A few projects I have done recently

[CM1995]

CM what have you guys been working on as of late? Do you guys get any kind of seasonal weather delays down there in the winter to speak of?

We get a lot of rain and cold (30-40's) weather which isn't conducive to moving dirt but we work when we can. I try to line up "winter" projects that have a lot of site demo and storm which are less H2O sensitive. Although as we all know that's difficult to line up the projects you want, when you want them.

Commercial owners push their projects regardless of the time of year. For some reason the big corp outfits love to start projects here in Jan and Feb. Not too bad for us as that timing usually ends up requiring an undercut and replace CO.

 

[CM1995]

We do demo from time to time and this project came across the desk to take down a little 2 story structure that was in bad shape along with some concrete and asphalt paving in order to make way for a new 4K SF shared office building.

Nice little job, one of those in and outs that was 10-12 blocks away from our larger project downtown that's wrapping up. Moved the 321 from there to this job on the way back to the yard for some service.

Typical 80+ year old structure that hasn't been looked after in the last 30 years or so.

Block walls on the bottom and wood framed upper with asbestos siding.



It had an interesting rear structure with several "sinks" made out of 4" CMU that looked like some sort of outdoor kitchen. More on what we found out that was used for later.



Homeless folks had taken over during the years of abandonment with some taggers along the way. Inside the lower level.



The lot is on a nice high traffic corner that appears to have had a gas station on it at one time.

 

[CM1995]

Asbestos removed (by others) and ready to get down to business.



There are two lots owned by the same entity. The one we are working on is zoned commercial and the other lot is residential with an ancient magnolia tree that will be saved. I'd estimate the diameter around 12' - 3' off the ground.



Making progress.



Today a guy came walking up asking if he could take pictures in which we are always skeptical for good reasons. He told us he was part owner of the dive shop a couple of buildings over then proceeded to tells us this building was the original location of one of the oldest dive shops in the US.

At first we were like "yeah sure buddy" as we get to interact with all sorts of folks when we're tearing down old buildings. Sure enough he was right. Bill Tant started Southern Skin Divers in this building 70 years ago. Since then the shop moved a couple of buildings over and this building went into disrepair.

According to the gentleman wanting to take pictures Bill rented the space below for the dive shop and lived in the apartment above. There was a barber shop attached on the right that he eventually expanded into.

The interesting "outdoor kitchen" at the rear of the building served as an air tank filling station where he would fill tanks for free one day a week for customers who wore a Southern Skin Divers t-shirt. Pretty slick marketing campaign.

Apparently the CMU "sinks" were filled with water and had something to do with the tank refilling.

Here's a link to the history - https://bhamnow.com/2022/06/17/meet-southern-skin-divers-supply/

The guy on the left in the first pick in the linked article is the one that asked to take the pictures.

As with all aspects of life things come and go. It's not often we get such an in depth history of a building we are tearing down.

As of this afternoon. The last 2 CMU walls were collapsed and we'll haul it all out Monday.

 

[Welder Dave]

No underground fuel tanks? The sinks for filling scuba tanks was probably to cool the tanks when filling. Filling high pressure cylinders creates heat and it has to be monitored so the cylinders don't get over pressurized. You have compensate for the pressure when the cylinders cool off.

 

[CM1995]

No underground fuel tanks? The sinks for filling scuba tanks was probably to cool the tanks when filling. Filling high pressure cylinders creates heat and it has to be monitored so the cylinders don't get over pressurized. You have compensate for the pressure when the cylinders cool off.

Not sure WD. I have no experience with scuba but the sinks were big enough to probably fit 2 air tanks in and them be completely submerged.

 

[Welder Dave]

Could have been used to check for leaks or hydrotest them and re-certify them. Much safer under water.

 

[hvy 1ton]

The water bath prevents a pressure drop after the contents cool down. It's impossible to fully fill a tank without it.

 

[Welder Dave]

Without the water bath you could overfill the tanks. A water bath would make filling faster and easier because there's not as much temperature change. Just like tires they always say cold tire pressure.

 

[CM1995]

Finishing up the little dive shop demo and site prep for the new office building.

Last 30 yard load of soft demo leaving the site.



Pad grading for the new building.



Retained old magnolia tree.



Pad turned out nice. We used what was onsite to build it which was mix of red clay, blast furnace slag and crushed limestone. The mixture actually works pretty damn good and packs tight. Recycling what's in place I guess.

 

[Oxbow]

Finishing up the little dive shop demo and site prep for the new office building.

Last 30 yard load of soft demo leaving the site.

View attachment 306277

Pad grading for the new building.

View attachment 306278

Retained old magnolia tree.

View attachment 306279

Pad turned out nice. We used what was onsite to build it which was mix of red clay, blast furnace slag and crushed limestone. The mixture actually works pretty damn good and packs tight. Recycling what's in place I guess.

View attachment 306280

Nice clean site CM!

 

[CM1995]

GC for the above project is a young guy that we've taken a liking to, kindred spirits in a sense. He sent me this today.

A pic from 1938 of the gas station that was located on the front of the lot.



The only thing left of the gas station was the sign and some concrete paving when we arrived on site. When we left all that was remaining was the pole sign and the magnolia. Time for this little corner to turn the page to the next chapter.

 

[Oxbow]

GC for the above project is a young guy that we've taken a liking to, kindred spirits in a sense. He sent me this today.

A pic from 1938 of the gas station that was located on the front of the lot.

View attachment 306281

Only thing left when we showed up was the metal pole sign in front of the gas station. Still standing in front of the trench roller in the pic below. The pole sign and the magnolia was all that remained when we left. Time for this parcel of property's next chapter.

View attachment 306283

That's pretty cool. A little nostalgia of times past.

 

[willie59]

I was gonna say that Magnolia is an old tree, and from the 1938 pic it looks to be 15 to 20 years old then in growth. And that furnace slag, that stuff is the Sh, umm, stuff. If you can get it in 3/4" it works better than limestone for driveways and lots, it's (literally) "tough as iron" durable and doesn't produce the fines (dust) of limestone from traffic.

 

[CM1995]

That's pretty cool. A little nostalgia of times past.

Thanks Oxbow. Makes what we do interesting and be a little part of history along the way.

 

[CM1995]

I was gonna say that Magnolia is an old tree, and from the 1938 pic it looks to be 15 to 20 years old then in growth. And that furnace slag, that stuff is the Sh, umm, stuff. If you can get it in 3/4" it works better than limestone for driveways and lots, it's (literally) "tough as iron" durable and doesn't produce the fines (dust) of limestone from traffic.

Not sure if that's the same magnolia but I think it could be Willie.

Back in the '80's when US Steel Fairfield was in full swing 3/4 furnace slag was used for all sorts of building projects. Made a great retainer wall backfill since it was lightweight and drained water well.

 

[CM1995]

Finished up the big box tool rental store back in Dec that John Griffin and crew removed the existing trees for us.



The new islands where JG took care of the old trees.



Electric charging stations. At first I thought it was for the electric car fad but it's actually there to charge the electric manlifts.

 

[willie59]

Not sure if that's the same magnolia but I think it could be Willie.

Well, considering that Magnolia aren't fast growing trees, judging by the size of the trunk of that tree in your modern pic, that tree has been growing for years, many years, so I'd be surprised if it weren't the same tree shown in your vintage pic.

 

[CM1995]

Willie that magnolia is in surprisingly good health. IIRC it only had one or two dead limbs, the rest of the tree is healthy.

Here's a better pic of the tree to show it's size. It's the largest magnolia I have ever seen.

 

[DGODGR]

I agree that was great info DGODGR, thanks for taking the time to share that. CM what have you guys been working on as of late? Do you guys get any kind of seasonal weather delays down there in the winter to speak of? We have been lucky up here in Illinois till now. Its currently below zero temps with over a foot of snow on the ground. We have been putting in water main in a new subdivision project, we are a week from being done if the weather would have held up. We have a large snow removal contract for when winter sets in, but id rather stay in the dirt.

I recently got rid of all my snow removal contracts.....and absolutely LOVE not being married to the POSSIBILITY of snow.

 

[DGODGR]

It's always cool to know the history of things. I'm certainly fascinated by it. Extra cool that you got to see the old photos. I'm glad that you were able to leave the tree. It's obviously old if it is a 12' diameter at 3' off the ground. Where I work, we push over 40-60' Ponderosas and I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of it. Especially when I consider how many years it took for it to get that tall. Maybe I'm becoming more of a "tree hugger" as I age

Thanks for sharing CM.