ECI Completes Historic Masonic Temple Stabilization Project
May 22, 2024
Recently, critical work began to stabilize the soil beneath an historic Masonic Temple in Watertown, WI. This project included stabilizing an existing beam and masonry wall in the basement of the existing temple, jet grouting soil stabilization below the basement floor down to the bedrock, installation of interior drain tile, weeps, and sump pit, the removal of a portion of the existing hollow sidewalk, and the installation of waterproofing on the south basement wall to prepare for future bridge construction and to remove a concrete structure within the public right-of-way. During this rehabilitation, the Temple building also underwent foundation disconnection from the bridge along with the stabilization processes.
Centered on an historic public square with a mix of retail and professional services, offices, civic buildings, and cultural and recreational destinations this important $2 million dollar construction project was awarded to McMullen and Pitz in late 2023. Engineering and Construction Innovations (ECI) was subcontracted to develop a value-engineered soil stabilization system to meet the performance requirements while also bringing the total project cost in line with the City's available funding. In January of 2024, the contractor began the arduous task of completing the construction of a secant pile wall system that included temporary 14" OD casing socketed into bedrock to create permanent secant piles in an extremely limited space along with specific time constraints. For this project, the experts at ECI chose to use a MC8D Comacchio Limited Access Drill Rig with the assistance of their local ICE® (International Construction Equipment, Inc) sales representative to install the duplex inner rod casing required to stabilize the structure. Selected specifically for its high torque and crowd in <20,000 lb drill, the MC8D was modified at ECI's shop (with input from ICE® technicians) to meet the 9' (ft) head room restriction requirements while still installing the required diameter casing under the basement of this historic building. Other challenges faced by the ECI crew included working in a confined space and the removal of urban fill over varying weathered and fractured bedrock found below the water table of adjacent river. Secant piles were also installed up to almost 20' depths.
Bravo, ECI! Your team's ability to value engineer a contractor designed solution that met an extremely tight timeline (12 weeks) was brilliant! ICE® is proud to offer drill rigs that can be specifically designed around the tooling and equipment to best suit the job and with limited modifications. Our experienced ICE® Sales and Service Team looks forward to continuing to supply our valued customers, like ECI, with the dependable deep foundation equipment they can count on.
Media Contact-
Pollyanna Cunningham, MA, MBA
Vice President Marketing, Brand and Media Relations
Vice President IT and IT Comm
ICE® - International Construction Equipment, Inc
Office - 704-821-8200 Email - marketing@iceusa.com