In the rapidly developing neighborhood of Munjoy Hill, on the Eastern Peninsula of Portland, Maine, vacant building lots are in short supply. Builders and developers are making the best of what they have in the area’s active real estate market, and multifamily condo projects are popping up all over the area.
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Ted Cushman
A concrete pump truck's boom reaches high overhead and back to t…
A concrete pump truck's boom reaches high overhead and back to the rear of a tight building site in Portland, Maine. Great Falls Construction (Gorham, Maine) is overseeing construction on the four-family infill project in a rapidly developing neighborhood in Portland's East End peninsula.
Ted Cushman
Concrete masons with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) p…
Concrete masons with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) place footings for a multifamily infill project in Portland, Maine in February. Access to the tight site is limited, but a concrete pump and boom helped the work go quickly.
Ted Cushman
A concrete pump boom truck operator controls the flow of concret…
A concrete pump boom truck operator controls the flow of concrete using a remote control as masons complete the footing pour for an infill project in Portland, Maine. Constrution supervisor Jeff Barker, of Great Falls Construction, looks on.
Ted Cushman
A mason crew with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) plac…
A mason crew with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) places concrete footings for a four-family infill project in Portland, Maine. A four-inch slump was specified for this job.
Ted Cushman
Steel brackets hold and brace the 2×8 sawn lumber footing forms …
Steel brackets hold and brace the 2×8 sawn lumber footing forms at the correct width as masons us a pump on the street to place the concrete.
Ted Cushman
Masons place concrete footings for an infill project. A four-inc…
Masons place concrete footings for an infill project. A four-inch slump was specified for the placement, requiring shovel and trowel work to smooth and level the footing surface.
Ted Cushman
Concrete masons with JB Concrete Construction (Bridgton, Maine) …
Concrete masons with JB Concrete Construction (Bridgton, Maine) wrestle the pump hose to place footings on a tight site in Portland, Maine, as the pump truck operator controls the flow on concrete using a remote control.
Ted Cushman
Masons for JB Concrete Foundationsd (Bridgton, Maine) work on a …
Masons for JB Concrete Foundationsd (Bridgton, Maine) work on a footing pour on a tight site for Great Falls Construction in Portland, Maine's busy Munjoy Hill neighborhood.
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason marks rebar locations in the freshly placed con…
A concrete mason marks rebar locations in the freshly placed concrete footing using a jig made by inserting screws into a 2×4.
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason marks the position for vertical rebar using a j…
A concrete mason marks the position for vertical rebar using a jig made with screws set into a 2×4.
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason uses a jig made of screws set into a 2×4 to mar…
A concrete mason uses a jig made of screws set into a 2×4 to mark the freshly poured footing at two-foot on-center spacing for vertical steel rebar, which will tie the footing to the foundation wall.
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason places half-inch rebar bent at a 90-deree angle…
A concrete mason places half-inch rebar bent at a 90-deree angle into the freshly placed concrete at the pre-designated spacing. He hooks the rebar underneath the horizontal rebar that was placed
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason with JB Concrete Foundations hooks bent half-in…
A concrete mason with JB Concrete Foundations hooks bent half-inch rebar under the horizontal rebar in a freshly poured footing on a multifamily infill site in Portland, Maine.
Ted Cushman
Concrete masons finish trowel the freshly poured footing and hoo…
Concrete masons finish trowel the freshly poured footing and hook bent half-inch rebar under the existing rebar in the footing at pre-marked intervals.
Ted Cushman
A concrete mason with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) …
A concrete mason with JB Concrete Foundations (Bridgton, Maine) places safety caps on projecting rebar during a footing pour for Great Falls Construction in Portland, Maine.
JLC has been following the action on some of those jobs. This week, we take a look at the footing pour for a new four-unit building near the top of Munjoy Hill, just around the corner from the neighborhood’s landmark observation tower. Project manager Jeff Barker is supervising the job for general contractor Great Falls Construction, based in Gorham, Maine. Here, Barker oversees the work as a crew for the concrete contractor, JB Concrete Foundations of Bridgton, Maine, places concrete footings with the help of a concrete pump and boom.
Aside from the pump, not much about these footings is different from the foundation for a typical single-family house. But as the job progresses, Barker says, the urban infill project will involve quite a few wrinkles that you wouldn’t run into on a typical suburban job — including stacked balconies supported by steel and Parallam beams, an elevator shaft, horizontal as well as vertical fire separation assemblies, fire sprinklers, and a low-slope roof topped with a walkable patio. JLC will be keeping tabs and bringing you updates as the work continues.
