Humane Society Of Richland County - New Facility Construction Blog

Final Pictures!

2009-07-10T16:23:00.012-04:00

Well, we have been open in our new building for over a month now. The Ribbon Cutting was on May 29th and was attended by major donors, board members, members of the media, and local government officials. On Saturday, May 30th we held an Open House for the public. The response from the community was amazing! So many people showed up to visit our new digs, that we had to send Board President Jack Donaldson out to direct traffic and parking! Thanks to everyone who came out and to those who were not able to make it to the open house, but have been supporters of the Humane Society. I am posting a few pictures I took this week of our "lived in" facility. The building is working out wonderfully for us!

Building Updates!

2009-04-28T16:23:00.004-04:00

Much has been happening at the shelter. Our Open House is scheduled for May 30th! Sidewalks are poured and finishes are going in inside the building. We plan to pour the parking lot this week. With so many pictures, trying to do one post wasn't working - So I broke my updates into several posts so I could put descriptions with the photos. Each post hast 3 - 4 pictures and I tried my best to get the descriptions to sit next to the photos - Alas, it is very hard to format the blog, so the descriptions are in the same order as the pictures, and it should be fairly easy to follow!

OK - The first picture is the front of the building - with our newly installed front door (no more plywood) and sidewalks!

The next picture is the back parking lot and sidewalk. Of course the back parking lot is still stone, but you get the picture!

Then comes our outdoor runs for the adoptable dogs - we still have fencing to install and a bit of paint...

2009-04-28T16:19:00.006-04:00

Our Dog Quarantine kennels have glass fronts to help limit the spread of any disease we might encounter.

And here are our dog quarantine cages. Some of the cages have removable inserts that divide the cage - if the insert is in, the cage becomes two cages, if it is out there is more room for a larger dog. The stainless steel cages in front are the cat isolation and quarantine cages. They need some assembly and the flooring isn't done in those rooms yet.

Our dog adoption kennels are hard to see - the room is also housing the stainless steel cat isolation and quarantine cages.

2009-04-28T16:17:00.002-04:00

This is a view of our cat adoption cages from the viewing area. Each cage has a shelf for the cats to lay on that is up against the glass back of the cages, so while it looks like six cages high, it is only three cages high!

Here is a view of the cat adoption cages from the work room side. The cages are on rollers so the staff can move them to clean the glass and under the cages.

A different set of cat adoption cages from the work room side. We certainly have a ton of cages (a whole semi truck full to be exact - and that was just the adoption cages and kennels!).

2009-04-28T16:15:00.003-04:00

This is the pet visitation room - if you find an animal that you think would be right for you, you can spend some time together in the visitation room.

The plumbing fixtures are going in! We're almost done now!

This is our very very large heat recovery unit. It was so large (or the room so small depending on your viewpoint) that we have to put it on rollers and make it moveable so we can get to the very large heat exchange wheel inside for servicing! This unit will help keep our heating and cooling costs down by recovering the heat (or cooling) from the exhausted air. This unit will recover 80% of the heat which is very important when you are doing 6-8 complete air changes an hour!

As you can see, we are down to just miscellaneous stuff and finishes. We have already had some furniture delivered - it is just waiting for our shelter staff to assemble it once the flooring has all been installed. Building signs are being made and should be in before the open house. We will be ready for landscaping soon!

Drywall

2009-03-03T14:08:00.001-05:00

Hello Again! Things are progressing at the shelter. The drywall is going up - it should be done in the next few days - then they will begin finishing it! They are going to start with the ceilings in the dog areas so we can get paint up and start installing our kennels. The cabinet company (Riceland Cabinets) was out today to field measure. The cabinets will be installed the last week in March. The inside should be pretty well done by then. The big question is the outside work - it requires somewhat decent weather. It doesn't need to be 70 degrees and sunny, but it would help if it didn't go from 20" of snow on the ground to rain to freezing temps! I have attached some pictures of the building - it was break time while I was there, so they guys are in the picture of the cat adoption area - Anyone want to adopt a construction worker?

Interior Work

2009-01-23T16:46:00.004-05:00

Well, the soffits, gutter, and downspouts are up and the windows are in! We now have heat in the building, so as soon as we get some slightly decent weather for a few days, we will get the window sills installed. The interior studs are done, and the electric is roughed in. We have the plumbing to rough in, and then we can drywall. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get the sills in before we are too far along on the drywall. Things are moving along inside, but the weather is definitely hampering the exterior work. We usually have a 4 day warmup of 50 - 60 degree weather in January, and that hasn't happened this year.

2008-12-15T15:56:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post today. The windows are in - the sills still need installed, but the exterior doors are being hung today, so we will be enclosed. We are also starting on the ceiling drywall so we can get the attic insulated and get some heat in the building. The site is a muddy mess, so I am actually hoping for a freeze so the mud doesn't get tracked into the building so much.

Shingles and Insulation

2008-12-05T16:55:00.002-05:00

Well we finally have a complete roof! The foam insulation in the block walls was installed on Thursday. You can see from the pictures how the foam is pumped into the wall through little holes (which are then cleaned and plugged) and expands to fill the cavities in the block. Windows, facia and soffit, exterior doors, etc should start next week as well as some of the HVAC. We have boarded up the main door and the doggie doors, so once the windows and other exterior doors are in the building will be enclosed and weather tight. As you can see we have a dumpster on site temporarily so we can get the site cleaned up and the trash out of the way. Due to the size of the site, the dumpster will come and go as needed so it doesn't take up room. Feel free to drive by and look at the building as the exterior is starting to come together.

Trusses!

2008-11-21T13:45:00.003-05:00

Well, we are working on getting under roof. Hoffman Roofing set the main trusses yesterday with the help of a donated crane from Purdy Construction. G.P. Wiegand had set the steel at the covered exterior run end on Monday and Tuesday, so everything was ready. We had a small glitch in that extra trusses were sent, but we quickly figured that out (they definitely did not go on our project, the pitch and everything was wrong). Hoffman is planning on working extra to get the roof on. We should have the roof dried in by Thanksgiving with the shingles on shortly thereafter (weather permitting). Then we we have to get started on doors and windows and get the building enclosed so we can start studs! I hope you like the pictures!

Masonry Update

2008-10-28T14:42:00.004-04:00

I am trying to keep up with the posting. The main activity at the site has been masonry. Stine Masonry has been working hard to get our building up out of the ground. As of today, they will have all of the colored, splitface block done. They still have the kennel area exterior wall to do as well as the interior walls of the kennel area, but all of those are regular old block. They should finish up next week allowing us to begin on our roof! I have added some more pictures of the building - you can see the building shape and basic layout. We will have a window in every room to allow for wonderful fresh air in the spring and fall when it is nice out. Of course we have a wonderful Heating and Cooling system with a heat / cooling recovery system to keep our building well ventilated and energy efficient during the heating and cooling seasons.

More Updates.....

2008-10-20T10:19:00.005-04:00

I promised more pictures, and here they are! The first picture is to give you an idea of the building colors. As you can tell, the main building color is "wheat" or the tan color. The "scarlet" or red color will be an accent band around the building at the top of the windows. The block is going up quickly, as you can see from the pictures. Stine Masonry had only been working a few days at this point. Of course, it will slow down a bit once they get to window height as they have to layout and cut for all the window openings. I included a picture of the dog areas - as you can see, no standing water so everything drains well to the trench drains.

10-17-08 Updates!

2008-10-17T17:22:00.006-04:00

Well, I have definitely fallen behind in the posts. I am sure you all are wondering what is going on. I have attached some pictures from several weeks ago of the underground plumbing and foundations. I will post current pictures early next week. This week has been busy. The big accomplishment is that the floor has been poured and thanks to the rain this week, we know it drains perfectly in the dog kennel areas! This has been a big concern as the dog pound has issues with the floor not sloping to the drains, so we were very, very, very careful. Everything looks to be in order though. After the floor was poured, the block walls were started. Stine Masonry is moving quickly and everything looks good. They are at "scaffold" height on the sides and the back, and were working on the front when I was there today. I took pictures, but I haven't had time to edit them as I was busy finalizing and approving our Adoption Cages and Dog Runs! Those have now been officially approved, so I can work on approving various other shop drawings and ordering our stainless steel cat quarantine cages! I promise to make another post early next week with today's pictures and more updates.

Foundations

2008-08-21T11:29:00.004-04:00

Well, we are back on track again. The sitework took a little longer due to an area of soft dirt that had to be dug out. Then we had to pull off for a few days after we laid out the building to double check the property line. But now everything is good and foundations have begun! The first picture is from the front of the building shooting toward the dog kennel area and the second picture is from the back of the building shooting toward the drive.

Late Update

2008-08-12T13:44:00.003-04:00

Well, so much for posting every week. As you can see from the picture, the site has be graded, the detention pond dug, building pad built, and the stone for the front parking is in. We are ready for foundations, but we have to verify the property lines and the building location first. A special thanks to K E McCartney & Associates, Inc. for donating the site engineering and survey. They have been very helpful with the layout of the property and remarking the property lines for us as well as redesigning the detention pond to avoid the Sanitary sewer line! Thank you K E McCartney & Associates, Inc.

We should have foundations in this week, and then be able to move forward on the rest of the building. There is a lot to do - foundations, underground plumbing, pouring the floor, laying the block, the list keeps going. The posts will probably get longer once we get the building enclosed.

Work Has Begun!

2008-08-04T02:47:00.000-04:00

I wanted to post a picture of the excavating. Actually, this picture is from last Thursday - only two days into the start of the project. As you can see, the topsoil has been stripped from the site (and piled into a big hill). Deer Creek Excavating is moving along. As of yesterday (Monday) they had the sanitary sewer tap in and the front drive in! The sewer tap was not exactly where it was shown on the plans, so we will have to shift the retention pond a bit, but no big deal there. We also ran into a small seam of topsoil in a small area that we have to dig out, but things are moving along nicely. I will have to see if I can post the floor plan in a future post so everyone can see the plan for the building.

Building Site Photos - 07-21-2008

2008-08-04T02:40:00.000-04:00

I have posted a couple of pictures of our building site before the work started yesterday. The lot is now in the process of being cleared and the excavating and grading have started. Things will look a lot different in a short amount of time as the site gets leveled and graded and work begins.

I am going to aim for posting updates at least weekly for all of you interested in how the building is coming along. We are quite excited to see the project begin!