U-Haul Hinesville

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements?

Project featured spread footings, a slab on grade with a 2' turndown, an elevator pit, with two elevated decks. There was also an exterior building of around 12,000 SF.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project?

During the preplanning of panel erection, we had to figure out how to set them around elevator shafts and stair towers along the exterior of the building. We also spent excessive amounts of time configuring the placement of braces due to the slab on metal decks' connection to the panels. The panels did not sit on top of a continuous footing, but they sat directly on top of the slab; shim packs greater than 1/8" were not allowed to be used on the project due to design constraints. To achieve this, extensive care went into the forming of the panels, requiring additional supports. During the preparation of the slab on grade, we spent enormous amounts of time checking and rechecking form boards for deficiencies that would cause the slab to be off by no more than 1/8". Before the pour, all systems and benchmarks were checked and backchecked to ensure the laser screed would give us the levelness needed. We also checked the finishing equipment for worn-out parts that may cause excessive vibration and warping, leading to lower flatness needs. With the panels being set on top of the slab, all picks were top picks. This was done to ensure the safety of the crew, as alignment dowels couldn't be drilled and set, and all panels had to be welded into place along the bottom before the panel was released.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project?

Due to the building needing columns along the exterior of the building, we had to install diamond along the exterior as these columns could not be drilled and epoxied later on in the project. This required us to make-shift panel supports at the columns where we had panel joints landing on a diamond leave-out.