Exterior walls are nearly enclosed and roof work has begun on the new Pipestone Area Schools elementary school. K. Kuphal
Structural steel work is complete, much of the exterior sheathing is complete and brick work has begun on the west side of the new Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) elementary school building.
Tyler Kaczmarek, project manager with Kraus-Anderson, said last week that sheathing of the exterior walls was about 80 percent complete. The sheathing was left off of one area so that a crane could place air handling units in the building and those units were installed last week.
According to a monthly report from Kraus-Anderson dated Sept. 4, exterior stud framing and sheathing work is expected to be close to complete by the end of the month.
The gymnasium roof has been installed and roof drains are hooked up and working. Roof work has also begun on the northwest portion of the main elementary building and will continue over the next several weeks. Once that’s complete, the building will be almost fully enclosed.
“Within the next four to six weeks we might be really close to having this building in the dry,” Kaczmarek said.
He said the ultimate goal is to have the building fully enclosed by November. Once that happens, he said workers should be able to keep the interior comfortable very efficiently due to the exterior sheathing, which acts as an insulator and weather barrier.
Inside the building, skylights and translucent walls will be installed and concrete will be poured in the new gym this month. After that, the floor in the east wing will be the final section to be poured. That will take place once the last of the underground electrical and plumbing work is completed.
According to the monthly report, application of spray foam insulation has begun on the inside of the exterior walls and interior stud wall framing has begun. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing work has begun and will continue throughout the remainder of the project, Kaczmarek said.
On the southeast side of the middle and high school building, the new parking lot where the old circle drive was completed and striped before school started and is now in use. Seeding and landscaping of the area has also been completed.
Metal panels like those that will be installed on portions of the exterior of the new elementary school have been installed on the new visitor entrance on the southeast side of the building. The new doors have also been installed, but the push button opening mechanism has not yet been put in. Once that is installed, Kaczmarek said the secure entrance mechanism can be installed.
Inside those doors, the remodel of the middle and high school office area was also completed before school started.
Kaczmarek said the construction continues to go smoothly since school started and the new parking and student drop off areas seem to be working as designed. He said the workers continue to do good work and are working safely with no days missed due to injury since the project started in April.
