May 09, 2008 Progress Report


GT Builders


Bear Dance Village
Framing remainder of chimney chases on five-plex. This element has been given careful consideration, making sure we go beyond just what the code requires for chimneys. The five-plex is such a large building, and it has a total of nine chimneys, if you’re not including the top of the elevator shaft, which will be made to look like one. Because there are so many, it’s important that careful consideration is given to their height, shape, and proportions to the rest of the building. We want to take advantage of the opportunity to turn them into a critical design element of the whole building, using them to help carry that Old World look.

Bear Dance Village
Built rooftop over the stairwell and part of the rooftop patio of Gallatin. We decided that it wasn’t simply enough to have a rooftop patio with a mini fridge and sink – we want this place to really stand out from the rest. So in designing the roof that caps the stairwell (complete with low-profile skylights to give natural light), we designed it to extend out over a third of the rooftop patio. This will give a weather shelter fora better-equipped kitchen, bar and dining area, while still leaving roughly 350 square feet of patio still exposed to the sunshine.

Built all the soffits on the underside of the suspended slab of the five- plex. This will give us a good surface for applying stucco or whatever other surface we pick out for these areas, and it will also allow us to install recessed can lights or other electrical requirements on the underside of the areas where the slab cantilevers beyond the exterior wall.

Completed miscellaneous pickup framing – some of which were required as part of the standard framing bid, and some of which were the result of additional design details determined by the Camel Committee.

Flathead Masonry

Finished up the brick work on the five-plex chimneys that have already been built, then took down the scaffolding tents around them to expose the chimneys for the remote control helicopter that will take pictures of the project for our computer animation.

Finished the brick work on the entry of Boulder. This brick alcove will help continue the theme of the brick walls in Yellowstone’s recessed arches, then carry it to the inside of Boulder, where several accent walls will get brick veneer, as well as the vent hood and fireplace surround.


Bear Dance Village
Began work on interior stone of Yellowstone living room. These are the two columns on either side of the transition between the flat ceiling over the dining and kitchen, and the barrel vault over the living room. It’s also the stone work on either side of the window wall looking out to the bay. This will give the appearance – when looking through the windows – of the wall having that look of 24”-30” thick that we’ve been trying to accomplish.

Rainmaster

Continued to install metal roofing of Yellowstone.

Smith Painting

On site working on interior beams of Boulder. The three-step process takes a full week to make the beams look a hundred years old. First they spray them with a chemical that helps to age the wood and give it a darker look; then they lightly burn the beams with torches (they have a water hose standing by, ready in case of a mistake – don’t worry, there were no mistakes! And they have good insurance!!); and the final step is a light stain to bring in a few slight color variations. The final product should make the new beams look just like the reclaimed beams in the hallway.

Arctic Heat

Finished all the termination points of the air conditioning and heat recovery ventilators in Yellowstone.

Set up all their equipment and supplies in the Swan in preparation for running termination points of all air conditioning and heat recovery ventilators.

High Ridge Steel

Welded tabs to the outside edge of the upper driveway where it cantilevers past the wall. These tabs will be used to anchor the outer rim of the soffit framing that will be on the underside of that cantilever.

Re-welded and attached all the rebar around the outside edge of the upper slab – now that framing is complete – to ensure that we’re complying with safety requirements and OSHA regulations.

Touris Plumbing

Installed all the shower rough-in valves in Boulder, Yellowstone and Swan. These were the final items needed to be completely finished in Building B.


Bear Dance Village
Received a shipment from MDM Supply of all the plumbing fixtures for Boulder and Yellowstone, plus all the faucets for all of Bear Dance Village. These items were purchased early because our supplier informed us of a forecasted price jump on each fixture, so we were able to get them while the price was still low. They will all be stored under lock-and-key until needed in each respective residence.

JK Electric

Finished up the rough-in wiring of Swan.

Walked through Missouri with Carol Nelson to discuss lighting layout and wiring plan – this one will be the next step, and from there, we’ll move right on through each unit of the five-plex. Usually, the plumbing, mechanical and HVAC are completed prior to electricians, but in this case, we’re going to have the electricians simply place electrical outlets, switch boxes, can lights and fixture boxes – but don’t pull any wire to them. The reason for this is simple: Everything the plumbers do, and all of the HVAC duct work is hidden in the walls. The electrical stuff – light fixtures and switches and plugs – are exposed on the surface of ceilings and walls. We always make sure the things that are exposed are given the most consideration for symmetry, balance and aesthetics from a finish perspective, but if all the plumbing and mechanical are in place first, then sometimes it has to be moved to allow for the electrical fixtures. This costs money. By putting in all those boxes and outlets first, now the plumbers and HVAC can work their way around these items, then once all that’s done, the electricians come back and pull the wire.

Ron Incoronato & Co

Met with John and Marilyn Olson on Monday and Tuesday (and Sunday, too – Ron gave the tour that day) while they were in town. With help from Carol Nelson and Keith Beck, we got a lot accomplished: Made decisions on the BBQ/patio area for Swan, decided on interior finishes for Swan, discussed a location for Bob Stayton’s dancing bears, and in general brought them up to speed on the whole project. Also decided to use the west storage area/boiler room as an exercise room instead of storage only, and now the east room will be dedicated to storage. This still provides a spacious area for each homeowner to have personal storage space, while simultaneously allowing us to offer a dedicated, private exercise room. Now potential buyers will be able to utilize both, and they won’t have to worry about using up any space in their own residence for exercise equipment.

Worked with Bob Guditis and members of A2Z Engineering, along with Keith Beck, to come up with a solution for the north main-level deck of Gallatin. The deck is supported by steel beams that hang underneath the floor system of the living room and extend out 12 feet from the outside wall of the building. When a person walks out on that deck, there’s a small amount of bounce in the floor, as those beams flex within their structural allowances. It’s perfectly safe and structural, but for such a quality project, it’s just something we don’t want future clients (and potential buyers) to have to feel – a bouncy deck. After tossing around a few ideas, setting large pallets of stone up on the deck, and a lot of jumping up and down, we came up with a solution to give the steel beams more rigidity, and the final specifications should be ready next week.

Worked with contractors from Northwestern Energy to come up with a plan for getting all our natural gas meters set up for each residence of Bear Dance Village. This requires quite a bit of coordination to ensure we’re allowing for sufficient gas load, making sure we’re not digging too close to any of the other utilities we buried last year, and setting our gas meters in areas that are cost-effective and aesthetically low- profile.

Next Week’s Agenda

GT Builders

This will be their last week on site as a full framing crew. Expect one or two more days to complete the remaining big items and complete one massive cleanup; then two guys will be left behind for a couple weeks to take care of miscellaneous items that don’t require the big crew.

JK Electric


Bear Dance Village
Beginning on Missouri electrical – cans and boxes only.

Rainmaster

Finish putting metal on Yellowstone.

Once composite slate shows up, will begin installing immediately on Swan & Flathead.

Arctic Heat

Working in Swan on all air conditioning termination points. All trunk lines are already in place.

United Drywall

Showing up to begin stocking drywall in Boulder, installation beginning this week. Not every surface will get drywall, of course – some are getting plaster with a different sub-layer, and some walls will get brick, as mentioned above.

CM Quality Insulation

Beginning to spray urethane foam in the roof framing of Flathead, then 2” in the walls, then moving over to Yellowstone.

Touris Plumbing

Finishing all shower rough-in valves in Swan.

Going back to work on rough-in plumbing of Missouri.

Flathead Masonry

Working on chimneys of five-plex.

Finishing stone on interior columns of Yellowstone living rooms.

Possibly beginning to install stone on chimney of Swan.

Selections/Decisions Needed

Old: Need to pick the stone types for the entire five-plex ASAP. With summer coming up and demand being high, we need to maximize this large masonry crew we now have and get the material ordered.


Bear Dance Village
Old/Updated: Need to go through each unit of the five plex and, in the living rooms and on the decks, determine the style of the surround of the fireplaces. These will need to be drawn up and finalized before the framing crew leaves the project for good, so it’s imperative that this happens in the next two weeks. UPDATE: Missouri is complete, Gallatin is complete (see Keith’s interior rendering), and Madison and Ruby are forthcoming from Carol Nelson and Keith Beck, respectively. Only Big Horn remains.

Old: Colors and finishes for units in the five-plex have been discussed, and we have a good start and direction now. Our meetings in the coming weeks will focus on ironing out all those details. Also will go through the five-plex and, using these decisions, pick out trim styles and sizes, flooring styles, and any final design details.

Old: Need cabinet drawings from Carol Nelson Design for remainder of five-plex. Missouri is done, so Madison is next.