right along with completion of the masonry, the painting, the windows, and the roofing.  The hardscape subcontractor made a visit today to size up our progress and what he needs to do to start work on the sidewalks, and the landscape contractor has pulled weeds and will start moving dirt next week.  Meanwhile, thanks to our stalwart volunteers, Jim Friestad's crew has logged 759 hours of bookcase work.  Once the interior of the new wing has been painted, the bookcases can be assembled and installed.  Then the library will have to be shut down for a few weeks while we move books, old bookcases, and furniture into the new wing.  Look forward to that move, for it will be a real milestone for us all.  Come on down and help with the move!  We'll need you - maybe even have coffee and donuts for you!

Insulation goes pretty quickly, and did, when the carpenters have done their work carefully and properly - and they did.

Aren't these windows beautiful?  And how do you like the color of the building and the way it sets off the colors of the tile and windows?  Can you hardly wait until we have to wash those windows?

Bob Lynn stains one of the panels that will subdivide the bookcases into bays.  Each bookcase will have fourteen 3' wide bays.  Each bay is 7' tall and will have six shelves.  We'll make a total of eight bookcases.  Do the math and then be impressed with the efforts of these volunteers!

Dave Pettitt wipes dust off a stained, intermediate panel in preparation for its first of three coats of Varathane®.  We've been able to do this work in the stack room of the new wing during the lull in construction there.  Other panels behind Dave are in various stages of completion.

Stan Zalatel nails shelf support hardware in the slots to one of the finished end panels.  This work has to be done carefully so that the shelves will be nice and flat when installed.

And here is supervisor Jim applying Varathane® to each of some of the 480 moldings we'll need to glue to the edges of the bookshelves. 

Exterior Progress

Window glass was installed last week.  Today, the painters masked those windows and applied a primer coat.  After the final coat is applied, the grading for drainage around the building can commence, followed by sidewalk and patio work, and then landscaping.  Interior progress has stalled awaiting our security and fire alarm people while they obtain a permit.  The bookcase work rolls on.

The window glazers worked quickly and efficiently.

The painters masked those pretty windows early Monday morning.

Then they got busy with the primer coat.

And they work fast!  No nonsense with these fellows!

By mid-morning, the east wall had received its primer coat.  The final coat will be a warm tan, nearly the same as we're used to seeing on the old wing.

Continued Push to Make Bookcases

Rain interfered this past week with some of the construction activities, as did the Fire Department's requirement that we have our fire suppression system tied into a fire alarm.  This requirement caused us to contact ADT to get to the library and install an alarm and security system ASAP, but as of this writing, ADT has not put in an appearance, thereby holding up insulation, completion of the ceiling, dry-walling, and painting.  The lintels arrived, however, and were installed the next day.  Brick-laying resumed and should be completed this week.  Then the concrete has to cure before the walls can be painted.


In the meantime, Jim Friestad's bookcase crew has been working apace.  Most of the saw cutting is done, and with good weather, activity moved outdoors.  Lots of sanding, staining, and finishing coats of varathane.  Next time you see Jim, ask him how many hours have been put into this activity so far.  Better yet, come down and enjoy the fun!

Lastly, the plumber has begun to lurk around the new and old sections, and has determined that to cap off various pipes still remaining in the new wing, he has to begin preliminary work in the old wing.  His first step is to shut off the water in the kitchen, and that condition will remain until the entire construction project is completed in August.  We shall see more and more intrusion in the old wing until we have to give it up completely to commence its renovation early next month.

Emily and others are able to work indoors on the weekends.  Good thing when it's raining!

Karen Harris and Steve Martin intently sand a glass smooth finish on the bookcase panels.

Here's the gang using the wide open space afforded by the rose garden to sand and stain the panels.

Nice weather also allows Ron Torp to use his chop saw outdoors to cut 580 molding strips and, with John Fritsche's help, to apply one strip the edge of each of 130 bottom shelves.  The other molding strips will be glued to about 450 metal shelves when they arrive next month.  Everything must be sanded, stained, and finished before the bookcases can be assembled.