Fire and Life Safety -- January 31, 2012

A strategic objective of the Dent Renovation Project was to install a sprinkler system in the facility. This objective has overcome many obstacles in the road to conclusion. Today the underground water tank that will provide a supplemental source of water should the sprinkler system activate was delivered. One big water bottle.

The installation project -- digging the hole for the tank, shoring it, and piping the water to the pump unit in the Dent School boiler room, and providing an underground cable connection between the two School buildings is in the capable hands of Creative Pipe Fitting Solutions, Inc., Clinton, MD.

The contractor has begun work on the site; the tank will be buried under a section of the side yard play equipment between the Dent Building and the 214 Townhouse.

Site prep well underway. Monarc Construction built housing to protect the air condenser units.

Disassembled play equipment.

The water storage tank awaiting unloading.

Down the alley the tank comes!

The workmen were very careful to avoid the overhead power lines as well as protect the brick from the bulldozer treads.

Chimneys Ahoy! -- November 7, 2011

4th Floor, West Chimney. The library is to the right and the corridor leading to the former Humanities classroom is on the left.

The Library.

The Library.

West side of the School looking across 2nd Street, SE. The chimney tilts towards South Carolina Avenue, SE.



In my October 19th post I included a photograph showing the masonry beginning to bulge on the 4th floor's west chimney. The situation quickly deteriorated as the wall began to fail. With the wall bulging out to the north not unsurprisingly the chimney above the roof line began a serious tilt south. Monarc Construction was quick to provide progressively more substantial supports to buttress the wall and hold the chimney in place.

Initially in the design process the School's architects and engineers planned to take down the chimneys as we rebuilt the structural supports through the center of the School to open up space for enlarged classrooms. The chimneys would then be reconstructed. As the project underwent the value-engineering (VE) process we decided on a different approach, one that would retain enough of the chimneys' core to support new structural steel and the existing chimneys. This approach, we expected, would save time and cost less than dismantling and rebuilding the chimneys. Once the wallboard was removed from the west chimney on Levels Three and Four and the cutting began Monarc Construction concluded the remaining bricks and very old mortar were not stable enough to carry the load. When the wall on the 4th floor began to buckle and the chimney began to tilt work in this area was stopped until the experts completed their review and proposed solutions.

Linton Engineering LLC examined the crumbling structure, the original architectural plans, completed then reviewed its recommendations with cox graae + spaak, the School's architects, Monarc Construction,the contractor, and the School's project management team. For the west chimney, then, we return to our original design: the chimney above the roof line will be taken down and the interior chimney supports will be dropped down to Level 3. Level 4 supports will be rebuilt with reinforced masonry block of sufficient strength to support a reconstructed chimney. The east chimney, which was damaged in the earthquake, will also be reinforced.

At Grade Access -- Progress! November 7, 2011

One of the more difficult issues in adapting a turn-of-the century structure for contemporary use has been at-grade access to the Dent Building and each of its four levels.

The School considered several alternatives to access through the front door within the guidelines provided by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and found none satisfactory. We opted to revive an old design dating from the 1998-2000 renovations, an at-grade entrance to the lower level of the Dent Building off 2nd Street. We will install an elevator in the building to serve all four floors. When the renovations are complete Dent will be fully accessible and the School will be in voluntary compliance with 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design for Commercial Facilities.

Construction Progress Report -- October 25, 2011

Each day more and more of the vision of what the School will look like when construction is complete comes into focus. Today's pictures indicate Monarc's progress as the rooms are framed and the finishing touches are made to the support infrastructure.

The wood structure supports the floor of the Rose Window Room.

This is an excellent shot enabling you to visualize the Head of School's Office. The ladder rests against what will be Jason's office. Note it "floats" in the space between Level 2 and the front doors. The south wall of his office,the one facing the front doors, will be glass. Big brother will be watching! The Registrar's Office will be on the angle on which the scaffolding and two construction workers are located. This "L-shaped" space will be the go-to place in the renovated Dent Building.

The Rose Window space.

An excellent view of the space realized by pulling away one side of the massive interior chimneys.

Photo Credits: Heidi Ruesswick

Pebbles on South Carolina Avenue, SE -- October 25, 2011

Kelly Young, Operations Manager, Capitol Hill Day School, and Phillip Latham, PTSales, check out these "pebbles," small chairs and tables that the School is considering for the foyer on the renovated School's lower level, the early childhood classes.

Funky and fun.

Demo and Steel Wrap-up October 19, 2011

Monarc Construction has finished nearly all the demolition work planned for the interior of the Dent Building. Wow! Do we now have space! Most of the steel has gone in to replace the brick and mortar infrastructure. Today two very long I-beams are being installed in the loft -- one runs from the northeast corner of the building to the center of the great space and the second runs from the southwest corner of the building to the center of the great space. With this installation we can remove several of the former wood supports making the 4th Floor area "support free." It will no longer look like a reconverted attic.

As I have mentioned in several posts over the past few months the most dramatic enhancement to the Dent Building is to the core structure inside the front door running from Level 1, the former Reception Area, through the entrance foyer, stairs to nowhere, and to the Rose Window Room.

The vision is taking shape as you can see in the following pictures:

This picture is taken from Level 1 looking towards the existing front door. The structural steel will support the new entrance foyer and reception area. The structural steel at the higher elevation supports the flooring for the Head of School and Registrar's Offices.

The foyer area is framed and ready for concrete to be poured. The two vertical plywood panels protect the front doors from construction damage. We plan to replicate the terrazzo flooring that was in the original Dent Building.

Looking up towards Level 3 you see the framing to support the Rose Window Room. The space between the steel beams, below, and the wood joists, above, will be offices for the Head of School and the Registrar.

Et Voilà! The Rose Window Room is now level with the rest of Level 3 and the foyer area is substantially wider.

This shot is from the landing in the rear stairwell looking down to the entrance to Level 3. Note all the different patching that has been done over the years as this entrance has been modified. We have moved it again in this project.

This is the west chimney as seen from the library. It is a little wobbly right now and has some temporary support.

With the steel in and the walls buttressed the concrete trucks are delivering load after load to complete the footings and level the floors.

Good Bye Generator! - September 30, 2011

MC Dean, the contractor that completed the electrical installation at 1000 5th Street, SE, wraps up its responsibility today as the generator that powered the school during our first few weeks of operation awaiting PEPCO is towed off the lot.

Using a generator was in our contingency plan to provide electric service to the modular units. It was a contingency that we did not think would occur given all the hurdles in the power supply chain that had been successfully overcome during the design and construction process. However, the double whammy of the delay in delivering the modular units to the site plus PEPCO's diversion to higher priority service requirements following Hurricane Irene activated our Plan B.

MC Dean provided flawless support during our period of temporary generator use both in keeping the unit mechanically fit but as important keeping it fueled even when that required weekend and holiday deliveries.


Photo Credit: Kelly P. Young

New Bathroom for 214 -- September 20, 2011

Mercer Contracting, LLC is busily working on creating a new bathroom for the 2nd Level of the 214 South Carolina Avenue, SE townhouse. The townhouse's Level 2 will be the Eighth Grade Homeroom when the Dent Renovations are complete and the faculty and staff return to our main campus.

Not unsurprisingly, the sub-flooring is partially rotten from a long-leaking toilet. Over the years water had seeped in between the layers of linoleum. This mold has to be the origin of the foul smell that has bedeviled the cubby area for years.

Alex Chance and Stephen Mercer are hard at work in this "demo" phase.

The charming '60s linoleum is the first layer in what was a multi-layer linoleum compilation on the floor of the bathroom.

Dent Renovations -- August 29 - September 2

I have posted pictures of the scaffolding Monarc Construction has erected in the Dent Building to temporarily support the School and permit new, permanent steel supports to be installed. Construction work is a dangerous profession, and this message hit home during the earthquake. Imagine the momentary abject fear the men in this building experienced during the earthquake; they believed that the noise and shaking was the building collapsing on their heads.

Fortunately for the men and for our construction project the shoring and remaining bricks and mortar held. Following a structural inspection of the building only a portion of the chimney was damaged and had to be removed.

A substantial amount of structural steel is in place in Level 1. Installing supports in an existing building has to be carefully engineered and completed by skilled workers.

Photos:

1. Structural steel in the parking lot awaiting installation.

2. Dumpster of bricks and mortar. A significant portion of the Dent Building has left the School in dumpsters.

3. The former ASP/SC Office is in the foreground looking towards the PreKindergarten classroom. All those skinny poles, the shoring, held up the three floors above during the earthquake.

4. New structural steel installed in the ceiling of the Kindergarten classroom.

5. The elevator pit.

6. The "dead space" between the Science Room and the 5th Grade. A steel beam will replace the wall on the right and this space will be incorporated in the former 5th Grade to create the new Science Laboratory.

Level Green Landscaping -- The Level Best!

Level Green Landscaping, LLC, is putting the final touches on the School's modular units at 1000 5th Street, SE. Level Green, of which Douglass Delano, parent of Marion, Capitol Hill Day School Class of 2007, and William, a rising Day School 7th Grader, is a principal, has maintained the School's properties on South Carolina Avenue, SE for many years.

Thanks, Doug and the Level Green team; the temporary structure looks great!

Our downspouts and splash pads were installed by R. W. Kibler, General Contractors, Hyattsville, MD.

Moving into the Mods - September 1, 2011

As we prepare for opening of School we held our first full faculty meeting in the 2nd Grade Classroom.

Galen Wenger, CITI, works in the temporary server room to arrange IT support.

The Fine Arts Department, Andrew Taylor, Music, and Adrienne Nelson, Drama, work on plans for the year's musical on the sidewalk driven out by the fire alarm tests.

Classroom Activity -- August 30, 2011

Teachers have been very busy unpacking and arranging classroom supplies and equipment in their new rooms.

George Watson and Laura Nakatani set-up in the First Grade is substantially complete.

Lindsey Sykes is stitching her first classroom activity in Pre-Kindergarten.

David Macleod, Physical Education Teacher, indicates where he will have his PE equipment shed installed.

Dent Renovations -- Chimney Removal -- August 30, 2011

Monarc's Ronnie and Kyle high up in a cherry picker to guide a crane to the Dent School's chimney that was damaged by the earthquake. Linton Engineering, LLC, evaluated the structure following the earthquake and has recommended that the unstable portion of the chimneys' crown be removed before Monarc can continue structural work inside the building. The two chimneys are so unstable that there is risk that construction vibration could crumble the chimneys damaging the School's original slate roof.

The crane and cherry picker's arrival on site was delayed as they were deployed to aid in tree removal and PEPCO power restoration. What will be next?

South Carolina Avenue Furniture Showroom - August 25, 2011

With a large portion of the Dent Renovation Building Project under contract our design team has begun to look at new furniture for the beautiful space we will soon occupy.

Paul Johnson, PJ and Company, the School's long-time furniture supplier, and Carmen Braun, Marketing Manager, VS America, Inc., presented their line of school and office furniture to us. Carmen's van was loaded with samples which she displayed and we tested on South Carolina Avenue's sidewalk -- a beautiful showroom.

Jason Gray, Head of School, Kelly Young, Operations Manager, and Robin McGrew, cox graae + spaak architects, dutifully took each item of furniture for a short test drive.