Opus 40 Phase 1 Week 4

Opus 40 Phase 1 Week 4

Rebuilding continues

The Opus 40 restoration returned for week three, again with a crew of 7 wallers.  Building on last weeks experiance, walling continued at a fast pace.  As the wall heights increased staging setups were continually modified so the work could be done at a convenient height.  This weeks crew was: Brian Post, Michael Weitzner, Bryce Hollingsworth, Ben Maron, TJ Mora, Victoria Merriman and Sean Kelly.


The Entrance Ramp Wall

The northeast side of the entrance ramp wall has now transistioned to working on the drainage and top surface.  About 12″ from the top surface an EPDM rubber membrane was laid in to catch all rain and melt water and direct it to a newly installed drain pipe.  This will prevent a large volume of water from entering the understructure of the ramp and reduce further deterioration of the stone as well as outward pressure from freezing water.  As the week progressed several capstones were laid.  TJ Mora and Bryce Hollingsworth led the work with help from Sean, and Seth.  Brian focused on the EPDM installation.

The Amphitheater Wall

About 4 ft of height was built on the amphitheater wall this week.  Stones were lifted to the staging with the Dingo and then moved by hand from there.  Where the new work joins the old, we have built a structure like a cheek end with a saw tooth edge built to tie into the old work.  For now the interviening space is stacked with smaller wall stones.  This way when the next section of wall is rebuilt we wont have to dismantle any of our newly built wall.  The corner continued with carefully shaped large stones.  Michael, Jamie and Ben all focused on this build with Brian continuing the corner.  By the end of the week we started preparing for the EPDM rubber membrane to catch the water above.


The Training Wall

Building a training wall to run workshops and certifications on was an additional goal of the project.  Some additional progress on this wall was made with the help of George Harrar.  More on this next week.