This week construction crews are expected to significantly increase the volume of work activity on the roof of the library. This will include the start of an operation in which anchor bolts will be driven through the roof and into 80 existing interior columns underneath.
The bolts will reach less than a foot into the top of each column, but noise and vibration from cutting and drilling will be noticeable to library users on the lower floors of the building directly below. Noise levels may vary significantly depending on the location and some characteristics of each column.
To drill the anchor bolts, a hole is cut first through the hard roof membrane over each column--a task that produces its own noise and vibration. Once the bolts themselves are drilled, a small weatherproof box will be placed over each hole and sealed around the edges to prevent any leaks. The drilling of these anchor bolts, along with the installation of their protective boxes, is expected to take several weeks. The operation will likely begin on the Freret Street side of the roof and slowly progress toward the Dixon Hall side.
An external elevator to carry crews and material to the roof top was erected last week and is now operational. The large crane for the construction project is still expected to arrive on site in just a couple of weeks (on Feb. 10). Some deliveries of steel and other materials for the framing of two more library floors, which are the main focus of the construction project, may begin to arrive before the crane.
Meanwhile, inside the building workers are wrapping up completion of the concrete shear wall support slab in the
emergency stairwell on the Dixon Hall side of the library building. Another crew is finishing up the demolition operation in
the library basement that is removing what is left of the old pipe,
mechanical systems, and ceiling there.
