May 2011 - Santa Clara Valley

The Construction
Specifications Institute
May 2011
Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Serving the Valley of Santa Clara since 1960
May’s Program
Accessibility: Design, Disconnects,
Accessibility in California often includes conflicting and
overlapping Standards. CBC Chapter 11B is code, ADA is
civil rights legislation, and ADAAG is...? Interpretation is
probably the number one issue in accessibility, especially,
consistency of interpretation. Is it possible to develop
a rational interpretation and assessment protocol for
accessibility issues?
Our May program looks at a number of disconnects
discovered during nearly three years of accessibility surveys
in California. While blame maybe assigned to design
professionals or to contractors, field studies suggests it is
something more than that. A strategy for prioritizing and
interpreting survey results will be presented.
Universal design principles will be briefly reviewed
towards developing a holistic approach to accessibility
and integration into the design and construction process.
Finally, an overview of accessibility issues that should be
included in specifications. A checklist of items will be
considered.
When:
and
Specifications
Michael Chambers is a registered architect in California, a
Fellow of both the Construction Specifications Institute
(CSI) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a
member of the Specification Consultants in Independent
Practice (SCIP), and a Certified Construction Specifier
(CCS). Mr. Chambers has over 35 years in the design and
construction industry. He has worked in the private sector,
state government and marketed construction management
services to design professionals. Mr. Chambers is actively
engaged in designing, producing, and presenting continuing
education programs for the construction industry.
With a varied background in architecture, engineering,
specifications, and product marketing, Mr. Chambers uses
continuing education to bring product manufacturers
and design professionals together in the design and
specification of the built environment. In 1997, Ellerbe
Becket recognized Mr. Chambers with it’s highest marketing
award for his national writing and speaking activities. Mr.
Chambers is Vice President of Professional Practice for the
AIA California Council.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Cost:
No host bar, dinner is $32.00 including
gratuity and tax.
Location: Biltmore Hotel and Suites
2151 Laurelwood Road, Santa Clara
(Montague Expressway & 101)
RSVP:
Please make your reservations to Krista
Nelson with choice of meal by 12:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, May 3rd.
email: [email protected]
phone: (408) 535-2935
Times:
Board Meeting:
Social Hour:
Dinner:
Program:
Menu:
Tossed salad; chicken enchilada with diced
tomatoes, onions and cilantro and topped with
grated cheese served with beans and rice; wine;
dessert, coffee or tea.
OR
Tossed salad; soft polenta with an array of
broiled vegetables served on a bed of marinara
sauce; wine; dessert, coffee or tea.
5:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
Guests are welcome • No-shows will be billed
Continuing Education:
This program meets CSI/
CEN and AIA/CES criteria.
Participants will receive 0.1 hours
of Continuing Education Units
(CEUs) and 1 hour of LUS
(learning units).
May 2011
2010-2011
Board of Directors
President’s Message
best growth will be in multifamily
markets. The top multifamily markets
are: New York, San Francisco, Long
Island, San Jose, and Los Angeles.
The office market is expected to
experience a “half-speed” recovery
and the retail market growth may only
be in the luxury segment, due to high
unemployment. At least 3 out of 5 of
the markets are in California.
President
Jim Morelan, CSI, AIA
(408) 247-3322
[email protected]
Vice President
Kevin Norman, CSI, AIA, LEED
(650) 364-6453
[email protected]
Treasurer
Jim O’Keefe, CSI
(415) 310-5896
[email protected]
Secretary
Maia Gendreau, CSI, CDT, AIA
(408) 297-0288 x14
[email protected]
Immediate Past-President
Hannah Moyer, CSI, CDT, AIA, LEED
(650) 298-8150
[email protected]
Directors - Industry
John Pluff, CSI
(650) 321-9110
[email protected]
Rose Garrison, CSI
(650) 868-7143
[email protected]
Director - Professional
Dede Impink, CSI, CCS
[email protected]
Rietta McCain, CSI, CCCA, AIA
(408) 535-2962
[email protected]
Region Director
Julie Brown, CSI, CCS, SCIP
(408) 778-0633
[email protected]
West Region Institute Directors
President: Craig Mount, CSI, CDT
(213) 593-8280
[email protected]
Vice-Pres.: David Willis, CSI, CDT
(559) 896-1649
[email protected]
Chapter President
Jim Morelan, CSI AIA
May Basket! May Basket! The
first day of May brings childhood
memories of the old custom of
neighborhood kids shouting, after
hanging a handmade paper May
basket, full of fresh lilac and spirea
blossoms, on a neighbor’s front
door knob and then running to
hide behind a tree. The idea was to
surprise someone you liked, such
as Mrs. Pullman that always had
cookies for us. I think that custom
has disappeared and only few people
will remember the fun of making the
baskets, gathering the flowers, and
running around the neighborhood
after dark, with these simple special
gifts. How about Nancy Rhea,
do you remember? Now, if you
shouted that phrase, everyone would
be alarmed and think that you
meant “May Day” and a disaster is
happening! Maybe so.
So what is happening? Que pasa?
The design and building sector of the
economy may see gradual recovery,
according to a report by Grubb &
Ellis, a national real estate services and
investment firm. Their projections
indicate the multifamily market will be
the fastest to change, due to attractive
investments and a new focus on
other than distressed properties. The
Page 2
Social media use is growing too.
Building Design+Constructions conducted
a survey on social networking and it
reveals that professionals in the AEC
industry are still curious and cautiously
optimistic about working social media
into their everyday work. I know that
I have little time to spend on this
activity, even though my grandchildren
and retired family and friends are
constantly posting their latest photos
and activities. Most architects reported
that success in marketing, by using the
social media, does not compare with
other types of consumer sales, since
AEC sales cycles often are measured
in years, not emotional or instant
buys. The survey said that a significant
number of professionals are not using
social media in any capacity. I am on
Facebook and Linkedin, so send me a
note and give me your opinion about
the value.
Actually, thanks to Facebook, I
recently heard from Rex Morton,
AIA, a friend who retired and moved
from Los Gatos to Bakersfield a few
years ago. I was happy to learn that he
comes to the Bay Area to visit family
and that he would like to have lunch
with some “older architects” next time
he is in town. Let me know if you
want to join us. Just send me a note
and I will be your friend.
Jill Bicknell, an environmental
consultant was the April dinner
program speaker and presented
President • cont’d on pg 8
May 2011
2010-2011 Committee Chairs
Awards
Jim O’Keefe, CSI
(415) 310-5896
[email protected]
Julie Brown, CSI, CCS, SCIP
(408) 778-0633
[email protected]
Continuing Education
Rietta McCain, CSI, CCCA, AIA
(408) 535-2962
[email protected]
Education Seminar
Maia Gendreau, CSI, CDT, AIA
(408) 297-0288 x14
[email protected]
Greeter & Raffle
Rose Garrison, CSI
(650) 868-7143
[email protected]
Historian
Julie Brown, CSI, CCS, SCIP
(408) 778-0633
[email protected]
Marketing
Rietta McCain, CSI, CCCA, AIA
(408) 535-2962
[email protected]
Newsletter Editor
Rietta McCain, CSI, CCCA, AIA
(408) 535-2962
[email protected]
Operating House
Krista Nelson, CSI, CDT, RA, LEED
(408) 535-2935
[email protected]
Programs
Kevin Norman, CSI, AIA, LEED
(650) 364-6453
[email protected]
Julie Barrett, CSI, CDT
(650) 464-2550
[email protected]
Toys-For-Tots
Ron Adams, CSI
(408) 435-1313
[email protected]
Webmaster
Robert Anderson, CSI, CCCA
(808) 823-9353
[email protected]
West Region Conference 2012
Hannah Moyer, CSI, CDT, AIA, LEED
(650) 298-8150
[email protected]
The Summary is published
monthly by the Santa Clara
Valley Chapter of the
Construction Specifications
Institute. The deadline for
articles and announcements
to be included is the 10th of
the month. We encourage
readers to submit articles of
interest to our membership
and the construction industry.
Articles and images should be
submitted in electronic form
by e-mail. PDF, TIFF, JPEG,
Microsoft Word or Rich Text
Format would be appreciated.
Email submittals to:
Rietta McCain
[email protected]
Membership
Rose Garrison, CSI
(650) 868-7143
[email protected]
Keep CSI
Up-to-Date
Log in to www.csinet.org with
your name and password,
as described on the website.
Then you have access to
update your new address,
new employment, or new
email address... all at your
fingertips. This way you will
be sure to receive everything
from Institute and our Chapter.
Page 3
May 2011
M inutes
CSI, Santa Clara Valley
(Draft, Board Approval Pending)
Place: Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara
Date: April 4, 2011
Opening
The meeting was called to order by
Jim Morelan at 5:05 p.m.
Attendees
Board Members
Jim Morelan, CSI, AIA, LEED,
President; Kevin Norman, AIA,
CSI, LEED AP, Vice President; Jim
O’Keefe CSI, Treasurer; Hannah
Moyer, CSI,AIA, LEED, Immediate
Past President (late arrival); Dede
Impink, CSI, AIA, Professional
Director; Rietta McCain, AIA, CSI,
CCCA, Professional Director
Region Director
Julie Brown, CSI, CCS SCIP
Minutes
The minutes of the March meeting
were reviewed by those present.
Minutes are approved as distributed.
Treasurer’s Report
Expenses exceeded income for the
month due to large expenses for
Board Insurance payment and West
Region Conference reimbursements.
Otis Elevator will be remitting their
outstanding payment for West Region
Directory advertisement.
of the
B oard M eeting
Report is filed for annual review.
Region Director’s Report
A written report is distributed.
Region Academic Affairs Committee
is looking for a co-chair or a new chair.
President’s Report
Institute bylaws have changed and
there is some confusion around the
Emerging Professionals membership
category and what those members are
eligible to vote on and participate in at
the various levels (Chapter, Region and
Institute). The Institute Secretary is
working on clarifying this.
Tonight’s meeting is listed in the
Business Journal’s calendar of events.
There was discussion at the Speak-Out
Meeting regarding the desire to have
an Institute President from California,
since it is the state with the largest
membership in CSI. Sheryl DoddHansen’s effort in the last election
was not successful. In the history of
CSI, there has not been an Institute
President from California.
Tax Exempt Status: Maia and Jim
O’Keefe have completed the 1024
form and sent it to Sue Goransen
for review. After Sue reviews it, Jim
Morelan will need to sign the form.
Then we need to locate another form,
and the package. Both forms, a copy
of the bylaws, a roster of current
board members and the processing fee
will need to be sent to the IRS.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s
Construction Sciences Forum is April
7-8, 2011.
West Region Directory effort next year
will be led by Kathy Greenway.
Board needs to appoint an individual
for the Region Nominating
Committee. One member from each
Chapter in the Region forms this
committee. This committee will be
finding candidates for Region Vice
President and Institute Director for
Fiscal Year 2013.
Page 4
We have a low turn out tonight. Jim
Morelan encourages members to
reach out to non-members to increase
attendance.
Unfinished Business
Board Insurance: We have secured
the board insurance. Jim Morelan is
still waiting for a copy of the policy
and does not yet know the effective
date of the policy.
Nominations:
One of the Professional Director
positions is vacant and will need to be
filled. The committee is still pursuing
potential candidates.
Ballots were sent out yesterday.
Minutes • cont’d on pg 5
May 2011
Minutes • from pg 4
Discussed the idea of voting by email
for future elections. This is an item
that will need to be discussed with
Institute has they set the procedures
for elections. Jim Morelan will follow
up with Sheryl Dodd-Hansen on
this item. Carry this as an unfinished
business item on next month’s agenda.
Ballots will be opened at the May
Board Meeting.
Committee Reports
Membership: No report.
Education Seminar: No report.
Programs/Technical/Social
Next month’s program is on
accessibility. June’s program will be the
awards dinner.
Awards
Committee is moving forward and
preparing for the June awards dinner.
Website: No report.
Operating/House: No report.
Toys-for-Tots: No report.
Marketing: No report.
West Region Conference 2012
Starting to establish committees
for the various conference efforts.
The contract with the hotel is being
reviewed. The Hayes Mansion in
San Jose has been selected as the
conference locating. The committee
would love to hear ideas from other
members for the conference.
Bylaws Review
The task team has been making good
progress. An indemnification clause
Continuing Education
was added to the bylaws. The task
A. Tonight’s program is registered with
team has reviewed the proposed
CSI and AIA. Next month’s program
amendments, and will present the
will be registered with CSI and AIA
bylaws to the board for approval soon.
as well as being eligible for California
Since Institute did vote for a change
Accessibility Continuing Education.
to the categories of membership,
Greeter/Raffle
that change needs to be reflected
Hannah will be greeter tonight.
in our Chapter’s bylaws. Sheryl
Dodd-Hanson has said the GRITT
Editor
committee is targeting April to have
Deadline for the newsletter is
a revised bylaws template completed.
tomorrow, Friday April 8th at noon.
Once the template is update, the
Jim Morelan would like to see more
final changes to the Chapter bylaws
Board Members spotlight articles in
will be made. The revised bylaws
the newsletter. Board members are
will then be presented to Board for
encouraged to submit articles for
approval, and then sent to Institute
publication.
Historian: No report.
Minutes • cont’d on pg 10
Page 5
Planning
Calendar
Chapter Meetings
May 5Accessibility
June 2Awards Dinner
July 7TBD
Plan Ahead
CSI Annual Convention:
Construct 2011
September 14-16, 2011
Chicago, IL
West Region Conference
April 26-29, 2012
San Francisco Bay Area
CSI Annual Convention:
Construct 2012
September 11-14, 2012
Phoenix, AZ
May 2011
W es t R egion C orner
the link for job posting. This could
be valuable information for those
looking for work. If you are using
this site, please keep it up to date.
West Region Vice President
Dave Willis, CSI, CDT, CCCM
(559) 896-1649
[email protected]
Welcome to Spring everyone. I would
like to report to you all some of the
subjects we have discussed at the
Mid-Year Board meeting in Oakland
in March. We had a very lively Speak
Out Session on Friday evening prior
to the Saturday Board meeting. The
Speak Out began by discussing the
West Region Website. Eric Camin
really needs our help to keep the
information up to date and current.
Each Chapter needs to get their local
chapter news and calendar items up
to date. The Google Calendar on
the website is a great tool to keep
the region informed of events in the
Region and at local chapters such as
Pro Fair dates, special events, and
Chapter meeting times. Every CSI
member whether West Region or not
should be able to access the calendar
and know what is going on around
the Region. I know it is a great help to
me when planning visits to different
Chapter meetings and important
events such as product shows. On
the subject of the West Region
Website, I have asked Eric to reinstall
The survey sent out by the leadership
committee was discussed. Very
few chapters responded. It is very
important to have that feed back
so the committee can best serve
the Region and set up leadership
sessions in the north and south. Please
forgive me for a little brow beating,
but we need good reliable feedback
from you all so your hard working
committees can do their jobs.
Chapter Presidents and Membership
chairs are receiving monthly reports
from the Institute membership
Committee. Please ask your chapter
membership chairs to share this
information if they have not yet done
so. We get a report on new members,
members that need to renew, and
dropped members. It is important to
call and recognize the new members,
especially at the Chapter meetings.
Those that need to renew might need
a little push. It would also be nice
to know why some have dropped.
The news just in from the recent
Institute elections is that the
By Laws have been amended
regarding membership designations.
We will now have Emerging
Professionals, Professional, and
Students. I do not have the details
as to when this will begin.
Other than approving the budget
for Fiscal Year 2012, there are we
a few things I would like to report.
We currently do not have a location
or chapter for the 2013 West Region
Conference. A task team has been
formed to looking into the possibility
of having a Bi-Region Conference
with the Northwest Region. We have
Page 6
done this in the past at Sun River,
Oregon, and it was great. There
was as a great deal of discussion
regarding the West Region Directory
for Fiscal Year 2011. We will need
to decide whether to use McGraw
Hill again, or develop our own. It
appears that McGraw Hill might
be too expensive. Kathy Greenway
presented an impressive power point
on publishing our own West Region
Directory. A task team has been
formed to discuss the best way to
go, and by the time you see this, a
decision might be made. Whatever
the case, each chapter member
will have to be sure their personal
information on the Institute website
is correct. It is easy to do. There is
a convenient link on the website to
confirm or edit the information.
In my last West Region Corner I
mentioned the upcoming Northwest
Region conference in Eugene Oregon
June 15 through 19, 2011. Both
Craig and I have received personal
invitations to attend. I have decided
to go. They have expressed interest
in exchanging ideas. As I mentioned
before, West Region will not have
a conference this year, so here is
your chance. Keep an eye out for
that information. They are actively
looking for conference sponsors and
product exhibitors. If you want to
know more, you can contact Brian
Lighthart at briklight@comcast.
net with the Northwest Region CSI
Conference committee. Another
contact is Tana Baker at tbaker@
chambersconstruction.com, 541687-9445, or fax 541-687-9451.
I am still going to do my best to visit
all of the northern Chapters prior
to this June. At this time I have been
asked to install the new officers for
West Region • cont’d on pg 7
May 2011
Buch Notes
By Edmund Buch,
The next time you’re in Las Vegas, take
a detour to the Hoover Dam. You’ll
notice the similarity in the appearance
of the Dam’s architectural features
with the design of the LA Times
Building on First Street in downtown
Los Angeles. This is understandable
since the architect for the Dam was
Gordon B. Kaufmann who was also
Harry Chandler’s architect for the LA
Times headquarters building. This is
just one of the insights into the history
of the Dam’s construction we learn
in Michael Hiltzik’s book, “Colossus,
Hoover Dam and the Making of the
American Century.” The book’s bigger
story is the historical and political
events leading up to the Dam’s
construction and the effects the Dam
has had on the region. Indeed, without
the Dam, the American Southwest,
and especially Southern California we
know today, would be very different.
The irrigation water the dam delivers
to the Imperial Valley and, more
importantly the electricity and drinking
water it provides, spurred the growth
and development of the entire region.
But it is also true that the decreasing
amount of water in Lake Mead behind
the Dam, has also placed limits on our
growth due to historically low rainfall
and snow runoff experienced in recent
years in the Colorado River watershed.
West Region • from pg 6
csi ccs aia
When President Franklin Roosevelt
dedicated the Dam in September
1935, he characterized it as a tangible
symbol of the New Deal even though
construction planning was well
underway in the administration of
Herbert Hoover. The history of the
Dam goes back even further, to the
1850s when California developers first
had dreams of controlling flooding
from the Colorado River and using
its water for irrigation in the Imperial
Valley. The disastrous winter flooding
in 1905 that destroyed Imperial Valley
agriculture, created the Salton Sea,
and took 18 months to stop, (by
repairing dikes along the river at a
cost of $3 Million to the Southern
Pacific Railroad), put the whole issue
of control of the river on the national
stage. In 1907 President Theodore
Roosevelt proposed legislation to
construct flood control dams on the
Colorado River and to construct the
All American Canal, from the River to
the Imperial Valley. Twenty three years
later the construction of the Hoover
Dam began. It would be the largest
American public works project since
the construction of the Panama Canal.
The Dam is enormous in every way:
726 feet high, (two times higher
than any previous dam), 660 feet
Buch Notes • cont’d on pg 9
Page 7
Fiscal Year 2012 from the San
Francisco, Santa Clara Valley, and
East Bay Oakland Chapters. I
would ask you to please send me
your monthly Chapter meeting
dates. I very much enjoy attending
the different chapter meetings
and meeting the members. As
offered last year, I will be happy
to install your new Chapter Board
members when the time comes.
There are still a few extra copies of
the 2010 West Region Membership
Directory and Specifiers’ guide
in my office and I will be glad
to send them out to anyone
wanting a copy or an additional
copy. I have 13 left, so please
let me know if you want one.
I sincerely hope the economy is
looking brighter for you this year.
Please do not hesitate to call me
if I can help you in any way.
CSI West Region
May 2011
Upcoming
Accessibility
Workshops
AIA San Francisco will be
offering two workshops
on the new 2010 ADA
and CBC amendments
in accessibility law and
regulations. These courses
meets the California State
Architecture Board License
requirements on Continuing
Education for Disabled Access
Requirements.
Friday, April 29, 2011
9:00am to 11:30am
Introduction to State and
Federal Accessibility
Regulations
(2.5 HSWs/MCEs)
1:00pm to 3:30pm
2010 Federal and State
Accessibility Regulations
(2.5 HSWs/MCEs)
AIA San Francisco
130 Sutter Street
Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94104
For more information
and to sign up visit:
http://disabledaccessworkshop1.
eventbrite.com/
President • from pg 2
important information on new
Storm water pollution prevention
requirements. This was an appropriate
subject, after a record amount of rain
this season. Are you flooded with
ideas for implementing new retention
and filtering methods for project sites
exceeding 10,000 sf of development?
The Energy Awards, sponsored
by Silicon Valley / San Jose Business
Journal, will be held at the Computer
History Museum from 5:30 – 8:30
pm, Tuesday, May 3rd. Do we have
any entries from members? For
information visit www.bizjournals.
com/san jose/event/39471 or call
408-299-1832. I was pleased to see
that the Business Journal published
our April meeting notice under
Calendar of Events. Good reading!
Budget woes! Not a problem with
CSI SCV Chapter, due to the great
job of our board and the expertise of
treasurer, Jim O’Keefe. Each month
he provides us with a detailed report
that keeps us on “budget” and, as
the saying goes, “on time.” Recently,
the board has approved and secured
a liability insurance policy to cover
any errors or misdeeds of its leaders,
pertaining to their actions for CSI
activities. Most other chapters have
this type of insurance and it is good
business practice and additionally
assures board members and volunteers
that we have insurance to protect their
personal acts from financial liability.
Green Wizard is a web-based
system allowing architects, engineers,
and contractors to cross-search,
compare and purchase products for
LEED commercial construction. It
has adopted CSI MasterFormat and
GreenFormat standards to promote
a common approach for organizing
green product information. More
information is available at
www.greenwizard.com.
Page 8
Summer Plans. I am always looking
forward to summertime, because
it usually brings some vacation or
leisure time with the extra long days.
Vegetable gardening is my hobby,
or in Spanish “pasatiempo.” My
wife, Milly, and I will be going to
Guatemala for our third trip in early
August to continue building a school
and working in a clinic with Mayan
villagers. We are also teaching about
75 households planting methods for
home gardens and the importance
of building fences to keep their farm
animals from eating their vegetables.
Coming Events: The annual
installation of new officers is
scheduled for the June meeting
and everyone is invited, along with
your spouses, partners and guests.
This meeting is also an awards
evening which will include special
presentations to members who have
contributed to the success of activities
for this year. A picnic with AIA and
others professional organizations is
being planned for August, in lieu of
our regular dinner meeting, Last year’s
event, planned by Kevin Norman, was
great fun.
CSI West Region Conference
2012 plans are evolving as we cohost with San Francisco Chapter.
Mark your calendar for April 26-29,
2012 at Historical Dolce Hayes Hays
Mansion, San Jose. Hannah Moyer
and Jim O’Keefe are co-chairs of the
committee organizing the conference.
May 2011
2011 Revisions
to
MasterFormat
The Construction Specifications
Institute (CSI) and Construction
Specifications Canada (CSC) have
announced the 2011 updates to
MasterFormat®, their flagship
product used to organize construction
documents for commercial, industrial
and institutional building projects in
the United States and Canada. The
updates are part of MasterFormat’s
annual revision cycle.
The MasterFormat Maintenance
Task Team (MFMTT) conducts
the MasterFormat revision process.
The task team is a committee of
volunteers appointed by CSI, CSC
and MasterFormat stakeholders
(ARCAT, ARCOM, Building Systems
Design, Inc., the Construction
Sciences Research Foundation, Inc.,
McGraw-Hill Construction, and Reed
Construction Data).
“CSI and CSC carefully considered
the latest user proposed changes to
MasterFormat,” said CSI Executive
Director and CEO Walter Marlowe,
P.E., CSI, CAE. “CSI and CSC
member experts made nearly 100
refinements that incrementally
improve MasterFormat so that it
better meets the needs of today’s
users.”
MasterFormat is a master list of
numbers and titles classified by work
results or construction practices,
used to organize project manuals,
detail cost information and relate
drawing notations to specifications.
By fostering fuller and more
detailed construction specifications,
MasterFormat is designed to reduce
costly changes and delays in projects
due to incomplete, misplaced or
missing information. For more
information on MasterFormat 2011
Update, please visit
www.masterformat.com.
“The efficiencies provided by
MasterFormat continue to increase
the relevancy for users – whether for
project manual organization or for
information storage and retrieval,” said
CSC President Corinne Golding, RSW.
Buch Notes • from pg 7
thick at its base, it contains 3.5
million cubic yards of concrete
in its combination of gravity and
arch designs, and, at its peak in
1934 employed over 5,200 men
working around the clock, seven
days a week. The project cost
$98 million. As it turned out, the
pouring of concrete for the dam
was the most straight forward
part of the project. There was
so much work necessary before
that could begin. Construction
of roads and a railway to the site,
construction of an electric power
line from Victorville, California,
and construction of Boulder
City for 4,000 workers and their
families had to be completed. The
construction of the four diversion
tunnels and the cofferdams, to keep
the dam site dry, took nearly two
years to complete. The diversion
tunnels were enormous: each was
56’ diameter and 4,000 feet long,
drilled and blasted through the
rock along both sides of Boulder
Canyon. Work in the tunnels was
very dangerous, taking the lives of
33 men in one 14 month period.
Jobsite safety was of secondary
importance to the progress of the
work.
Frank “Hurry Up” Crowe was
the project manager for the
construction contractor, Six
Companies, a consortium whose
bid was the lowest of the three
bids received. (Bechtel is the only
construction company of the six
member companies that still exists.)
Crowe had completed 14 dams
for the Bureau of Reclamation
prior to the Hoover Dam. His
experience in the construction of
diversion tunnels and his innovative
overhead cable system, spanning
the canyon for transport of
Buch Notes • cont’d on pg 10
Page 9
May 2011
Minutes • from pg 5
Buch Notes • from pg 9
Secretary for approval. After
Institute Secretary approves them,
the bylaws need to be printed in
the newsletter, and then finally the
proposed amendments voted on
by membership. Given all of the
approvals and processes still needed
to finalize the bylaws, it is likely the
vote on amending the bylaws will
not occur until next year’s Chapter
election.
material and men to the dam site, were
two of the reasons why the project
was completed nearly a year ahead of
schedule.
Closing
The meeting was adjourned by Jim
Morelan at 5:40 p.m.
The CSI West
Region Conference
is coming to the
San Francisco
Bay Area!
April 26-29, 2012
Volunteers Are Welcomed.
Please contact:
Jim O’Keefe
[email protected]
or
Hannah Moyer
[email protected]
The Bureau of Reclamation conducted
research on various concrete mixes,
making over 15,000 test samples
with 96 different mix designs using
aggregates varying in size up to 9”
diameter. The 30,000 concrete pours,
each with a specific mix design, were
planned to minimize heat buildup.
The pours were made in interlocking
blocks 50’ x 50’ x 5’ high, staggered,
and interlaced with a system of
piping in which 45 degree water was
circulated to keep the curing concrete
from overheating and cracking.
One aspect of the Dam’s construction
that could have been better
understood was its foundation
geology. After 10 months of round
the clock excavation, down to bedrock
at 104 feet below the river bed, a
series of 400 holes were bored into
the rock for grout injection. These
were planned to form a continuous
concrete curtain below the Dam
to prevent water from seeping
beneath the Dam and causing uplift.
Unfortunately, only a fraction of the
holes were grouted successfully. As
a result, following completion of the
Dam, seepage into the Dam’s service
galleries accompanied by a startling
Page 10
amount of uplift was recorded on
the strain gages cast into the Dam’s
structure. This necessitated the drilling
of nearly 800 additional holes, some to
a depth of over 300’, to complete the
grout curtain. This process was not
completed until 1947, taking nearly 9
years, twice as long as it took to build
then Dam.
“Colossus” was published by the
Free Press in 2010. It has 496 pages
including an extensive bibliography
and notes section. The innovative
and incredibly difficult construction
process is presented in portions of
five of the books 20 chapters. There
are only three construction drawings
included among several pages of
photographs. Nevertheless, the book
is an excellent and unique way to view
the history of Southern California,
and the Hoover Dam.