The sounds of construction – workers’ shouts and equipment running – echo through the halls of the new Sandy High School, but as each day passes, it’s easier to imagine the sounds and images of students shouting and running through those same halls.

And despite some early delays due to Mother Nature, school doors are still
expected to open next September.

“We fought the weather,” said Cary Bubenik, project manager for Hoffman
Construction. “Last year we lost a couple weeks that we’re making up.

Overall, we’re ahead of the district’s schedule, but not our internal schedule.”
The building was expected to be completely “dried in,” protected from the
weather, by the end of November, with approximately 50 percent of the
sheetrock installed.

Paving continues outside, including on the Bell Street extension,
while final site work (including the parking lot and main entrance) is expected
to restart next spring and run through the summer.

Bubenik noted that the project is running smoothly, but more rain than usual
last winter threw the project a bit of a curveball.

“Because we had such a wet winter, in hindsight it would have been good to
rock the whole site with a foot to 18 inches of gravel for working in areas,”
Bubenik said. “With the weather we had last year ... the soils got so
saturated, for safety for crane uses we had to bring in a lot more rock than
expected.”

Construction of the building’s three classroom wings is performed in stages,
with the western wing two weeks ahead of the center wing and the center
wing two weeks ahead of the eastern wing.

The project contains 30 miles of underground geothermal piping, providing
heat to supplement the building’s heating system.

Construction of the gymnasium’s interior, now looking more like a melted ice
rink (it’s covered with a thin layer of water), will begin in January.

Trusses for the gym’s roof were delivered in one piece.

At the peak, the project had approximately 275 workers on site – with 250
currently on hand.

A perforated wood panel image of Mount Hood will be featured inside the
school’s entrance.

All conduit for wiring is installed, along with most of the piping. Once the
“rough in” is done, workers will install wiring and insulation. Installation of
lighting fixtures is expected to begin in March.

The building will go “hot,” with permanent power, at the end of January.

Inspectors from the city of Sandy and Clackamas County perform inspections,
while the Oregon Trail School District also has third-party inspectors.

Rainwater goes through a series of wares to screen sediments before entering
a detention pond and then off into a creek.

The project includes a budget of $300,000 to heat the building with propane
until permanent heat is turned on.

A beam at the school’s entrance has drawn looks with an inscription including
the phrase, “The Erection,” but this is no graffiti.

The inscription is part of a tradition with the iron workers to sign the last piece
installed.