– Katelyn

Blog Post #8

March 28th, 2013

I was once told that the development industry was a “hurry up and wait” kind of business. Bloom’s building permit process was no doubt my first true introduction to this; a frenzy of stakeholders and industry professionals all working diligently to dot the I’s on the City’s checklist only for the application to be processed in due course, bulldozers idle, for nearly nine months.

Well the time has come at Bloom for yet another period of organized chaos, but this time is definitely different and I will tell you why. After this storm of technical quandary, logistical dilemmas and life-safety scrutiny has passed, the clouds will clear and the wait will finally be over.  Occupancy, also known as move-in day, is set to land at 618 Langside Avenue by the end of this month.

An occupancy permit is the official “go ahead” from the City. It confirms that all life safety issues have been addressed and all code requirements conform to the BC Building Code. Now for those of you who have been by the site recently, occupancy this early in the game might be quite the surprise. Sure, the plumbing in building 1 may not be in place just yet, but let’s talk “Partial Occupancy”. Partial Occupancy as the name implies, will allow certain areas of the development to be inhabited while the remaining units are still under construction. In our case, the purchasers in buildings 3 and 4 will have access to their homes roughly a month before buildings 1 and 2 are complete.  This timing is a major factor for several of our buyers as the B.C. New Home Buyers’ Bonus of $10,000 is set to expire on March 31^st. Many of our buyers are relying on this credit in order to make their purchase at Bloom viable and we do not like to disappoint.

Needless to say, it has been quite hectic at Bloom the past few weeks. The landscapers having been planting the trees right along side the concrete trades who are pouring the sidewalks. We have had city inspectors conducting their parkade tour while the parking stall boundaries are being painted at their feet. We have even held homeowner orientations, a purchaser’s first introduction to their new home, all while the flooring in the suite next door is still being installed.

It has definitely been quite the push but for 17 lucky buyers, the wait is finally over. Partial Occupancy was issued Tuesday afternoon and as I write this, we are working keenly with lawyers and lenders to register the owners on title and complete the transaction.  The entire process, from land purchase to key handover, has been a 3 years commitment and I cannot tell you how rewarding it is to complete my first project and finally be able to say- Welcome Home. 

For the past year, we have been relying on provisional utilities to run the daily operations of the construction site. Up until recently, this has been more than sufficient to cover all the necessary bases including providing power for tools, lighting, heat and storm pumps. But with the recent completion of our show homes and 7 more completions set for early next week, the amount of electricity required to power the site is definitely on the rise.

Enter BC Hydro. They were on-site last Friday and brought with them a massive spool of wire. This wire was pulled through Bloom’s transformer via a rope that was placed within the conduit during construction. Measuring 225 linear feet, this wire was then fed to the primary electrical room in the parkade and will ultimately allow us to link into BC Hydro’s main feed. From the electrical room, the electricity will flow to each home’s hydro meter, through a conduit and into the outlets, baseboards and lights in the homes at Bloom.  Permanent power has arrived at Bloom, right in time for the holidays!

                                                                                    – Katelyn

Blog Post #7

October 12th, 2012

I am very pleased to announce that tomorrow is the big day! We have been waiting over two years for the launch of our show homes and I am extremely excited to see the final product. In fact, I am so thrilled that everything is finally coming together that I have decided to setup shop and write this blog from within one of the units itself. As I type, trades of all types are busy at work making the final touches and although somewhat stressful (and crowded) it is great to see everyone working towards a common goal.

Looking out the window, Breslay Street is definitely a busy place. Where missing, vinyl siding and Hardi Panel is being installed and the painters are applying their final coat. The gutters are going on and the main site signage is going up.

The masons are hard at work, laying the brick columns that will eventually frame the property line. These are definitely one of my favourite exterior features and will tie everything together beautifully once the picket fence is in place.

Sod and landscaping is going in as is Breslay Street- yes the street itself.  The top layer of the existing asphalt was removed a few days ago by an asphalt grinder and the fresh asphalt is currently being applied and compacted.

There are literally people everywhere and it is a zoo, to say the least. The floors and cabinets are now in place and the hardware is being installed.  The bathrooms are looking especially nice now that the accent tile and 10mm glass shower enclosures have been mounted. The backsplash is looking stylish above the white quartz

countertops and the electrician is running around installing everything from phone lines to fancy chandeliers. The stagers are on-site and have brought with them several truckloads of beautiful furniture, trendy fabrics and fun accessories.  It is neat to see how they play with the furnishings, patterns and colours to create a cosy and inviting atmosphere.  The transformation that has taken place since my last blog is absolutely astonishing and my amateur blogging skills cannot possibly do it justice.

Below are a few photos of the final product, a sneak peak if you will. But if you are looking for a new place to call home or if ‘open-housing’ is your idea of a great day, make sure you stop by tomorrow and see firsthand what Bloom has to offer. We will have two fully furnished show homes, a ton of helpful sales staff and even a tasty treat (or two)! You will not be disappointed.

Bloom’s Grand Opening is located on-site at 618 Langside Avenue in Coquitlam, B.C. Show homes will be open from Noon until 5 p.m. See you there!

Located at 618 Langside Avenue in Coquitlam. For directions, please click here.

Please RSVP to 604.939.8808

                                                                                    – Katelyn

Blog Post #6

September 14th, 2012

My last blog trailed off right around the roofing stage. Since then, the roof trusses for our show homes have been hoisted and installed, the sheathing mounted and all shingles applied.  It is definitely starting to look really, really good now- but we all know that looks aren’t everything.

In order to ensure that the quality of the work is as reliable as it is alluring, roofing inspections were conducted periodically to guarantee that all proper procedures were being followed. Among other things, this type of inspection looks for flaws like exposed nails or loose air vents, both of which could cause leakage and envelope related issues. It is nice to see first hand these types of procedures are in place and are strictly enforced.

When you live in a wet coastal climate like we do, it is very important to ensure that moisture is not getting into the walls of our buildings.  Over the last 20 years in BC, we have developed quite an expertise in this field and every project built now has a professional whose sole responsibility is to ensure that water does not enter our buildings (or if it does, that it exits the building without causing any damage).  Our Envelope Consultant pays particularly close attention to the installation of the windows.   Any time there is a penetration through a wall, there is potential for water to enter the building.  To make sure this doesn’t happen around the windows, we start by wrapping the opening with a 6 millimetre thick polyethylene air/vapour barrier.  We then wrap the vapour barrier with a waterproof membrane known as Tyvek to prevent water penetration. This synthetic material is cut out around all windows and doors and then securely taped at the seams.  Its job is to prevent water from sneaking through cracks between the windows and sheathing, which could result in the creation of mould and wood rot. Once in place, the window are slid in and secured. A water penetration test, involving the creation of a low pressure environment within the unit, is then conducted to ensure that no water intrusion is possible.

Another area that is on her radar is the concrete foundation. Concrete is a porous material, and as such must be waterproofed properly. A bitumen waterproofing membrane called Sopralene Flam 180 is applied by heat welding or torch-on techniques to ensure that no water can get through. It is a flexible material that comes on a roll and is basically melted onto the concrete. Pretty cool to watch but somewhat risky to apply- wood frame buildings have been known to go up in flames so it is extremely important to carefully administer the torch  and ensure that a fire extinguisher is always within reach. More to come on building envelopes…

Just around the corner from where all this window action is taking place, voiding is being installed. Voiding you ask? Don’t worry, I had never heard of it either. But if for some reason one day you find yourself digging a hole and come across copious amounts of Styrofoam, you’ll know what I am talking about. At Bloom, over 10,500 cubic feet of the stuff has been placed in the ground along Breslay Street. Also known as Geofoam, this material is 50 times lighter than other typical fills (like dirt or concrete) and is impermeable to water.

Due to the 28ft slope of the site, we had to dig down significantly deeper near Breslay in order to create a somewhat flat parkade.  This resulted in a very large hole that needed to be filled in order for a homeowner to be able to walk into their abode from the street level. Concrete and dirt were two possible options however in order to eliminate any unnecessary weight that would be forced upon the parkade (as well as to mitigate the possibility of erosion) our geotechnical engineer recommended Geofoam. Of course this would not be structurally possible if the building had to be supported by the foam, but in this case the only pressure that it must withstand is the 2.5 feet of dirt and landscaping that will eventually rest upon it. No problem there!

While all of this was taking place outside, our plumbers and electricians were hard at work inside. Plumbing, sprinklers and water lines had already been installed by the time I reached the show homes and the electrical team was onsite installing everything from telephone and TV jacks to lights switches and outlets.

Bathroom fans were now hanging from the ceiling joists (and linked to those air vents that I mentioned earlier) and bathtubs filled with water were in place and undergoing leakage testing. Even the 1.5 inches of light weight concrete, intended to mitigate sound transfer between floors, had been poured and was now setting.

One thing that really caught my eye was the seismic metal rods that had been mounted within the walls of each suite. These rods, a type of self-adjusting tie-rod system, are designed to resist uplift forces, increase lateral stability and help ensure that all building components remain intact in the event of high winds or an earthquake.

This is the first time that our construction management team had ever seen this type of system recommended for a low-rise building like ours, as typically they are installed in buildings over 4 storeys. No complaints here though, the safer the better!

                                                                                    – Katelyn

Blog Post #5

August 13th, 2012

If one were to saunter by the site these days, you might be impressed by just how much is going on.  On an average day, up to 30 workers including formers, framers, plumbers and electricians are on site doing their thing and the fruits of their labour are really starting to show. Since pouring the suspended slab near Breslay Street, the crew has made their way west and successfully managed to complete the entire suspended slab.

This was a similar process to that which was described in my previous blog, except it involved an additional 22 hours of work, 1050 cubic metres of concrete, 160 tons of rebar and over 10 kilometres of conduit. Every time I head out to the site for a visit, I am always impressed by just how big of a project this actually is! Let me tell you, it is a real monstrosity when you’re right in the middle of things…

While the formwork above was being completed, our framers were getting started on the building along Breslay Street. As you might recall, this building will eventually be home to our two show suites; furnished models of actual homes that give potential buyers a better idea of what they can expect regarding everything from the quality of finishes to the layout of the home itself.  Our goal is to have them completed by the end of September and to help us achieve this date, we had to get creative. Due to the limited amount of space on the Bloom site (remember our parkade basically spans property line to property line) and in order to save a bit of time, we decided to hire a company to pre-fab our wall panels.

This involved our framer sending his drawings to the contracted company who then began to build the walls for our project at an offsite location. This essentially allowed them to get started sooner as they did not have to wait for the formwork to be completed. Additionally, it ensured that they could maintain their work pace as they had ample storage room and did not have to worry about where to stockpile the completed panels.  The third benefit that we derived from this spurt of ingenuity was that we also managed to save a few dollars (and trees) as these types of companies minimize waste and endeavour to make use of most end-cuts.

The photo above is a perfect example of this, whereby a wall stud is comprised of two separate two by fours held together by a finger joint. I noticed this clever technique in various panels throughout the site and it is a great way to make use leftover pieces of wood. Now I know some of you might be worried about the strength of these, however there is no need to fret. Finger joints are as strong if not stronger than a standard stud, so structurally, they are considered very reliable.

Once delivered, the wall panels go up pretty quickly.  The outside walls are already sheathed, meaning that the casing of the exterior wall was previously installed and so all that is really left to do is erect the walls, ensure that they are level and install the flooring.

A truss joist is the structural element within the floor of a home and at Bloom we are using TJI Trus Joists. These are engineered I-shaped beams that are light weight and stronger than regular wood.  The dimensional stability of these joists is a key feature of this product and helps them resist twisting, warping and shrinking; all of which could lead to squeaky floors. On average it takes about 6 guys, two weeks to complete an entire level and as of today all three floors of this building have been finalized. In fact last time I passed by, the roof trusses were just going on and that is a pretty exciting milestone because it means that the only thing that is really left between us and the interior development of these homes are the  windows and doors!

                                                                                    – Katelyn

Blog Post #4

June 28th, 2012

To say that it has been a struggle would be an understatement, but our hard work and patience has finally paid off. On June 1^st, nearly nine months after our initial application, the building permit for Bloom was issued. The permit itself is nothing impressive, just an ordinary 8-½” by 11” that could easily be mistaken for… well, pretty much anything.  But with this paper in hand, boy oh boy is the sky the limit… literally.

The slab on grade has been poured and the concrete set.  The next step is for the boys to erect the scaffolding, which will support the moulds for the suspended slab.  Two by eights are placed on the slab to mitigate any damage to the parkade floor and the scaffolding is then setup on top. A steel I-Beam lines the top of the scaffolding, the final piece before the moulds are placed.

Similar to the wall moulds, heavy duty six by eights are set perpendicular to the I-Beam and sheets of plywood are then secured to complete the base of the mould. Rebar, of varying width, length and shape is then placed in accordance with the structural engineer’s drawings. This task is both intricate and exhausting, especially at Bloom.

Due to the complexity of our site, primarily the 28 foot slope that I pointed out to you in my second post, this slab is complicated.  There are steps up, steps downs and slab bands all over the place and while a typical slab is roughly 2 feet deep, certain areas of this slab will be 48 inches thick. This involves a complex form setup and requires a lot of heavy steel and lifting.

Once the base of the moulds are placed and the rebar setup is underway, the plumber can begin his work and does so by cutting holes in the moulds. These holes are then plugged with cylindrical cans that ultimately represent the locations of the mechanical pipes; The black represent future drains and the red are sleeves for sanitary lines.

While this is taking place, our electrical team is weaving their conduits through the rebar and running them to wherever is necessary to provide the owners of Bloom with power; The orange conduits that you see will hold all cable and telephone wires, while the grey conduit will hold the power supply itself.  Once these are in place, the steel guys have to place the top steel to complete the task and then we are ready for concrete.

This pour required 585 cubic metres of concrete. It was an enormous amount for a single pour and required 57 delivery trucks and took 12 hours to complete. Talk about a long day! Two Trailer-Mounted Boom Concrete Pumps, using remote controls to direct the robotic arm (also known as the boom), were used to pour the concrete into the moulds.

While this was taking place, a Needle Vibrator was inserted into the concrete to ensure that every nook and cranny was reached and the chances of air bubbles minimized. A variety of finishing tools are then used to smooth out the surface of the slab at which point it is  left to set.

I have to say that it was absolutely amazing to see this transformation. What an interesting experience! It’s really starting to feel like we are accomplishing something now.

What about the underground stream?

Curious about how we ended up handling that 80 gallon/minute stream that we found when we began excavation?  As planned, we used the slope of the site to free flow the water from Breslay Street down into the storm sewer near the park. Pretty neat eh?