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Sea wall protecting maine sea coast mission built 'strong to the land - Stainless Steel Flat Bars M by dedwf wefweg
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Sea wall protecting maine sea coast mission built 'strong to the land - Stainless Steel Flat Bars M by DEDWF WEFWEG
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| Article Posted: 09/22/2013 |
| Article Views: 72 |
| Articles Written: 1942 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
| Word Count: 1417 |
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Sea wall protecting maine sea coast mission built 'strong to the land - Stainless Steel Flat Bars M |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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A 4-foot-thick sea wall that since 1905has protected a 6-acre lot and a brick Bar Harbor cottage from theocean has undergone reconstruction that is expected to make it lastanother 100 years. Time, weather and a relentless surf breached a 20-foot section ofthe old 120-foot wall, eroding stones and soil into Frenchman Bay. Crews working to rebuild the wall this winter and spring battledthe same elements, with one high tide in March peaking at about 12feet and washing away two days worth of labor. I d have to say that the wind and that cold blowing spray offthe water that comes with the tide is the most unusual aspect ofthis job, said Scott Morrison, an equipment operator with JohnGoodwin Jr. Construction of Southwest Harbor, which was hired tobuild the new sea wall.
During the shorter days and high tides of February, there often was2 feet of water pressing against the old sea wall at peak tide.Many days the crew had to find other things to do during high tidebefore chasing the receding waters out to continue dismantling theold wall. The work only became more difficult in March, when the tidesincreased in height by an average of 3 feet. Tides became such anproblem that most crew members tracked the height and time of tideswith their smartphones. Working around the tide is a pretty big issue, said JohnGoodwin, the project s field boss. We ll work up on the highground when it s high tide, and down on the beach when it s lowtide.
It all works out, but it s not as organized as I wouldlike. Still, when the project is completed in another three weeks, thenonprofit Maine Sea Coast Mission, which has owned the property forthe last four decades, expects the new barrier will last another100 years and more. Another challenge for workers came from what the tides havedeposited since the last ice age: the mud flat. The stonemasons of1905 built the wall at the base of the 30-foot bank it wasprotecting.
Unfortunately, the ends of the 120-foot wall sat onbedrock but the middle was suspended on claylike mud. Over time themiddle sank, causing the ends to crumble while the ocean wavespulled loose bank and stones slowly out to sea. If you pile up rocks in there it ll hold up for a little while,but eventually the bottom will sag like a rope because the bottomis on the flats, said Greg Johnston, the civil engineer whodesigned the new wall. To prevent that from happening, we drovecaissons [steel pilings] 10 feet through the mud and then 10 feetfurther into bedrock. Then we poured a grade beam [foundation] toactually form a solid base for the wall to be built on.
The six stainless steel caissons drilled down into the ledge becamea challenge themselves. It took four hours just to get a drillingrig from the street, down the 30-foot bank, to the beach. Thedelicate marine shell life on and under the flat had to beinsulated from the big steel tracks of the rig. Six 10-by-12-footblasting mats -- rubber tires tied together with steel cables-- were brought down to protect the beach ecosystem.
Theblasting mats constantly had to be repositioned to accommodate allof the earth-moving equipment, which included a 35-metric-tonexcavator, four 15-ton excavators, five 20-ton dump trucks, onetrack hoe and a vibrating roller. Getting the equipment to the flat without hurting beach organismswasn t the only accessibility challenge. The 608 granite blocks,each about 2 feet by 3 feet, that made up the old wall had to beplucked and brought to the top to be cleaned. After the grade beamwas laid, they had to be hoisted back down to be set into the newwall. To accomplish this, half the entire bank slope was removed,forming an incline access road.
Goodwin brought in a 35-metric-tonexcavator that crawled back and forth on this road, its 30-footjointed arm moving material where it needed to go. Setting the blocks into their correct position on the grade beam,however, would not be enough to hold the wall for another century.Johnston and Goodwin worked with stonemasons from a Stoningtonquarry to learn how to work with the granite and pin the blocks tothe foundation and each other. We drill through the rock that we ve set on top of the ledge andthen further down through into the ledge, Goodwin said. Then,we put nonshrink grout all the way down through both.
Next we setthe No. 10 galvanized rebar pin into the stone we ve set andcontinue it down through into the bedrock. If it s on the gradebeam we drill down through into the concrete grade beam and do thesame thing. Part of the special assembly involved pinning the first two coursesof granite blocks.
After learning the process, the crews decided topin every stone at least twice. When finished, the wall contained1,800 feet of galvanized rebar that secured the grade beam andstone. Strength is important, according to Johnston, because the wallneeded to be built to withstand the terrific forces exerted againstit from both sides -- the pounding surf on one and the steepslope pushing against the granite stones from the other. Johnston had no doubts about the design of his wall lasting morethan 100 years, however. It ll be strong to the land and strong to the sea, he said.
The new wall also was set in place without using mortar. Using pinsand no mortar allows all of the cracks between the granite blocksto weep water in both directions, relieving some of the pressure onthe wall. Some drainage was built into the embankment behind the wall toredirect some rainfall around the wall. Also, black plastic weeppipes were set into the concrete allowing some rainwater to weepthrough the wall and onto the beach.
To prevent spring tides from reaching through these cracks into theslope and washing it out, a 2-by-2-foot concrete curb was poured ontop of the slope side of the grade beam the entire length of thewall. The need to make the wall weep presented the last big challenge.Every stone in the original wall had been cemented in place withmortar. The original stones used for reassembly were covered withnatural irregular bumps and imperfections that needed to beaddressed before they could be used on the new wall. We numbered every stone before we took them out and [put] themback as close as we [could] to that pattern, Goodwin said.
After letting them dry and removing the original mortar, they[didn t] fit the same. The entire crew worked for four weeks alongside accomplishedstonemasons to remove the bumps and fit the stones. Morrison said the workers had to learn to use torches and chiselsto manipulate and reshape the granite blocks to make them fittighter than the original. The masons showed the construction workers how to read the rock by looking for grains in the stone, like a tree, to get clean cuts. In the end, according to Goodwin, not every stone was put back exactly where it was before, but it s close, which is a greataccomplishment.
It took weeks of skilled labor and dozens of dump trucks ofmaterial to complete the sea wall before the end of April. Crewscontinue to work behind the wall on the slope and expect the entireproject to be done on schedule. Maine Sea Coast Mission President the Rev. Scott Planting said aspecial restricted fund was established by the building donors in2003 to help pay for the roughly $360,000 sea wall rebuildingproject.
No Mission program funds are being used. The old wall was constructed in 1905, the same year that thenonprofit Maine Sea Coast Mission was founded. The mission provides nondenominational religious andsocial outreach to island and coastal community residentsthroughout Hancock and Washington counties. The Mission s outreach presently touches the lives of 25,000Mainers on both sides of the sea wall -- the most in itshistory. Both the Mission and its sea wall, as Goodwin put it, continue tobe strong to the land and strong to the sea.
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