The building of a Union County School \ D. Wayne Goforth Director

The building of a 21st Century School for Union County


The School!

Paulette Elementary
Week 13


By Chip Brown | Maynardville@gmail.com

PAULETTE IS MOVING TO SHARPS CHAPEL!


At least part of it is.

When I drove by the site earlier this week I saw dump trucks pulling in. I assumed that they were bringing in gravel or sand or whatever. But as I came back up the road I saw several of these trucks leaving the site loaded with dirt.

I didn't get to go back to the site for a day or so but the trucks were still leaving with dirt.

You may remember some weeks back I commented on if they would have enough dirt to fill the valley on site. Seems they had enough and now find themselves hauling out the excess!
Several local companies are pitching in by hauling out what is left of the hill. Johnnie Beeler tells me that they average more than one hundred loads a day leaving the site.

Are they just dumping this dirt somewhere else? In the ultimate move of saving a dollar much of this dirt is being hauled to other school sites. There it will be used when these schools begin their renovations. Using dirt from our own site will save the school system thousands on those projects.

In the video above you can see one of the trucks being loaded by the trackhoe on the site. Little by little these trucks are helping us level the area that will become the ballfield. On the lower end of the building site you can find what appears to be a hill. This is where all of the topsoil was placed when it was moved off the site first. This topsoil will be spread around the school and ballfield when the project nears completion. All too often companies simply level a site without concern of the future. In hiring Rouse Construction we have a company that thinks ahead. Yes it would have been easier just to level the site. But it saved us a lot of money by first taking the time to save our topsoil for reuse.

Using excess soil from this site on one of our other sites, as well as topsoil removal and reuse are two of the many reasons I feel we are lucky to have a top notch company in Rouse and a top notch supervisor like Mr. Beeler on the job.

Visiting with Mr. Beeler in his office (Figure 1) I found him pouring over plans. He took the time to discuss the process with me while signing paperwork and accepting delivery of huge forklifts. Mr Beeler tells me that first of the week the steel would be delivered to the building location. He was currently having a new entrance graded for the big trucks to enter the site. He had just accepted delivery of some large equipment to offload the steel. He hopes to stage the steel near where it goes and save time moving it around later.

Director of Schools Wayne Goforth tells me that we should be "in the dry" by August with this steel and prepared for inside work mainly through the winter. If he is correct that would seem to me to put us on schedule to see completion some time near late May of next year.

I noticed that some of the walls had been painted black (Figure 3). I asked Mr. Beeler about that and was told it really wasn't paint but a block sealer. He said that this sealer created a moisture barrier that would not allow water or condensation from permeating the block. This should stop outside weather from creating damp rooms like we find in some of our older schools. Mr Beeler said that the block would stop the water, and gravity would carry the condensation down and funnel it out through weep holes at the foundation.

As I looked closely at the black sealer it is easy to tell it is not paint. It is a hard coating that feels much like fiberglass to the touch.  I noticed while I was inspecting it that a young man was busy cutting block inside the building area (Figure 3). He and others were laying block in a square pattern near the middle of the school. This would eventually be interior walls of interior rooms. From the location it would appear to be near what will become the stage off of the gym.

I moved farther down the site to see how much dirt had been loaded since I got there. It isn't simply that they are digging the dirt and putting it in trucks. There are two smaller dozers leveling the area behind the trackhoe. These dozers feed the dirt to the trackhoe which in turn loads it in the trucks (Figure 2).

What I found most surprising was the clockwork precision of the effort. When one truck was loaded another would be entering the site. When the dozer was pushing dirt to the left of the trackhoe, the big machine would be working to its right. When the other dozer pushed dirt to the right the trackhoe worked to its left. What at first looked like chaos of large machinery was a dance of precision. Not once was there a stoppage to wait on a truck and not once did anyone have a near miss.

It is truly amazing to see so many people working on a site, each doing something different. And while each does something different they never seem to get in each other's way. And in the end when all of it is completed, all of their efforts will come together and make one complete school.


Thank you to each and every person who made this possible.