Things have been so busy at Summer Street we have hardly had a second to catch our breath and update everyone!  Here’s the latest;  please excuse the bullets!

• Our great new entry porch has been framed;  and alumni and current parents will be putting down decking later this month at the Alumni Work Day organized by Jeff Levine.
• All our new windows have arrived, and the majority have been installed by parents over the past two work weekends.  There are just a few windows up high that we’ve left for a contractor to put in.
• The entire building will be receiving brand new Hardiplank siding and window &door trim beginning in a few weeks’ time.  We will be saving the historic “gingerbread” at the roof line, but everything else will be new, clean, and spiffy!
• The rough work for the plumbing, electrical system, fire protection, and heat are all expected to be complete in the next two weeks, with inspections from the City of Somerville for each.  These trades have been working continuously for the past month or so.
• Constantin von Wentzel has energetically installed all the building’s tel/data wiring (internet, etc) for us as a volunteer, and Ben Mayer has gotten the electrician to agree to install electrical service now for future solar panels free of charge.  We hope that the installation a solar array on the roof will be one of the first capital improvements made to the building after we move in.
• After city inspections, next will come the insulation and drywall.  We hope to have these things done by the July 10/11 work weekend – which will shape up to be a massive painting party!

If you haven’t had a chance to walk through the building since the winter or spring, you should really make the time to at least stop by and peek your head in – either during a work weekend or even a weekday when there are contractors on-site.  Everything will begin to be buttoned up in the next few weeks, and before you know it those of us who have lovingly spent so much time massaging its innards will hardly recognize it!

Cheers,

Josh

• All interior walls have been framed out, so we can all now experience the true shape of the place.
• The plumbers have begun building out our entirely new system from 3rd floor to basement.
• The final sprinkler, lighting, heating, insulation, and siding specifications have been sent out to bid.

As for our parent work this weekend, its time to replace the windows.  The shipment of over 40 windows will be on site come Saturday morning, and we’ll have them all in by Sunday evening.

Additional project samples for this weekend:

• Floor patching.
• Finishing some light framing.
• Wall padding in preparation for sheet rock.
• Plenty of cleaning throughout.
• Some yard work.

Sign Up
There are work slots remaining, so please sign up.  Particularly if you have not had the chance to sign up for your full compliment of shifts – we would love to see every family participate as much as possible.  The sign up sheet at school might not reflect last minute changes, so if there are no free slots please feel free to write your shift in the margin: more are always welcome!  If you have questions ask Stephanie Hirsch, who is organizing sign up.

When to arrive
Pros and Workers should be on-site at the new building at 9am for AM shift, 1pm for PM shift.
Helpers should be at the current building at 8:45am and 12:45pm respectively.

What to bring
Pros and Workers: we need plenty of cordless screw guns for this project, so bring one along with a fully charged battery.  Helpers: dress comfortably for childcare and errand-running.

Are you taking advantage of childcare?  We need to know.
Email Shona Simkin, childcare coordinator, by Wednesday 5/12 with: a) your work time slots, b) number of children, and c) age of children.  If you have a child outside Agassiz school-age range (2-5), you must contact Shona to see how this can be accommodated.  We will have snacks for the kids, but please pack them a lunch as you would on a standard Agassiz day.

For Fun
On Saturday, we are panning a short end-of-workday hang-out with pizza and beer at the current Cambridge Agassiz building for folks who want to relax after the dust settles.

Coming Up
As the pace of the work quickens, we anticipate adding an additional weekend or two for specific projects come June and July.  For instance, there is considerable interest in our outdoor space and we anticipate having a specific landscaping weekend.  Dust off your shovels – there will be lots of dirt to move!

Any questions can go to Ben Mayer, or if specific to
Sign up, contact Stephanie Hirsch at shirsch@sprynet.com
Childcare, contact Shona Simkin at shona.simkin@gmail.com

Work has continued over the last couple weeks at Summer Street.  Our new roof is on and 95% of the interior framing is done.  The plumbers have been in the building for over a week and excavation for new water lines will begin this coming Monday.  Our final fire protection, lighting, heating, insulation, and siding drawings/specifications have been assembled and these items are all out to bid.  Generally speaking, the proposals coming back to us are on budget – some higher, some lower.
Many of our parent volunteers did a great job giving the yard a big clean-up two weeks ago, while our parent “pros” earned their titles by doing some fantastic framing work themselves in the kitchen and third floor staff area.  The May work weekend will be a “window party,” where we install all 40-odd new windows on-site.  Look for an email from Ben and Joel some time in the next two weeks!

Our next board meeting is happening this coming Monday, and we’ll be talking about the construction progress.  Feel free to join us at 7:00pm at the church.

Cheers,

Josh

Well, with good weather comes good news at Summer Street.  The roofers have waited out the New England monsoon season and are finally installing our new roof this week.  All the old shingles are off and the new ones are going on as we speak.  The framers have finished about 95% of the interior partitions, and final drawings for electrical, plumbing, heating, fire protection, and lighting are being finalized this week so that these trades can be bid and the work can begin.  Our window order has been finalized and placed, and we expect the windows to arrive in time for our installation party at the May work weekend.  Insulation has been selected and fire protection designs are in place.  In short, things are cooking!

Outside, our contractor is getting bids for re-siding the entire building, and we’ve recently received a pledge of some pro bono landscape design services from a colleague.  We are commissioning soil testing and have a meeting scheduled with our licensor on the 14th of April to discuss strategies for establishing a suitable play yard for this fall.  This coming work weekend will include a big spring clean-up in the yard, so everyone should pack their sunscreen.

Enjoy the change in the weather, and drive by the building the next time your travels take you through Spring Hill.  The progress is exciting to see!

Best,

Josh

Last week was a particularly busy week on the site, as the framing crew worked six days to get the vast majority of the framing done. The new stair is finished, the interior partitions are 90% done, and all new openings for windows and doors have been cut.  At the work weekend earlier this month, parent volunteers prepped all the existing window openings to receive new windows, which have been ordered and will arrive on-site toward the end of April.  On Monday this week, I walked through the building with the architect and builder in order to review the progress and to discuss the next round of work.

When the rain stops (and we do still believe it’s a when, and not an if !), work will begin again – first order of business being a brand new roof over the entire building.  Our contractor expects this to begin on Thursday and to be completed by the middle of next week.  We will be getting in final bids for insulation, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and heat in the next two weeks and these trades will begin ASAP.  Our contractor is putting together a rough construction schedule for the spring as I write this, and it will be refined as these bids come in.

The bank recently toured the building and they were pleased with the space, though they encouraged us to keep moving!  Tracey and I are scheduled to tour the building with our licensor in two weeks as well – though she has already been to the building once and absolutely loved it.  Framing inspections from the city should happen soon as well.

The next work weekend is scheduled for April 10/11 so dust off your boots!  We look forward to seeing you all there….

Cheers,

Josh

Have you ever ripped shingles off the wall of a building?

I hadn’t either, but that’s part of what I got to do on the February work weekend at Agassiz’s new building. More than 20 parents spent the day at the building taking walls down, patching floorboards, cleaning out the basement, and pulling out nails from boards that could be salvaged for re-use. I also had the privilege of using a big shop vac to vacuum up lots of debris, which was very satisfying .

At the end of the day, my muscles were sore and my clothes were dirty. But I felt closer to the other sweaty, happy folks I had been working with, and I know our effort will be worth it when I see the look on my son’s face when he sees his new school building this Fall.

Wonderful new facilities and communities are coming to life from the hard work-physical, administrative, educational, philanthropic-of all the members of the extended Agassiz family.

Feel free to keep up to date with how we are doing by checking out our website and Facebook page. As always, thanks for all you do to help create this new building for our children.

My apologies for the long delay since the last post!  The month of February saw the return to action at Summer Street, as the last building code questions were answered and our general contractor began building the new stair and entry at the west end of the building – the last piece of the new construction to be added to the building’s size and shape.  We had an incredibly successful work weekend in February as well, and we are looking forward to another one next weekend.

Next steps for the contractor include finishing the framing of the new stair and entry, building the final few partition walls on the interior, and installing a new roof.  After that will come the individual trades – electrical, heat, plumbing, fire protection, insulation, etc.  Meanwhile, our parent crews will be working at the March and April work weekends to prep and install all new windows and doors, as well as continuing to work on interior finishes – floors, primarily.  Once mud season is past, we will turn some of our attention to the yard as well.

Anyone who still has not been through the new building should definitely stop in this coming weekend – even if you are not signed up with one of the work crews!  We’ll be there 9-5 Saturday and Sunday….

Cheers,

Josh

It’s been a quiet couple weeks on the job site, but behind the scenes there has been plenty of activity.

Last week, the Massachusetts State Plumbing Board and Elevator Board finally approved variance requests that we had made earlier in this winter.  These variances were mainly procedural, necessitated by specific conditions in our old building, but they have now paved the way for new work to begin:  ordering and installing the lift, finalizing plumbing bids, etc.

Meanwhile, I have been working daily with our architect, our builder, and the city’s office of Inspectional Services to revise and finalize a strategy for the construction of the new fire stair adjacent to the driveway.  These revisions were necessitated by unexpected conditions at the existing, 150-year-old fieldstone foundation that we discovered during excavation for the new foundation.  Since the questions involve the building code and life safety, we wanted to make sure we got it right!  The final plans have been reviewed once with Inspectional Services, and we expect that the head building inspector assigned to the project will be signing off on them this morning.  After that, framing can begin again for the rest of the exterior, and activity will pick up again at the site.

Meanwhile, a newly-energized Building Committee is holding a meeting this Saturday at 9:30 at the site, to figure out just how we are going to put you all to work!  We have a tentative schedule for spring and summer work weekends, which will be finalized and distributed after the meeting.

As usual, feel free to email with any questions or bright ideas….

Cheers,

Josh

Thanks to the few of you who turned up on short notice [again] for another work day on Saturday.  We got a lot of good work done in advance of an important meeting with the building inspector set for this Thursday.  The architect, builder, and city are sorting out a few final questions regarding the building code, after which framing will begin again for the new stair at the driveway end of the building.

In the meantime, Joel Bennett, Seth Riskin, and Jeff Levine are working together to put together a survey to try to understand the availability and skill level of all our families for volunteer work on the building.  As soon as the building is closed to the weather (which should be some time in early February), we will be able to set up a permanent shop and regular schedule of work days.  Look out for this in your inbox soon!

Cheers,

JS

Work at Summer Street slowed a bit over the holidays and while the architect, builder, and I try to sort out some building code questions related to the new fire stair.  However, the foundations are now all poured and backfilled, and the interior of the building is ready for some parent work crews.

Joel Bennett and I will be hosting another work day this Saturday, Jan. 16th, from 9:00 to 2:00. The weather report is calling for temperatures in the mid-40s, so it will be a good day to work in an unheated building.  There will be a new dumpster on site and a lot of construction/demolition debris to haul out, plus some additional selective demolition and patching & repairs to the floors.  The last two work days in 2009 were not particularly well attended, so we’re crossing our fingers that some of you who thought you might make it but didn’t will have a few hours to spare on Saturday.  It would be great to know ahead of time who is coming, but feel free to show up unannounced – particularly if you’re bringing coffee!!

See you [I hope] Saturday….

JS