An update on the basketball court, planting trees during neckdown, and pouring the first section of the walking trail.
Where we left off
Last year we prepped for the holidays by installing the basketball court at the park. You can read about how we prepared the formwork and installed the hoop posts in our last blog. Since then, we’ve applied a burlap finish to the court and cut all the control joints. A design is also in the works for a graphic painting on the court surface—something playful, colorful!
An overview of the order of—PEMDAS
Our project site is 2.5 acres, and we are touching almost every foot of it. That is a lot more square footage than a house! A big design challenge for us in recent days has been the staging and sequencing of construction. We are balancing tree delivery and installation, concrete pours, and more. To walk our readers through the order of events, we can apply a familiar algebra anagram PEMDAS.
Planting trees
The winter months are planting season, and we are looking to plant 115 trees at the park! Our goal is to get them in the ground before the weather gets too hot, so planting is our first priority. The first batch to be planted included seven black gum trees and three willow oaks. Lots of people helped during “Neckdown” Week , our time to maintain properties and make big project pushes. These helpers included our friends in Auburn University’s Landscape Architecture Program, all with their aid, 10 trees were installed in a little over a day!
Excavating the trail: Part 1
After we planted the trees, our friends at C&T Excavating came back and helped us with the excavation and base work for the first section of walking trail. Excavation for the trail is being divided into three parts. This strategy maintains truck access for concrete and tree deliveries while keeping the working area at a more manageable scale.
Make formwork
This part was pretty straightforward for the team since we had lots of practice forming up the basketball court last year. We are using 2x4s on the straight sections of trail and PVC board to form the curves. Our team placed formwork and the rebar cage for the bench in preparation for the first concrete pour.
Delivering concrete
Concrete is in the ground! Again. For the basketball court, a contractor completed the finishing, but the team will be pouring the benches and trail themselves!
Applying the finish
The trail consists of two different types of concrete finishes: exposed agregate and a broom finish. In this first pour, we displayed our skills at both! The bench shows off the broom finish, and the walking trail sections display the exposed ag.
Start again!
Now we are ready to start the process over again! The next few weeks on site will consist of a big delivery of trees, planting, and (weather permitting) many more concrete trucks.
Design work and mock-ups
On rainy days, we are continuing to make progress on the design of the bathroom. We are continuing to mock up and test design options. Our most recent mock-up was at the park, allowing us to look at the size and height of the pole barn pavilion.
