If anyone has ever played with toy blocks they know that a tall wall will not stand on it's own - seriously - I never imagined the facade without some type of bracing structure behind it! How can this be a surprise? Isolating this area from the demolition of the rest of the building would be costly but the demolition has to be by skilled personnel as there are other buildings that could be affected as well if care is not taken to dismantle the remaining building properly. But probably the dumbest thing said in this article is the comment from the city engineer stating that contractors could dump stone or dirt into the hole left by the state theater demolition for free. Having been in the construction industry for over 34 years - I have never seen a contractor do anything for free. And it isn't just a matter of dumping material into the hole - the material needs to meet a certain size criteria so there will be no voids for it to sink because water filters the finer material to the bottom! The material should be placed in lifts and then the fill needs to be tested at certain intervals to make sure it is meeting acceptable standards for either grass, parking, or buildings - and the criteria is not the same for any of these. And certain materials are not acceptable for fill. It takes common sense, experience and a little creative thinking to solve most problems!
Plan to restore landmark Paramount facade in jeopardy
If anyone has ever played with toy blocks they know that a tall wall will not stand on it's own - seriously - I never imagined the facade without some type of bracing structure behind it! How can this be a surprise? Isolating this area from the demolition of the rest of the building would be costly but the demolition has to be by skilled personnel as there are other buildings that could be affected as well if care is not taken to dismantle the remaining building properly. But probably the dumbest thing said in this article is the comment from the city engineer stating that contractors could dump stone or dirt into the hole left by the state theater demolition for free. Having been in the construction industry for over 34 years - I have never seen a contractor do anything for free. And it isn't just a matter of dumping material into the hole - the material needs to meet a certain size criteria so there will be no voids for it to sink because water filters the finer material to the bottom! The material should be placed in lifts and then the fill needs to be tested at certain intervals to make sure it is meeting acceptable standards for either grass, parking, or buildings - and the criteria is not the same for any of these. And certain materials are not acceptable for fill. It takes common sense, experience and a little creative thinking to solve most problems!
September 10, 2012 at 3:03 p.m. permalink suggest removal