By CHAD COOPER
[email protected]
Southern Gap High School construction superintendent Tim Burge updated the Buchanan County School Board on June 2, reporting steady progress across the new school campus.
Burge said the football field has been fully graded, and crews are expected to begin bringing in turf and starting installation on June 3. In the gymnasium, he said the floor has been laid, and work is set to continue next week with sanding beneath the bleachers before crews install the bleachers and return to finish sanding the rest of the floor.
Inside the building, work is continuing in the A and B sections, which include the cafeteria, main entrance and administration areas, among others, where crews are installing ceiling grid and ceiling tiles and beginning installation of sealed concrete floor-ing in some areas. Burge said sealed concrete has already be-gun in the shop areas, and additional flooring work is expected in the coming weeks.
He also said crews have begun installing exhaust systems for the cosmetology area, a feature he said was new to him. Work is also moving forward in the second-floor casework, which Burge said is nearing completion.
The auditorium remains an active work area, with sound pan-els and metal panels going in, while painting continues throughout parts of the building. Doors began going up in the stair areas in C and D (classroom wings and CTE areas of the building) on June 1, Burge said.
The brick eagle sculpture designed by local artist Johnny Hagerman and CTE students from the Buchanan County Ca-reer, Technology and Higher Learning Center is now complete. Outside the building, crews are cleaning the brick and have poured sidewalks, including about 300 feet of sidewalk along the upper-level visitor-side bleachers. Burge said they are wait-ing for the pavers to come back which he plans to contact them to find out why they are not on site and grass is going to be laid in front of the building to improve the school’s appearance.
Knox school board member Tommy Blankenship asked Burge who would be responsible in the event of a structural failure, such as a wall or floor collapse. Burge said he did not have a specific answer but said the issue would likely go back to the de-sign team. He said the site team took every precaution, includ-ing undercutting four feet below the footers and placing com-pacted stone underneath, along with matting every foot to help stabilize the structure.
Burge said the work now consists of many smaller finishing touches that will make a big difference when completed.
