Steel Structues Going Into Place At Chlidren's Hospital Construction Site

Steel structure work, including columns and beams began this month at the Children's Hospital Construction site, on the former Laurelon Terrace condominums property.

The blog says:

Progress will be more visible, and it will produce a different type of noise than the foundation work. The overall decibel level will be about the same, but rather than the constant engine-hum-type noise, you’ll hear sounds more traditionally associated with construction. There will be more sharp bang and clang type noises as we bolt up beams and drop the decking in place.

During the steel install trucks will deliver structural steel, metal decking and steel stairs to the site.
Our progress will be more visible, and it will produce a different type of noise than the foundation work.

Harmless smoke from the welding operation will be visible throughout the installation of structural steel.

The crane will be devoted exclusively to erecting the steel structure from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. From 7 to 8 a.m. on weekdays, we’ll use the crane to position the non-steel materials and equipment needed for that day. Positioning these materials is a quiet activity, involves less than 10 people and will enable us to complete the structural steel activities more quickly. We expect to complete this phase of the work by the end of October.

Please know that there will be a significant amount of welding during this time. Retinal injuries from welding flash are rare – especially at the distance from the hospital to the new building – and only result from chronic staring at the welding. We plan to place shields when possible, especially in areas facing the hospital, to reduce the distraction of the welding flash.

And other activities this week will be:

• Backhoe and Excavator Use - to place and compact backfill material around the Seattle City Light transformer vaults. "These vaults are big concrete boxes in the ground that hold equipment to transform the incoming electrical power into voltage that is used in the building. The work is expected to take about five days, and will cause some noise and vibration for people in the hospital’s Train zone."
• Concrete Floor Slabs - Crews will begin pouring concrete floor slabs on metal deck this week. You will see an increase in the number of concrete trucks onsite during this time.
• Underground Utilities - Underground utility work continues around the jobsite.

The blog says gives some facts about the amount of steel being used in the new facility: 

• There will be a total of 2,786 tons of steel in the new structure. That’s 5,572,000 pounds!

• We’ll use 2,632 tons of steel for the building structure, and 154 tons for the bridge structure that connects the current building to the new expansion.

• 5,572,000 pounds is about the same as 2,143 giraffes; 309 Orca whales; 20 freight train locomotives; 4 space shuttle rocket boosters; or 3,482 Cessna 150 airplanes.

• It will take at least 100 truckloads to haul all of the steel to the construction site.

• You could build about 3,000 cars with the amount of steel being used for Building Hope. Steel is very strong, durable and it is also recyclable

For construction related questions call 206-987-6197.

(photo courtesy of Construction Blog)