September 28, 2020 at 11:52 a.m.
Contractor explains dome inflation process
Contractor explains dome inflation process
According to Jim Kneer, president of the Rettler Corporation, the primary contractor on the sports complex project, the dome installation process is expected to began on Oct. 5, with the unrolling of the dome membrane, and be complete by Oct. 7.
The inflation is scheduled to start Oct. 7, Kneer told the school board during its Sept. 21 meeting.
"The critical piece to getting the dome inflated is the generator back-up system," Kneer said. "There is a specialist in the Midwest who does the generator testing and commissioning. That individual was scheduled for 9-21 without having the 9-23 electrical and gas, he's pushed back to 9-28."
Kneer noted that bundles that contain the 12 pieces of the dome membrane have been moved into position in the dome awaiting the next step.
"That is the dome, it's here and we're very happy that there weren't any holdups in delivery or materials delays," he said.
The unrolling of the membrane, putting the 12 pieces together and anchoring them to the grade beam will start on Oct. 5 and is expected to take two days.
"Oct. 7 is going to be the actual inflation of the dome where everybody is going to be able to see it and the dome is going to be up," Kneer said. "Then Arizon (Building Systems, the membrane manufacturer) has some detail work and shroud connections to make at the doors, installation of lighting, netting and batting cages for a complete dome installation of 10-10."
Joining the pieces of the membrane together is a laborious process, he explained.
"In the factory, each piece of PVC material is welded together, there are actual welds that are in the rolls," Kneer said. "When they unroll and unfold the dome sections, they are actually going to be clamped together manually. So they clamp everything and torque all the plates together; it's a fold and bolt scenario."
He said that the panels are connected to the concrete grade beam at the anchor trench.
"The dome gets folded in and anchored with a board to secure that. Then they stretch the cables out to the anchor bolts and make the eye loop connection at the anchor bolts for inflation," Kneer said. "And then the cables hold the dome down in place, the anchor trench holds the end of the fabric down and the clamped sections hold all the seams together."
"It is a very seamless operation when it all is rolled out," he added.
"The cooling units are on the far east side by the stadium, inflation and heating are on the south side," Kneer said. "It's quite a really impressive set of HVAC units out there."
Work on the connector building, which will serve as the main public entrance to the dome, is well underway after a delay in getting steel pieces, he added.
"We did hear a late October finish date for that (connector building)," Kneer said. "And we are discussing openings for late October, early November, and certainly open for the elections Nov. 3."
The dome will be the new voting location for all city precincts starting with the November 3 election.
A grand opening date should be announced soon, Kneer said.
"We're looking at the horizon on this project," he said. "We have immediately addressed any of the issues that have come up, there have been several COVID-related issues, but we have worked around those, moved things around to keep things on schedule for an October finish date."
The softball diamonds are far along, and the outdoor practice field is being hydro-seeded, he added. The softball fields also still await the laying of sod.
"We should be seeing germination here still this fall," Kneer said. "So things should be greening up, as well."
Later in the meeting, the board accepted a bid from Stratford Sign Company for signage around the sports complex, to include the donor wall that will honor the major donors to the project.
The bid was for $43,330 with a 10-percent contingency.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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