CANTLON’S CORNER: NEW FLOOR IS READY…GET SET…POUR (UPDATED) 

CANTLON’S CORNER:

New Floor is Ready…Get Set…Pour

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The long overdue new floor for the XL Center‘s two ice hockey teams, the Hartford Wolf Pack and the University of Connecticut Huskies of Hockey East is about to become reality.

On Friday (7/14), at 7 am the concrete began to flow. It comes at a time when skepticism is high because of the various state and city financial woes. In spite of all of that, the pour is something for Hartford/UConn hockey fans to cheer about.

“We got 12 miles of pipes welded and we’re set to pour concrete on Friday for five to six hours with 30+ concrete trucks in one continuous pour. Everybody has worked very hard to get to this point,” A clearly relieved CRDA Executive Director, Mike Freimuth said. “It involved a lot of planning and man-hours to do this. We got the green light from all the pressure tests and the inspectors and engineers are in agreement. We’re ready to go.”

This has been a major task for the CRDA that has taken a year of planning to execute.

“We were able to get a lot of prep work done beforehand as the last few events were being held in the building and that made a difference,” Freimuth stated. “Dimeo (the company with the winning bid on the project) is a very talented group. There are only two or three companies that do this type of work. They were very precise and have a very strong team. They have gotten a lot of work done in a short time space.”

Even this final stage requires ballet-like choreography with the moving of 30+ concrete mixer trucks during a six-hour, continuous pouring cycle. It’s not an easy task.

“We have to keep them coming in on a time cycle so that concrete isn’t sitting too long in the trucks. To get them in is tremendous logistics; getting them off the highway and out of Friday traffic will be a challenge. There are a lot of variables ongoing here.”

To aid the process of the concrete to start the process of cooling and settling, two key elements have to be in place.

“We have to keep the blower fans going at maximum speed. Having those trucks with engines running, there’s a tremendous amount of carbon monoxide build-up which can be bad for concrete and we have water in the pipes at full pressure. If you don’t and start pouring that concrete, they would shift and probably break. The (water) pressure keeps all that work in place. We have done very extensive pressure tests at full capacity. I don’t know the exact PSI, but the system was completely flushed and tested by our engineers so we’re ready to roll,” remarked Freimuth.

Technology will aid the process as well.

“Throughout the pouring process, there will be a laser guiding the work to make sure that the concrete surface remains flat and level and will go up to midnight on Friday.”

Once the pouring is complete, the floor must remain untouched for a 30-day curing period. Concrete has generates its own heat, so it must be allowed to settle correctly before the final stage of putting in the new dasher boards and glass are installed properly to meet the necessary markings of the 200 x 85 surface.

Dealing with a whole new set of code changes that didn’t exist when the floor was put in place in 1979 after the roof collapsed was another thorny piece of the puzzle.

“One of the prep pieces we did was put in the markings for the dashers before this pour has been done and the break in the humidity on Friday will also aid the process because it gets taken out of the equation. That was good fortune for us as well.

“The code issues were multiple in nature. We had a team that had to make sure step-by-step we met all the new changes that exist, and there were many to incorporate in a job of this scope… This isn’t doing your driveway.”

Off-ice matters continue to remain in a holding pattern with no end in sight due to the state budget mess. There’s also the double economic whammy of the state’s $5 billion deficit over the next two years as well as the City of Hartford’s downgrade of its bonding status to junk bond status. Add in the growing likelihood of the state’s capital city filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection very shortly. These factors have all made the CRDA’s already considerable challenge to get funding for an XL Center reboot exponentially tougher.

“It certainly doesn’t help the situation, that’s for sure,” Freimuth said. “We can do very little moving ahead because we literally have no idea what money might be allocated from our request. We have no idea except the operating budget for the building will be lower, but no idea by how much. We literally are going day by day. We have heard of the possibility of a July 18^th date for a budget, and then again, we have heard nothing will be done (regarding the budget). (It’s) not an easy environment to work in. So getting the rink repair project done at least makes us feel as if we’re getting things accomplished.”

Another area that has been adversely impacted is, the CRDA’s efforts to seek outside financing and the creating of a public-private partnership to financially get the project of making a new arena possible. The RFQ process yielded just four inquiries and only one proposal.

“The atmosphere is difficult. With no budget, you really can’t fully answer questions and we have a three-person committee within the CRDA working on this and they are left with the task of trying to develop strategies and we have very little to work with. The Q & A process is made very difficult to accomplish anything right now.”

Well, at least you a new ice surface is almost there.

Related articles

• The ancient Romans made stronger concrete than we do today – here’s how
• New Studies of Ancient Concrete Could Teach Us to Do as the Romans Did
• Watch Foo Fighters Debut New Song “Sunday Rain”
• Foo Fighters announce new album, tour, festival, and world domination
• Secret of how Roman concrete survived tidal battering for 2,000 years revealed