Click
Here To Access The DCD Archives™
 |
 | | |
|
|
| |
Historic
St. Vincent’s Hall Receives Application of FIRM-FILL®
The
doors of St. Vincent’s Hall, a 95-year old tribute to Collegiate Gothic
Architecture standing at the center of Niagara University, a comprehensive
liberal arts college located in Lewiston, New York, temporarily closed to
students on December 19, 2000. The hall was closed to permit extensive and
complicated renovations to modernize the interior floor and walls dating back to
1906.
One of the first projects tackled by the General Contractor, Scrufari
Construction, was to find a way to level and smooth the existing flooring that
consisted of a wood floor on sleepers over a very rough structural 3-inch
concrete slab. Scrufari Construction hired Patterson-Stevens, Inc. of Tonawanda,
New York, a concrete specialist and newly Licensed Applicator of Hacker Floor
Underlayments, to help find a solution. Cast-in-place concrete was one option
but the thickness of the slab required would have added more weight to the
floor. Another option was to install a new sleeper system, but the downside was
the substantial installation expense and the lack of fire resistance. The
winning solution was the installation of 32,000 square feet of FIRM-FILL® High
Strength gypsum concrete floor underlayment. FIRM-FILL High Strength was pumped
over the existing floors on three stories of the building, leveling the uneven
structural floor and providing a smooth, durable new surface for finished floor
goods.
GBL Construction Company of Harmony, Pennsylvania, also a Licensed Applicator of
Hacker Floor Underlayments, was onsite to assist Patterson-Stevens with the
challenging project. The original floor had a 3-inch crown with a 2-inch slope
lengthwise, and an extremely dirty surface finished with a garden rake and
stamped footprints. The first step was to clean the floor, not an easy task. The
next day was spent drilling and setting pegs in the floor. The 3/8 inch wood
dowels, spray painted orange to avoid them inadvertently getting stepped on,
were placed at specific elevations on ten-foot centers. The crew then started
installing the FIRM-FILL High Strength at the high point in the floor and
continued pumping every ten feet in all directions to minimize the variations in
depth, creating a smooth floor surface.
With below freezing temperatures outside, another challenge was to get the
interior heated to the 50 degrees necessary for the FIRM-FILL High Strength to
dry properly, in time for other trades that were schedule five days later to
move in and begin their work. Scrufari Construction arranged for space heating
indoors and the FIRM-FILL High Strength was ready on schedule, two days early.
St. Vincent’s Hall, or “Vinnie’s” as it is was commonly referred to
around campus, originally housed dormitory space, the gymnasium and the
nation’s second largest indoor swimming pool, later evolving primarily into
classroom and office space. With this new interior facelift, the fabled
four-story monument to higher education will continue to house classrooms and
administration space, with a completely new look. The first floor will be
dedicated to information technology with classrooms, computer labs, abundant
network connections and group study rooms. The second and third floors will be
devoted to classroom space and the fourth floor will continue to house the
Institute of Travel, Hotel and Restaurant Administration, but with completely
modern amenities such as an atrium gathering area, auditorium and formal dining
room. With the new, smooth, sound insulating floors FIRM-FILL High Strength
brought to this construction effort, the students of Niagara University will
enjoy a modernized, substantially quieter academic atmosphere.
|
©2010 Copyright DC&D Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. | DCD
Construction Magazine | Email:
webmaster@dcd.com |
| |
