Tuesday, March 19, 2024

School buildings taking shape as school construction continues

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School construction is continuing across the Cascade School District as buildings are taking shape now at Alpine Lakes Elementary School and Cascade High School. At Alpine Lakes, Construction Liaison John Henri said the multipurpose room is essentially finished. 

“The structural steel for the building is essentially done. The only thing left now is to put a joist in the multipurpose room, then connect the two together,” Henri said at the July 17 Cascade School Board meeting. “Metal decking has started on the far west side of the building, moving across. They are hoping to pour that slab in the next week-and-a-half. By the end of this month, that building structure will be essentially done.”

External metal studs will be going in within the next two-to-three weeks, Henri said. The underground electrical and water line has been extended to Titus Road. Still holding things up though is approval from the U.S. Corps of Engineer to put the runoff water on the property from the ditch into a pipe. 

“The end of the 30-day period should be the end of this month. We anticipate they won’t just get on the phone and say, ‘go for it.’ They are going to send us something. We’re calling them to find out if there is anything going on,” Henri said. “We do have the right to maintain that ditch until they give us the JARPA (Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application). The contractor can get all the grass and trees out of the ditch.” 

Dirt piles

There is a big dirt pile on the site which neighbors are calling “Mount Doom,” he said. 

“Everybody has been asking about the dirt pile. When we bid both projects, we had no idea how much excess soil we would need, depending on the contractor that bid the job,” Henri said. “Some of the fill had to be structural fill for the trenches and the slab. We’ve had them stock the excess overburden that they are going to haul somewhere else. That will be used to extend the future soccer/football practice field.”

There is also a stockpile of organic material which will be hauled off site for use at topsoil. There are also smaller stockpiles of soil that came from the high school. The old barn is now gone and the foundation removed. Now, some soil testing is needed because the barn had lead paint. 

Henri said they are concerned about the soil around the barn. 

“We don’t believe there is any problem with it. There’s been so much activity, tearing the barn down and doing the foundation, the concentration of lead is probably very small. We’re going to have it tested this week to find out if there is any contamination of the soil,” he said. 

Cascade High School

Everything at the high school is moving on schedule. 

“It’s a very accelerated schedule to get both gyms ready for school, but Lydig (high school contractor) has done an exceptionally good job. They are pointing out things they are concerned about as they blow by them,” Henri said. “We’re having to make decisions to get things changed while they are doing the work. They have been very cooperative.”

The high school has activity all over. He said the structural steel for the high school seems to be slow, but by another week-and-a-half, the steel will be all up. That will will follow with the slabs, then trying to get a roof on as quick as possible. 

He said they don’t want to get hit by bad weather in the fall. The Lydig superintendent said they were scheduling for metal studs for that building in the next two weeks. Most of the utilities are done on the east side of the building. 

“In the main gym, you can see the ceiling is gone. The metal deck is exposed. We’re putting electrical duct work above. Originally, we were going to take out a screen wall, but the high school insisted the we keep it. There is a dividing curtain that drops down,” he said. “They’ve used it as a projection screen. The new layout for the floor, there will be a volleyball court on each side of that. They are putting up duct work at the main gym for air conditioning.”

Henri said they are taping the wall around the gym now, in order to paint. The hardwood floor is now going down in the auxiliary gym. 

“We took the foundation out, filled it up with aggregate as we went. We found a little mud down there. We put down some geo-fabric to keep it from settling. Poured a concrete slab on grade,” Henri said. “The shower rooms are being constructed. Originally, we had a post shower with a bunch of heads. Those have been eliminated. We’re putting in five showers. I’m told people don’t shower in PE. I couldn’t believe we were only doing five. Everybody told me I was nuts.”

Board President Carrie Sorensen said some new high schools aren’t even putting in showers. At the high school, the two gyms and locker rooms are required to be ready for school by the end of August. 

“In order to do that, because we have all new electrical equipment, we have to have the electrical supply in there, so that when we open the new gym, it’s running off the new electrical system,” Henri said. “This is going to be a big push to get the electrical gear in there and wired up next month. They are moving along really well.”

A new roof is being installed for both the auxiliary and main gyms. Henri said they took the old ceiling down, which had insulation, so they have to put some insulation back in there. 

“Hopefully by the end of July, early August, we’ll have the new roof on and the snow removal system, which will melt the snow and drain it away, as opposed to falling off the roof in the back,” Henri said. 

Peshastin-Dryden Elementary School

The design and development on Peshastin-Dryden Elementary School is 50 percent done, Henri said. Comments have been sent back to the architect. He expects to have a final design or 90 percent design on Aug. 1. 

“It’s been a nice process. I’ve been pleased with what Design West has come up with. One of the concerns was at the entryway with amount of snow and dirt, sand. They’ve actually extended the roof out over the entryway a little bit,” said Cascade Superintendent Bill Motsenbocker. 

Henri said they’ve added an intermediate roof, which should be effective keeping snow and dirt off the entrance. Right now, he said they are investigating water issues at the building. 

“Because we’re hearing stories about water coming up into the building in areas you wouldn’t expect, we’re going to run a camera down under the school to map the sewer system, if we can, to try and determine how well the sewer system really is,” Henri said. “We were always anticipating the moisture in the slab was stormwater. We want to make sure we don’t build a school and find that. That is in process right now.”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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