Good morning, folks:
The next intrusive phase of the roof project begins later today and will continue through Thursday (weather permitting). Concrete for the skim coating on the second-, third- and fifth-floor patios will be pumped up from trucks on Founder’s Plaza and then will be smoothed and graded by a crew of very efficient workers, I’ve been assured. The work shouldn’t be overwhelmingly noisy but there will be a significant amount of activity (dangerous for those of us who are easily distracted by commotion outside their windows).
The work will start on the second- and third-floor patios today; the busiest period for the fifth-floor patio will probably be Wednesday and Thursday. I have asked that any noisy work stop for the lunch period on Thursday, the 26th, between 12:30 and 2:00 to allow for the best environment for Professor Goldstein’s joint Baldy Center/Law School-hosted presentation on his book, The Patent Lie (see http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/pdfs/GoldsteinFlyer.pdf for more info).
The good news about this is that O’Brian’s foundation should be much less stressed (it’s a wonder we haven’t floated off our moorings). The material being installed this week is lightweight concrete (mixed with Perlite). The foreman for the general contractor said 335 tons of concrete and stone was removed from the fifth-floor patio space in the last few weeks (he knows because he had to pay the bill to have it hauled away). The new material being installed will return a small fraction of that weight to the structure while supplying better insulating and waterproofing factors.
And even better news — rainy weather aside, they are ahead of schedule on most phases of the project. The abatement contractors on the second floor should have completed their work within the next two weeks which means that hallway will be reopened (while work continues inside the second-floor classrooms). Please let me know if you have any questions.
best,
Cheri
