September 1, 2010 – 5:51 am
Last week we finished up our work at the Carleton
College art studio building. The owners moved their equipment and materials into the various studio bays. Like a typical move, you wonder if the building is large enough! The faculty will work over the next few weeks and months to organize their studio spaces. I know they are excited about having new bright, clean spaces to create art work.
It was enjoyable working on this art studio facility. We used some materials that we don’t use often, such as the heavy horizontal steel siding. I think the building looks very nice and should serve the faculty well.
August 25, 2010 – 5:59 am
This week we started a remodeling project for Laura Baker Services Association (LBS) in Northfield. LBS has been in Northfield since its founding in 1897. It provides care and housing for people with developmental disabilities. It is located on a beautiful campus setting on the east side of Northfield.
Our work on this project involves a total remodeling of
Elwell House. Elwell is a 3,600 square foot residential building. We will be removing all interior walls, floors, doors, etc. and essentially ‘starting over’ with new construction. The exterior walls are all masonry and are remaining in place. There is a lot of demolition work to do right away.
August 24, 2010 – 10:04 am
We have moved on to the final phase of our work at
the Prior Lake dental clinic we are working on. The first phase was the addition, the second phase was the construction of the new toilet and administrative areas. This third phase is the removal of the existing toilet and construction of a new entry on the east side of the building. Much of the exterior work on the building has been completed. Steel hand railings will be going in shortly at the new walkway.
The new entry area is framed, the new roof installed and has had the aluminum windows and doors installed. We are finishing insulation and drywall work in this area.
August 23, 2010 – 10:29 am
Work has moved along well on the addition to a Prairie home that we are building. The workers completed the insulating work as well as the interior drywall hanging. The drywall tapers are finishing up their work, to be followed by prime painting.
The interior ceiling of the upper room has a lowered area around the perimeter. This allows us to install recessed light fixtures without having to penetrate the insulated ceiling plane. It also lines up with the exterior soffits creating a very pleasing relationship between interior and exterior surfaces. The architect used sloped surfaces for the interior soffit which looks very nice.
While interior work is being done our carpenters have moved outside to the deck.
The deck is constructed using red cedar. The support beams underneath the deck have some decorative features. We will cap the top of the beam ends with metal flashings.
August 17, 2010 – 6:26 am
Yesterday we started some work on the elevator project at Watson Hall at Carleton College. At 8 floors, this is Carleton’s tallest dormitory. The building hast two traction elevators that we will be modernizing soon. Part of our work involves removing some old mechanical equipment in the mechanical room at the top of the building. We also have to make some modifications for the new elevator equipment.
To prepare for this we contracted with a crane service to lift materials up to the roof, and to lower the old mechanical equipment. Because the building is so tall we had to get a large crane on site. The crane made quick work of the lifts for us.
August 13, 2010 – 5:49 am
We started work on two more units at The Crossing condominium building in downtown Northfield. The Realtor has been busy showing the units and there have been some sales which is good for everyone.
The first unit we started work on is on the upper floor . It has tremendous views to the east and north, 
overlooking the Cannon River and Carleton College. The outdoor patio on the unit looks like a great place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.
We created a closet in one of the rooms, installed some pocket doors, removed an interior wall, etc. We also have applied the first coat of finish paint to the walls and ceilings. The ceramic tile work has been mostly completed in the bathrooms and laundry room.
The second unit we are working on is one floor down
on the third floor. It also has magnificent views to the east and north. All the rooms in these units are very generous in size and the high ceilings create a nice spacious feeling.
While the drywall finishers and painters are working inside the building, we are busy installing siding on our art studio project. The selected siding is a horizontal prefinished metal material in blue color. We pre-ordered specific lengths of the siding to avoid seams wherever possible. The siding is screwed to the steel studs using special colored screws.
Last week we reached the point where drywall could start to be installed on the walls in our art studio building project. The walls are light gauge steel framing. We sealed up the exterior surfaces then installed fiberglass insulation per the architects specifications. On top of that we installed a vapor retarding film and sealed it at all edges. Sealing this vapor film is important. The building has a mechanical fresh air system and we want to make sure air is drawn into the building through the mechanical system and not through gaps in the building seals.
In many areas of the building we are installing plywood backer panels. These will be used for attachment of shelving and miscellaneous fixtures by the art professors using the building. It is easier to attach to this plywood backer than try to anchor to the steel framing.
Drywall is now being installed over the backer. On this building we are using Marvin
Integrity windows. We ordered them with channels to receive the drywall which will create a nice, smooth looking return to the window.
Our carpenters have been busy working on the Prairie home addition we have underway. It is the area to the left with white building wrap in this photo. Last week, in spite of the rather hot days, they managed to complete the roofing. It can be difficult to tie in a new roof to an existing roof. In this case the older roof is only a few years old which made things a bit easier. It has been tested with the recent rains and all is fine.
The workers are concentrating on completing the roof soffit work. The soffits on this home have a nice detail that includes painted wood trim strips on the sides of the ventilation louver. The electricians installed recessed lights earlier. The large windows give excellent views of the wildlife pond and nearby lake.
Last week we finished up our work at the Carleton
College art studio building. The owners moved their equipment and materials into the various studio bays. Like a typical move, you wonder if the building is large enough! The faculty will work over the next few weeks and months to organize their studio spaces. I know they are excited about having new bright, clean spaces to create art work. 
It was enjoyable working on this art studio facility. We used some materials that we don’t use often, such as the heavy horizontal steel siding. I think the building looks very nice and should serve the faculty well. 
