After a site visit on Tuesday 6th December the work is 98% complete.

All walls on the main building have been finished and crepissaged. The only work remaining is the exterior wall. A column and beam need to be poured for this.

I will visit the site tomorrow at 3pm.

G.

After a site visit on Monday 5th December the work is about 95% complete.

What remains is the exterior crepissage of wall 18 & 19. And some final touches of crepissage on wall 13 & 20.

The exterior break-through of wall 9 into the neighbouring plot is to be started today and finished on Tuesday.

I will re-visit the site at 3pm tomorrow to view the completion of the work.

G.

Hi Pete

Could you get Romulous to dowel in 3 bars into the wall at the corner we discuss today (Wall 18). So from what I inspected today. They need to ad 1 vertical bar. 3 small horizontal bars. And only then can they put up the formwork and finish the corner.

I will speak with Lyonel also - but from experience its best to cover all bases.

Thanks

After a site visit on Monday 28tH the work is about 75% complete.

Ground floor is for the most part 100% complete. Painting is not complete yet but is 75% done.

First floor is about 60% complete. They have finished 5 of 8 walls. They still need to rebuild 2 walls (18 & 19) and they still need to part demolish and rebuild 1 wall (13).

Wall 13 - is to be demolished below the existing window beam only. Anything above the window beam is to be retained. Instructions to the contract has been issued for this. Wall 18 - Pete Connolly is intending to revise the door and window configuration. It is not a structural concern and has been given permission to do so.

So to conclude - the work is 75% complete. On Monday they had been working for 3 full weeks. They look set to be finished for Dec 5th.

G

After a site visit on Monday 21st the work is about 50% complete.

Ground floor is 90% complete. They need to fix some steel, make formwork and pour 2 large columns.

First floor is about 20% complete. They have built 3 of 8 walls. They still need to rebuild 2 walls and they still need to demolish and rebuild 3 walls. They just began crepisaging but for the most part this is imcomplete.

(90% complete is not including painting)

So to conclude - they're 50% complete. On Monday they had been working for 2 full weeks; so at the rate they're working at they should be finished in 2 more weeks - Dec 5th.

G.

Hi -

Is there anyway to continue to use these electrical boxes in the wall? I know that we cannot cut into the block, but does AFH have a procedure? I would like to save at least a few of the boxes and piping in the walls, if possible.

Pete

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Hi Pete

If I understand you correctly - you're going to build a wall here and you wondering can you incorporate the wires and sockets within the wall as it was?

If this is so - this is fine to do. So you can have the wires coming up through the cell of the block and where the socket is to be you can carefully chip out a space. Shouldn't be a problem as long as they chip it out carefully. To compensate can you grout the cells either side of the socket up to where the socket is? So you will have 1st cell grouted, 2nd cell with wires and socket, 3rd cell grouted.

Let me know if this is all ok.

Hi Pete

I got a call from Lyonel saying they are prepaing to pour the beam lintel above 15 & 16 Window. Could you please make sure Romulous doesn't pour this beam. I gave a clear instruction for the steel to be re-done. The ties should be about 95mm wide holding the 2 horizontal pieces apart - this gives us the correct concrete cover of 30mm either side. What I seen today was ties 140mm apart giving about 5mm cover either side.

Thank you.

Gerry,

Could not recall if I should be contacting you first directly, then you Rick and Natalie, so am cc'ing you and her both.
You will want to respond to Pete directly.

I wanted to see how easy it might be to add a door into the second floor dentistry exterior wall, Wall 18.
There was a desire to access the roof of the adjoining one-story storage building.

Refer to elevation 3/A3.3: The desire is to reinstall the large window in this wall, insert a 32" wide X 6'-8" door with a transom (eliminate lintel over door), to the right (nearest column C).

I realize this increases the percentage of openings in the wall, but worth a thought.

Let me know if this is feasible.
The problem is - of course - schedule. This wall is slated for replacement on Monday.

Thanks.

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Hi Pete

I spoke with Rick just now and he said there is no problem. I'm going down today after lunch. Would you like to meet on site and we can discuss the schedule. We can discuss any changes with Lyonel also on site.

Would today 1.15pm suit you?

G.

Pete

We've hit a stumbling block that on the construction. There is a wall upstairs (A3.3 grid line 9G) that has been built without a corner column. I spoke with Rick about how serious this is and have to spoke to Lyonel about what the build up of the wall is. It turns out there is no reinforcements in the corner at all. As such the corner needs to be broken out and a column needs to be poured. I've attached an image of what needs to be broken out.

I will try to get to the bottom of how Lyonel didn't pick this up.

Let me know if you have any problems.

G.

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From Rick-

All...

Well I guess it's only fitting for the structural engineer to clarify a couple things with this funky non-column corner. So, here's my 2 gourdes worth...

1. Let's remember a couple things about columns. First... they are simply vertical structural elements that may or may not be needed to transfer concentrated loads from a level above to a level below. Walls can do the same thing. In Haiti, it's been my experience that columns have typically been put in structures with this purpose in mind. Need more strength? Just add a column. I'd be a rich man if I had 1 gourde for every time I've seen this done or mentioned. Not so all the time.

2. Second, columns can also be used, in the context of seismic engineering, as boundary elements. Usually... boundary elements are located at the ends of shear walls when in-plane flexural stresses in the walls become too high, and a column-type element is needed to resist the axial loads at the ends of the walls. Usually. However, since the MTPTC repair guideline was developed with certain restrictions and was never intended to involve any rigorous structural analysis per se, we don't know what the stress level is in any of the walls. So... columns, as typically defined and used, are not installed in these repairs with the intention of transferring axial loads or serving as boundary elements.

3. However, columns as used in the JP1 repairs, do serve a useful purpose. For the dilemma at hand, they serve as anchor points for the horizontal reinforcing steel in the joints between block courses. Normally, this anchorage would be provided by the vertical rebar in the grouted cell adjacent to an existing wall or column. But... since the contractor demolished both of those walls and there was no column in that corner, we need to create a good solution for that corner. And that solution is to make that corner a "column" and anchor the horizontal joint reinforcing into that column from both directions. Note... this corner can be built up as a reinforced concrete column or a reinforced masonry column. Either way, it still acts as a column... providing an anchor for the horizontal joint reinforcing. My preference... make it reinforced concrete, with (4) #4 econo vertical bars, epoxied into the slab and above into the roof slab, and using 1/4" diameter wire ties at 8 cm on center full height. My reason... that wall is so weak anyway with those 2 big windows in there, that a concrete column will be more durable in performance than the poor block produced in Haiti.

4. A lot of what you referred to Dave is irrelevant in light of the above, and some of the column gridline designations are incorrect I think. So... I won't address your points directly.

I hope the above explanation provides a little insight as to what's really involved with that corner and how it should be fixed. The MTPTC guideline is by no means all inclusive for repairing all situations. We developed that guideline based on what we all saw last year during the assessment phase, and it provides the basics. Engineering judgment is still sometimes needed in cases such as this one.

As always, I welcome anyone to ask more questions if need be. We will be explaining the above points to our outreach guys so they too can learn from this. thanx!!

Rick

Hey Pete.

I'll try to get these down on record as we go. I generally always use mm (milimetre). If you would like me to either switch to cm (centimetre) or ft and inches then please let me know.

1. The column on the ground floor that I inspected this morning and sketched a sketch on the back wall. This column is now 150mm x 150mm. The tie inside is 90mm x 90mm. The vertical bars are #5 and the ties are #2 every 80mm. No footing is needed for this. Just dowel and epoxy in 100mm to ground slab and above stab. Please disregard the dimensions of the sketch I drew this morning.

2. Regarding the curved window top of the existing window we inspected this morning. The lintel (beam above the window) is to be built as per the drawing with 2 bars running horizontal. The part either side of the curved window will be infilled with concrete.

3. The position needing a concrete column we inspected this morning on the first floor. This should be 150mm x (however far it is to the door - estimate 400mm) The cage is 90mm x 340mm in this case.

4. For vertical rebar in all the grouted cells of the block walls these should be either #4 or #5. ......#4 Econo won't be strong enough.

I'll sit down and get a grip of the drawings tonight and will be able to reference them as we go on from here.
From now on I am your main point of contact on this. I'll consult with Natalie and Rick as we go.

Look forward to working with you Pete. Call me anytime.

G.

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Hi Pete

Further to our phone call today - we must use 150mm block for all the walls. I spoke with Rick and the use of 200mm block in some parts of the building and 150mm block in other parts would alter the structural dynamic of the building. Basically it would mean some walls would be stronger than other walls and in an earthquake the forces would be un-evenly dispersed. So in short there is no where on JP1 where we can use 200mm block.

I've CC'd in Eric and will speak to him later so as he understands the situation.

Best of luck with it.