Friday Evening Photoblogging: To dig a hole

"We need a hole dug. About 6 feet deep and about 2.5 feet wide". That was my boss, a while back. Sounds like a relatively easy job, if tedious, right? Well, consider that we're starting out 40 feet underground, there's about 8 inches worth of concrete foundation that needs to be dealt with, we can't tolerate any water coming in, etc., etc., and suddenly it's not so trivial....

Step one was to deal with the foundation. A contractor with a very very big saw came in and cut the floor into several pieces:

After pulling up those pieces, the digging began. And then stopped as we all stared at the electrical conduits that shouldn't have existed:

What would be running underneath the foundation of the building? Was it some old network line? Maybe temporary power from when the building was built? Turns out it was power inside our lab space, going from a breaker panel to one wall. And carrying 60 amps of 3-phase power. An electrician was summoned to deal with this "minor" obstacle, and the digging started in earnest.

Digging through clay was Not Fun for the construction team. Eventually, they resorted to using chip-hammers (basically undersized jackhammers) to break the clay up into pieces small enough to shovel out. And the pit grew.

Once we were down to depth, a base slab of concrete was poured. During the pour, there was no room to put in a ladder, so all access to the slab was via crane.

After the base had set, a steel cylinder defining the walls and base of the actual pit was lowered into place. After getting it precisely located, it was tied down using steel cable to keep it from floating away during the next concrete pour.

In two successive pours, concrete is brought up to the level of the original floor.

The finished slab. Note that we succumbed to the temptation to sign the slab. Even though...

Once some new tile is put down, it's like the pit was there all along.

And it only took about 2 weeks. To dig a hole.

-dms

•  Tip Jar

  Managing that project was Not Fun, and I'm glad that it is over. Especially since we managed not to flood the building...

  -dms

  by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:32:43 PM PDT

•  Looks like a mini silo...uh-oh, Neil Diamond time

  Silo when I was young,
  I used to call your name
  When noone else would come
  Silo you always came

  Okay...that was bad, I know.

  by darthstar on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:35:08 PM PDT

•  I see the hole

  but I don't see the cute little cat popping its head in and out. What gives?

  by Oaktown Girl on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:37:07 PM PDT

  •  I'll leave that to the Photoshoppers

    In real life, the sides of that pit are quite smooth and made of stainless steel, so I don't think any real cat would have much luck climbing up the wall.

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:38:30 PM PDT

    •  The Smoother the Curtains -

      The more the pooties love them.

      by johnnygunn on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:46:28 PM PDT

    •  That's cool. I learned

      from the pictures in this comment thread that Ceiling Cat has god-like qualities. So while smooth walls are a true testament to your awesome managerial talent, I don't think they'd stop the cat from owning the hole.

      by Oaktown Girl on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:48:04 PM PDT

      •  But that's Ceiling Cat

        This is a hole in the floor. Totally different.

        -dms

        by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:49:24 PM PDT

        •  According to what I learned

          from that thread, any hole or hole-like structure will do!

          But hey, since I can't contribute to engineering/construction aspect of this post, I'm all for bringing in cute animals into the discussion.

          by Oaktown Girl on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:52:49 PM PDT

•  Um...you scratched your initials

  in the wet concrete.  I'm telling!

  by trashablanca on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:38:32 PM PDT

  •  It's underneath the tile; nobody needs to know

    My plan is to tell all incoming students in this lab that it's a rite of passage for them to take up a tile, carve their initials, and relay the tile. Look, we all did it...

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:40:04 PM PDT

    •  Well, I'dve done it too

      but that doesn't make it right.  It just makes it more fun.

      by trashablanca on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:45:57 PM PDT

      •  My parents paid to have some of our

        front walk replaced.

        My sister wrote in w/r.

        Whales Rule.

        She's only slightly insane.  Actually, I guess in my family, that's a given.

        by sheddhead on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:16:41 PM PDT

    •  Sheesh....

      When I poured concrete under my deck, I at least put a copyright sig "©" and the date....

      by PBen on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:57:52 PM PDT

    •  nobody will know

      unless you post it on teh interwebtubez

      uh oh...

      by its simple IF you ignore the complexity on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:59:07 PM PDT

•  Hmm

  that looks like a 30" diameter 5' long stainless steel cylinder, 100% welded seams with a 2"x2"x 1/4" rolled s.s. angle iron ring on top. Sweet.

  by FireCrow on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:39:30 PM PDT

  •  Very very close

    30" diameter, but 6' long. It is welded construction with the angle iron on top forming a lip, and there are also a set of eyebolts welded on to attach the tiedown cables.

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:41:43 PM PDT

    •  I just made something

      similar yesterday. Our customers cringe these days when they hear the price on stainless. Even mild steel and galvanized is through the roof now.
      By looking at the pics of your cylinder it appears to be around 10 gauge which weighs about 5.65 lbs. per sq. foot. Thats about 270 lbs. Our cost just on the steel, not including the bottom or the ring would be around $1200.00
      Must be an important hole. LOL

      by FireCrow on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:50:01 PM PDT

      •  It's not so much the hole, but the contents

        It's essentially a support structure for an overgrown thermos bottle, which will stick up just above floor level when operational.

        And $1200 for materials, plus the cost of labor/overhead/etc., is pretty believable.

        -dms

        by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:53:41 PM PDT

        •  ah, I was wondering, why this.

          by borkitekt on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:12:08 PM PDT

        •  'bout time

          we find out the purpose of the hole.

          by parryander on Fri May 09, 2008 at 05:26:30 PM PDT

•  Speaking of Construction - -

  What remains of the Cameron Bank two and a half years after Hurricane Rita.

  It was a concrete and brick building with a rebar reinforced central vault.
  The lower two ft. of tha vault is all that remains.
  Little to nothing has been done to rebuild permanently in Cameron, Louisiana.

  

  http://www.dailykos.com/...
  (A little diary pimping since I promised to get the story out.)

  by johnnygunn on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:42:29 PM PDT

•  can't stop myself...

  The first thing I thought of was this:

  Kinda the opposite of your project, but sobeit.

  by N in Seattle on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:43:00 PM PDT

  •  Don't you mean Sgt Pepper?

    That's the album with "Fixing a Hole".

    I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
    and stops my mind from wandering
    where it will go
    I'm filling the cracks that ran though the door
    and kept my mind from wandering
    where it will go

    And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
    I'm right where I belong
    I'm right where I belong
    See the people standing there
    who disagree and never win
    and wonder why they don't get in my door

    I'm painting my room in a colorful way,
    and when my mind is wandering
    there I will go

    And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
    I'm right where I belong
    I'm right where I belong
    Silly people run around
    they worry me and never ask me
    why they don't get past my door

    I'm taking my time for a number of things
    that weren't important yesterday
    and I still go

    I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
    and stops my mind from wandering
    where it will go
    where it will go
    I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
    and stops my mind from wandering
    where it will go

    by trashablanca on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:47:54 PM PDT

    •  unlike the Albert Hall...

      ...it took only one hole to fill dmsilev's construction project.

      by N in Seattle on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:57:05 PM PDT

      •  There ya go- the right beatles ref. !! n/t

        by Dvalkure on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:01:19 PM PDT

    •  are you referring to the image on the embed?

      I have no control over what shows up when I paste in the YouTube code.  The song is, of course, Fixing A Hole.

      by N in Seattle on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:10:37 PM PDT

•  Missile Silo -

  Private contractors, now?

  by johnnygunn on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:45:13 PM PDT

  •  Wouldn't work too well

    The only thing the missile would hit would be our upstairs neighbors. We're pretty friendly with them, and certainly have no need to shoot a rocket through their floor.

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:48:34 PM PDT

    •  But you have preemptive strike capability

      to ensure they stay friendly.  Or else.

      by trashablanca on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:54:17 PM PDT

      •  We did negotiate with them

        There was some discussion of what would happen if we struck oil during the dig, and we did conduct some preliminary negotiations about running a pipeline through that lab. Though of course invading liberating them was always an option.

        Sadly, no oil was found. Just a bit of water and one small piece of iron pyrite (fool's gold) which we kept as a memento.

        -dms

        by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:58:30 PM PDT

    •  yeah but

      think of how surprised they'd be when that missile came bursting up through the floor. Fun to get a picture of their faces when the first stage lit propelling it up through their roof.

      by FireCrow on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:59:49 PM PDT

•  so, what is it for ??? ! n/t

  by Dvalkure on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:53:55 PM PDT

  •  It's part of the infrastructure

    for a low-temperature physics apparatus. Our first-stage cooling system is essentially a large thermos bottle filled with liquid helium. That sits in the pit, and the successive stages sit inside the bottle. By the time you reach the center of the system, you're at 0.005 degrees above absolute zero, and Strange Things happen. We study the Strange Things.

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:56:16 PM PDT

    •  Wow ! very cool !

      I'm so glad I asked...cool, strange things, man - I'm all for that !

        Thanks and good work

      by Dvalkure on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:58:06 PM PDT

    •  d'oh.

      sorry--i was typing the comment below at about the same time. thanks for the explanation!

      by homo neurotic on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:58:47 PM PDT

  •  In a post 9-11 world

    you should know that your job is to simply accept the hole. Not question it.

    by Oaktown Girl on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:58:44 PM PDT

•  what'n the blazes IS that?

  i'm such a one note wonder, it always comes back to the simpsons for me...

  Mr. Burns: What are you people doing in my corpse hatch?!
  Chief Wiggum: Mr Burns, you're under arrest for murder!
  Mr. Burns: Oh, did I say "corpse hatch?" I meant "innocence tube!"

  by homo neurotic on Fri May 09, 2008 at 03:57:45 PM PDT

  •  LOL *snort!* n/t

    by Oaktown Girl on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:02:53 PM PDT

•  I, er, dig this diary! Thanks, dms.

  It also seems to be rich in allegorical significance of some sort ...

  by srkp23 on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:04:35 PM PDT

•  Concerts

  Most of the pictures I've been tossing around since the last time I dropped by the Friday Photoblog have been concert pictures that I took of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band last month (I also saw Joe Jackson the next night, but since his entire set was pretty much him sitting behind his piano, the drummer drumming, and the bass player bassing, there wasn't a whole lot of visual variety on which to hang multiple pictures). I think I've posted all of them at one time or another on dKos, but I'll toss out a couple of them here as well.

  We were seated high behind the stage, which lead to a lot of shots of Bruce Springsteen's ass, which my wife quite approved of. The things about that vantage point that I found appealing were the fact that I caught the stage's built-in video monitors, which displayed the song names, keys, and lyrics for the benefit of Bruce & Co., which meant that I could always say which song was being performed during any particular picture; and the faces of the crowd in the first couple of rows of the pit, which were almost as entertaining as the concert itself.

  For instance, the audience reactions to Bruce and Miami Steve Van Zandt during this particular bit of "Prove It All Night" are really cool:

  

  (Plus, it's one of the few times when they were both facing towards us!)

  Bruce wasn't the only guy getting great reactions from the crowd, of course; here's Nils Lofgren spinning around like a dog chasing its tail while playing like mad on "She's the One":

  

  Finally, since I promised you Bruce Springsteen's ass, here he is going all guitar hero during "Murder Incorporated" (the video monitor I mentioned above is clearly visible here right past his knee, by the way):

  

  by Ray Radlein on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:08:42 PM PDT

  •  such a good

    distraction.

    by parryander on Fri May 09, 2008 at 05:31:23 PM PDT

•  Evening Joe

  Oh, and since I did mention him, here's one of the few times Joe Jackson stood up from behind his piano:

  

  by Ray Radlein on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:11:16 PM PDT

•  Great diary. Fun to see your work.

  by Owllwoman on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:43:58 PM PDT

•  I hope you put in shoring

  before you lowered that poor fellow down the hole. Yikes!

  by realalaskan on Fri May 09, 2008 at 05:16:44 PM PDT

  •  Actually, no

    We had shoring available, but the hard-packed clay was strong enough to be self-supporting.

    -dms

    by dmsilev on Fri May 09, 2008 at 05:21:22 PM PDT

•  I dug holes with Captain Ahab

  DH and I inherited grape vines. They were just laying there, sad and unloved, amid the pieces of a defunct arbor and it seemed a sin to let them go to waste. So why not a new arbor? DH went off, pencil and paper in hand to sketch out his idea. Looked simple on paper -- three uprights, two cross-pieces. Holes? Ha, we laugh at holes -- because we had access to an earth auger. I usually go for the simple shovel approach when it comes to digging but... damn, this thing was impressive. The digging took no time at all (except for the bits where I was on my knees, hand-prying big rocks out of the soil so DH could continue boring).

  Then we got to the posts and my darling's Captain Ahab streak came out.

  And yea, he did rage about the twin white whales of level and plumb.

  "Left. Left. Left. Not THAT much left. Up a bit -- good -- dammit! Now hold that right there while I mix the concrete."

  It took us an evening but we got the posts set and I even managed to hold them dead still as they assumed their positions. Really, it was kind of fun. For him.

  by monkeybiz on Fri May 09, 2008 at 05:23:20 PM PDT