If you have walked by The Imperial in the last few weeks, you would have noticed that the sign band has been painted and the masons have finished the rear of the addition and are now working on the front of the addition.
You wouldn’t have noticed the mechanical, electrical and drywall work in the interior though. This is what has been happening:
Conestoga Mechanical
Blake finally has some helpers at The Imperial. I thought he was going to do all the work himself. Blake’s buddies are:
Nicholas Ronan
Kevin Dempsey
Steve Sanzsole – we use Steve to measure tall things
C.M. has been busy installing plumbing, duct work and the hot water lines for heating and radiators.
Windows
Contract Framers returned to install the last of the windows – just in time before it begins to snow. These windows are in the second floor tenant’s sunroom:
Note the restaurant’s kitchen windows below the sunroom:
Water Systems
Greg Ramseyer, owner of Ramseyer Excavation returned on October 1st to dig a hole on Mill Street for new water connections. Mill Street was shut down for two days while a water connection was brought into the building. A sanitary line was installed and the storm water connection was tied in from the road. There is a catch basin at the rear of the building where all the storm water will drain to.
A large hole was also dug in the lane behind the building for the new water connection. This hole was open for several weeks as The Region had to test the water [due to Walkerton Water Fiasco]. The water, which is the same water that the rest of New Hamburg drinks, passed the tests and the hole was filled in and paved over on November 2.
The exposed hole was a major inconvenience for Dave Bender’s Feed Mill. His truck drivers had to do some major maneuvering to get to the mill. We really appreciated their patience while we waited for the Region’s work to be completed. Thank you so much, Dave.
One interesting thing appeared. The hole in the lane exposed the foundation of a former building. Its bricks, beams and foundation stones were still there and had been paved over many years ago.
Masons
Contract Framers set the large windows on the front of addition and then the masons began their work:
Steve Murray has been on the project since the summer. Steve and his team are truly master brick layers and are very proficient in their work:
There is a great deal of detail on the front of the addition.
Rear of the addition:
Bricking the west staircase began on September 14th.
West staircase bricks completed:
They began work on the decorative panel on the east staircase rear wall:
East staircase wall almost completed:
H.A. Madill Drywall
Shane Madill and his crew began work in September.
Shane
They started on the first floor where they installed two layers of drywall [for fire-proofing] and two layers of insulation on the ceilings. Andrew Trevisan and Rick Long [from New Hamburg] are extraordinary framers. Their strength, skill and speed are a marvel to watch. They are also Protectors of Huron Street. They attempted to stop a young driver in a pick-up truck doing 80 on Huron Street one morning and were almost run over. Andrew and Rick:
Andrew Guse and Steve Gingerich:
They installed metal studs instead of wood:
Nith Valley Construction
Our summer students are back in school – we miss them but we wish them well.
On September 11th, the concrete was poured for the restaurant kitchen and first floor corridors.
Contract Framers installed a wood floor on the tenants’ 3rd floor patio. The floor slopes to the middle where a drain directs the water through the building. Dennis and Bob have been preparing the walls on the 3rd floor tenants’ patio. Diamond-shaped panels will be fastened to the walls and a wood decking to the floor.
Wood decking will complete the surface:
Steel supports were installed for the tenants’ patio railing. Nothing is going to move these supports:
Rick Haffner from New Hamburg has joined the NVC team at The Imperial:
Sign Band
Lyndon from Brody Enterprises painted the sign band in mid-October. The button lights and sign brackets will be installed next. Brody Enterprises will return in the spring to paint the parapet and trim along the top of the building.
Fire Sprinklers
C&H Fire Suppression Systems Inc. roughed in sprinklers throughout the building.
S&H Services
Gary Bender [a.k.a. Hooper the clown] has been wiring the units for Wi-Fi, telephone, and T.V. He doesn’t joke around when he is working but he has some very amusing stories.
Delta Elevator Company
Delta Elevator delivered their rough-in materials on September 22nd. They were here for a few days and installed the platform, door frames and rails.
Durmus Stucco
The west wall of the building needed some drastic repairs. Even though it was sheltered by Mrs. Mahlsted’s building, the bricks had deteriorated more so on this side of the building than any other side. Mrs. Mahlsted graciously allowed us to enter her property to work on the wall. She is a great neighbour and a beautiful woman.
Rather than replacing the bricks, we chose to use EIFS, a fire-rated stucco:
Traditional stucco is a centuries-old material which consists of aggregate, a binder, water and is a hard, dense, thick, non-insulating material. EIFS is a lightweight synthetic wall cladding that includes foam plastic insulation and thin synthetic coatings.
Durmus Stucco arrived on October 7th. What a great group of guys. They applied several layers of EIFS on the west wall. First they applied a layer of fire-rated stucco. Then they trowlled on an air barrier; screwed on insulation fibre board; added mesh and a brown coat; then added fasteners and another brown coat; and finally gave it the colour coat. It now matches the yellow of the restored bricks.
Deniz Kurhan
Baris Kaya
Sam Durmas
Abdullah Durmas
Brewery
Some of the brewery tanks were delivered on October 1st before all the large entrances were closed off.
Retail Suite on Mill Street
This suite has been leased to a company that is already based in New Hamburg. It will open in April of 2016. More details to follow.
Mechanical Room
A channel was dug to bring all the electrical into the mechanical room at the north end of the addition.
The mechanical room is drywalled and taped and is ready for equipment to be installed.
Stained Glass
Do you remember the stained glass windows that adorned the front of Eddly’s? They were removed before we began work on the building so that they would not be damaged.
We stored them and have begun repairing them. They were made around 1908 when the entire building was changed from a Victorian decor to Edwardian. We are removing all the 1908 soldering and replacing the broken glass. More windows have to be made to fit in the transoms around the first floor of the building.
This is a huge job but we want to return the building to its 1908 exterior. It will be several months before the windows are restored and built by Sheri and Aaron.
Instead of installing the stained-glass-windows on the outside of the building again, we have decided to mount them behind the exterior windows to protect them.
This is what the original window looks like after the old soldering was removed:
Security
Have you seen the new security sign on the door? We have overnight guard-dogs on duty at The Imperial. On the first floor is Dexter, a small and malicious Chihuahua who loves to penetrate the skin and muscle of mens’ ankles.
On the second and third floors, a trained-to-maim Rottweiler named Bruno roams the halls, anticipating an intruder. You won’t know Dexter and Bruno are there until you feel their protective fangs tear into your skin. So beware intruders: their bark is not worse than their bite.
Window Display for Doors Open
During the month of September, Doors Open featured The Imperial on their walking tour. Since people are not able to walk through the building while it is a construction site, I affixed photos of the restoration in the windows on Huron Street. It appears that many people are still reading them. I will add a few more things in the coming weeks.
