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Monday, June 17, 2013

More Concrete, More Digging

The concrete pump paid another visit to the site today, this time to pour part of the west foundation wall.  I have recently learned that when the tabernacle was being stabilized after the fire, many bricks were salvaged.  Some of the bricks came from the inside walls before the rebar was put in place.  These bricks will be used as the structure is rebuilt.
The track hoe working in the south lot caught my eye while I was still on Center Street.
Rebar trees in the annex are growing bark.
Concrete forms are ready to be moved into place.
Work continues on the next level of foundation forms on the north side.
Concrete was poured on Friday for the elevator entrance to the lowest level of the basement.
My camera peeked over the fence on University Avenue to catch this glimpse of the basement.  Ultimately, the basement will be two levels.  The lowest level will house the laundry and a platform for the feet of the oxen.  The font will be on this east side, at the upper level of the basement.
Daredevils were at work today on the interior north wall.  I hope that isn't a zip line I see. 
The concrete pump parked himself right in the middle of the access to the west lot.  You can see the rebar work progressing in this area, but the concrete is being poured in the foundation wall.
The south lot gets deeper and deeper while the pipes play musical chairs.  They can't stay in one place when the ground beneath them keeps getting carried away.  
Baby Track Hoe worked furiously along the east wall barrier which is being extended down.
Brother Front End Loader worked up a storm in the same area.
Welders secure the I-beams which are being covered with wooden planks.
Daddy Track Hoe and his buddies worked in a constant stream of motion as they dug away the south lot.
Mr. Crane stayed busy today, too.  I should start numbering how many times I exclaim how fun he is to watch.  This is probably #29.  Or is it #42?
Mr. Crane's reach is far and wide.
The concrete pump needed a little attention to his hose and took a little break.  My camera was interested in the area between the rebar and the black tarps.  Notice the gravel on the upper left side.
Junior Front End Loader knows how to stay busy.  This area is directly south of the mechanical tunnel.
I have looked at old pictures to determine what property is owned by the LDS Church in the west lot.  I was told that the Church owns the footprint of the old Nu Skin garage.  That footprint is the entire area you can see in this picture, which is bordered by the new Nu Skin underground garage.  It is currently a working area for rebar and conduit.  Notice Mr. Dashing Track Hoe in the background smoothing out the gravel.  The men in the upper right hand corner are working on the mechanical tunnel slab.  The track hoe in the foreground is digging a path from the west entrance to the south lot, but the concrete pump was in the way, so dump trucks were not removing his dirt. 
The mechanical tunnel slab is being prepared for the membrane layer which we have now seen put in place in the north lot annex and the basement of the tabernacle.
I am amazed at how hard everyone is working on the west entrance.

12 comments:

Chad said...

I wonder how many entrances and exits there will be for the underground garage. It doesn't make much sense to have one entrance. I also wonder if it will be like the City Creek South Temple entrance where you turn left or right depending if you a shopping or parking at the JSMB.

Also, the elevator on the west side... I'm guessing it will be all underground and only for the basement since it would rise up outside the temple. Do you know where the other elevator will be and if there is a slab poured for it?

Julie Markham said...

The landscaping plans, which I easily got a copy of several months ago, show an entrance to the underground garage at the end of the south lot. It appears that if entering the garage from the west side, straight will take you to Nu Skin, and right, as in CTR, will take you to the temple parking. The elevator at the northeast corner will only go between the north underground annex and the lowest basement level. Remember that the annex will be at the same level as the first floor in the basement. There are two other elevators, but they will be inside the temple. As the construction progresses, I will try to explain more clearly what I have learned about the plans, but I hope this is helpful.

Esperanza said...

It is looking less like a pit mine, and more like a construction site.

Unknown said...

I am glad that you are posting pictures and are asking questions. I'm from North Carolina and am real curious about the "makings" of this Temple. I do have a couple of questions that I'm real curious about. I look at the webcam daily and so I hope that I can explain my questions from the vantage point of the webcam. Behind the Temple the construction workers have poured cement in all but one place. I'm just curious about the place that they haven't poured cement yet. Also, on the level that the crane is on, there is a lot of gravel that has pipes buried underneath. Why has there been a section dug out (it kind of looks like a square) of the gravel? Thank you for doing this blog.

Julie Markham said...

I am not sure which spot you mean, but if you are asking about the lot -- where it should be a rectangle but right now a corner is out -- that part will ultimately be filled in. I'm told the plans show that the north annex will not have that cutout. The slump in the gravel (good eye--btw) is similar to one like that in the basement of the tabernacle. I believe these slumps are for drainage, but I am watching that spot and I'll zoom in and post those photos when I see something helpful. You'd have to scroll back through quite a few posts, but if you do, you'll see a similar slump in the basement. I ended up referring to it as a sunken living room and then a spider when they put in the rebar. I now know that area will be a drain. I only barely understand this, but it's all related to the water table.

Julie Markham said...

Lynda, I just looked at the temple cam and am wondering if the spot you are referring to is the little canyon between the tabernacle and the slab on the north lot. At some point that will all be covered with dirt and then a slab level with the current slab there. The annex will go straight from the north slab which is in place to the basement level of the tabernacle. I'll take some pictures soon that will explain this better.

Unknown said...

When I look at the webcam, I also see pipes going all around the area (I think they are hooked to the wooden walls that are surrounding the Temple complex)(sorry if I don't expain things very well), are they a part of the drainage system? I reckon the drainage system is elaborate because the watertable is so high(?)

Julie Markham said...

Yes, you are correct. The white pipes are currently draining the water from the site, but it goes into the storm drains. This is a temporary system, and last week it was explained to me that once the black membrane has been applied to all exterior surfaces of the foundation, the water table will not be able to penetrate the walls. Scroll through the webcam photos for the last few days and you'll see that the elevator foundation at the base of the northeast tower has just been covered with the membrane. I am just now understanding this, so I'll try to take some pictures to illustrate the drainage system this coming week.

Unknown said...

That makes sense. I do have another question, I am looking just at pictures taken by the webcam so I hope I can expain myself. You know on the left-hand side (of the webcam) where the "towers" are going up? (I reckon that they will hold the roof of that level), will the area between that and the Temple be leveled out and cemented? I think that it would be. More than once, I've wanted to get a hold of the plans so I could understand more of what the construction workers were doing. It is just sooooooooo interesting to see the constuction of this Temple....probably more than any other because of the vast amount of dirt they've had to haul and the fact that they have had to "dig out" the foundation. Also, do you have any idea how they are going to get the steel beams away from underneath the Temple without damaging the foundation? Thank you for doing this website and for the comments you make. It is just very interesting.

Julie Markham said...

Yes, ultimately that floor under the towers (I have been calling them trees) will extend through the first level of the basement, and the gully we are seeing will be filled in. Someone last week tried to explain to me about the steel beams. I think he said the weight of the building would be transferred to the foundation walls before the beams are removed. I was fuzzy on that, but maybe I'll get another chance to ask.

Unknown said...

I just sent an email to the company that runs the webcam. It hasn't shown anything since 1:00 this morning. Hope that they fix the problem so I can see the progress made today. I don't know what I'm going to do when the area they are working on is finished and the time will be spent on the Temple proper. Reckon that they'll have to move the camera so I'll be able to see what they are doing:-))

Julie Markham said...

We have to be careful or the webcam will turn into an addiction. Having said that, I was frustrated that I couldn't see what was happening, so I just got home from the site and will start working on a post. The west lot now has a slab. But I need some lunch first.