Working in a rice paddy

Contractor slogs through site to build new Jennings school

By Sam Barnes

A contractor slogged through a rain-soaked 40-acre site last spring to raise a new high school building pad out of an abandoned rice field.

With a little ingenuity and a lot of soil replacement, Bessette Development Corp. of Lake Charles successfully accomplished the task. The pad now sits about 2.5 ft. above the surrounding cropland.

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"We essentially took off about 2.5 ft. and came back with 5 ft. of new soil," said Bessette Vice President Sam Cavys. A scarifier machine mixed stabilizing lime into the soil to stabilize the pad.

Once complete in late 2004, the $24 million Jennings High School complex will include about 255,000 sq. ft. of buildings, a gymnasium and football, baseball and softball fields.

"You won't be able to fit another building on the site when we're through," Cavys added. "We're using up all of the space."

Bessette, with the assistance of Live Oak Earthworks LLC of New Iberia, initially stripped the soil from the site.

"We de-grassed and excavated the site with bulldozers, put the dirt into rows and dried it for hauling," said jobsite superintendent Brent Ardoin.

More than 20,000 cu. yds. of material was excavated, with about 15,000 cu. yds. stockpiled onsite for use as topsoil. Port Aggregates of Jennings supplied an additional 25,000 cu. yds of new select fill.

All of the fill meets 14 percent soil moisture and 92 percent compaction requirements, as specified by the project engineer.

Due to the site's unstable soil, about 780 drilled shafts ranging from 18- to 48-in. diameter are being drilled by Foundation Drill Shafts Inc. of Sulphur as additional support for the buildings. The shafts range from 17 to 27 ft. deep.

"All the shafts that exceed 18 ft. deep are being cased to prevent groundwater seepage," Ardoin added. The contractor is drilling a hole 1.5-in. diameter larger than the shaft, placing the steel casing, then drilling through the casing to the desired depth.

"The casing helped keep the sides of the hole from collapsing during the drilling operation," Ardoin said. "It all went smoothly." The shallower shafts did not need to be cased.

Louisiana Testing & Inspection of Lafayette performed extensive boring of the soil during the preliminary site work, "so we knew what to expect out here," he added.

After the drilling operation, reinforcing steel was placed into each shaft and concrete was pumped into the hole. About 1,800 cu. yds. of 3,500 psi concrete were placed into the shafts, all supplied by Angelle Concrete of Sulphur.

The shafts were clustered throughout the school complex to support structural steel load points, typically three shafts per pile cap.

"The larger, 48-in.-diameter shafts were needed in the gymnasium area as support for its large steel columns and trusses," Ardoin said. The gymnasium will reach about 31 ft. at its highest point and will have a roof supported by 109-ft.-long girder trusses. The remainder of the gym will be built with concrete block and brick masonry.

The pile caps and floor slabs for the school complex will require approximately 9,000 cu. yds. of concrete, much of which contains super plasticizer to provide more slump.

"You can take a 3-in. slump concrete, add the 'Super P' and get 8 in.," Ardoin said. "It gives us more time to work with the concrete when pumping the slab on grade."

The 4-in.-thick structural slabs will be reinforced with mesh and placed on top of 4 in. of gravel and a 10-mil polyvinyl vapor barrier to provide additional fortification against soil instability.

The erection of about 500 tons of structural steel began in September and will be followed by concrete block and brick and then interior drywall partitions. The steel frame will allow the buildings to meet heavy wind-load requirements, and should be completed this month "if the weather holds."

Albert K. Newlin Inc. of Lake Charles is performing both electrical and mechanical installations at the site.

"There's three science labs in the building, so there's a lot of piping to support that," Ardoin said. "The HVAC system consists of a simple residential system with nearly 100 units."

The interior of the building will consist predominantly of drywall and concrete block.

Wayne Corne of designer Corne-LeMaire Group of Lafayette said the finished school complex will include 39 classrooms and some interesting design elements in the school's entranceway. The roof of the building will consist of some metal and some built-up. All of the buildings are tied together by covered walkways.

Other work calls for the construction of 200,000 sq. ft. of exterior asphalt parking.

"We expect to have about 200 working out here at peak next spring, when most of the subcontractors will be in full gear," Bessette's Cavys said.

Despite some weather delays in June and July - nearly 30 in. of rain fell - Cavys expects to finish the project on schedule.

Resource info:
For more information about drilled foundation construction, go to:
http://www.adsc-iafd.com/

For more information about the progress of the high school project, go to: http://webserver.jeffersondavis.org/