Hospital Time

As Saint Mary's continued to grow, the projects became larger and more technical. But always interesting and the best part was the fact that it wasn't downtown among the gamblers! After doing a couple of years of casino work, it was great to be away from that atmosphere.

Finally it was decided that Saint Mary's needed a whole new addition; one that would easily double the size of the current hospital. And we had plenty to do in the old hospital while they dug the dug the basement level and then poured the walls. Shortly after that they began putting steel in place and that was when we began to set up for the fireproofing. But first we had to drop all of the hanger wires through the steel deck. These would be needed for the future ceilings. This wasn't my favorite job; using a 4' long and very heavy steel deck punch, you would punch holes in the deck in a 3'x4' grid pattern. And it had to be a grid that reflected the architects plans for the floor below you. Bam! Bam! Bam! All day long, or until your arms tired, Then it was time to thread the long hanger wires through the holes you had made & tie them to a piece of rebar.

With all of the hangers in place and concrete poured onto the deck, the fireproofers began to spray the beams and columns. A wet and dirty job. It wasn't going to be very tall, just 5 floors and a helipad on the roof. Fireproofing would be done in a month.

And it was decided by those in charge, that I should have a trailer/office to run my portion of the work from. Good! Except they found a cheap substitute for a real construction trailer, one that been knocking around jobs for the past 20 or 30 years and it showed. Well, I fixed it up the best I could and settled in for the long haul. About a year. No, make that 2.