Blog Archives
Superior Scaffold and the historical Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
This neat old church at 1064 Penn Ave, in Wyomissing, PA, that began its life in 1909, needed some repairs to the high vaulted plaster ceilings – so they called Superior Scaffold.
Photo courtesy of Ed Reneger
Superior is known for its skill working with historical buildings and the care it takes around one of a kind artifacts and structures. This was no different. We had to construct some cool system scaffolding up, over and around pews, alters, and priceless objects at Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
The ceiling was divided into sections with flying buttresses, so the layout had to be spot on accurate.
We used system scaffold with joists and plank to not only get to the hard to reach places but to also build a solid platform or dancefloor for the workers.
The steep, sloped, plaster ceilings had new sheetrock added over the old plaster, and then they were textured and painted.
This gave the old girl the dress up she needed for the next 100 years.
We were proud to bring our skills and experience working with historic buildings to Bausman Memorial United Church of Chris.
Here are some articles detailing Superior Scaffold’s work with historic buildings:
A little history on this church.
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is part of a denomination which is a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States.
Construction of a small church began in 1909 and it was dedicated in 1911. As the congregation grew, members decided to complete the church building with an addition begun in 1922. The completed building was dedicated in 1924.
1064 Penn Ave Wyomissing, PA 19610
(610) 375-9790
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is a church of diverse learners seeking answers to life’s questions based on the teachings of Christ. We nurture each other with respect, share with each other as family, and engage God and others in worship, music, study and in service. Every Sunday we offer Church School programs for all ages at 9:00 a.m. and gather for worship at 10:15 a.m.
Superior Scaffold to provide scaffolding support for Philadelphia Energy Solutions turnaround at old Sunoco refinery.
Superior Scaffold has entered into a deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), to provide scaffolding support for a turnaround at their large Philadelphia plant. This is the Point Breeze refining complex – which is the old Sunoco plant in South Philly.
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is the longest continuously operating refinery on the East Coast, processing 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day into various refined products.
Superior will provide all of the necessary scaffolding support during this shutdown. “Our guys are currently working with PES planning and organizing the massive turnaround so everything goes smoothly,” said Lou Collins, Superior Scaffold estimator. “We anticipate about a 12 week pre-to-post timeframe to complete this job.”
For those who don’t know, a turnaround at a refinery is a planned, periodic shut down (total or partial) of a refinery plant or unit to perform maintenance, repair and overhaul operations and to inspect, test and replace process materials and equipment.
Superior will be working with the exchangers, drums, towers, internal reactors and Re-gen and much more all around the complex.
We are proud to bring our 50 years plus of refinery experience to one of Philadelphia’s finest companies. And will keep you posted as we move through this turnaround process.
For all of your industrial scaffolding needs call Lou Collins @ 215 279-8123 or lou@superiorscaffold.com.
Changing ceiling tiles is MMM MMM good at Campbell’s Soup Headquarters.
This is one of those, once in a lifetime, cool jobs that you just have to brag about. Superior Scaffold was called out to the Campbell’s Soup Worldwide Headquarters in Camden, NJ to rig a special scaffolding in the boardroom.
This is the same boardroom where one of the original Andy Warhol Campbell Soup Can paintings lives.
And even cooler was the job. We had to come up with system to allow crews to change the ceiling tiles over the handmade wood table that resides in the boardroom. Sounds simple, right? Not really. The table is 8 feet wide by 30 feet long and could not be moved. It was hand picked by the Dorrance family (heir to the Campbell fortune) and cost over $100,000.
Needless to say, they needed a company with a history of preserving priceless artifacts to erect scaffolding around this table without causing any damage.
The table was first protected with poly, then foam, and then plywood as a precaution.
Superior built scaffold over and around the table using 2 foot wide X 34’ long towers on either side and then connected them with 10’ trusses. This made a solid platform. “Then we decked it in solid – so the crews would have a nice safe place to work,” said Superior estimator, Pat McAndrew.
They decided to install long life light bulbs while they were up there.
The job came off without a hitch and the Warhol is back presiding over the elegant table (with new lighting and ceiling tiles in place).
And just for fun – I couldn’t resist:
Our Lady of Lourdes blessed morning photograph
Superior Scaffold estimator Pat McAndrew was at Our Lady of Lourdes medical center early last week and snapped this gem of the Mother Mary statue in her full glory. Yes, it’s an iphone picture but you can clearly see that she’s up and beaming once again.
I particularly like the halo at the top.
Pat was at the medical center for another scaffold install we are doing up “air” (as they say in Philly). I’ll get you details on that just as soon as them become available.
Until then – enjoy.
You can read the original article about saving our Lady of Lourdes here:
And the follow up article in scaffold magazine – here.
Superior scaffolds St. Mary’s Ukranian Church, Mcadoo, PA
When St. Mary’s Ukranian Church in Mcadoo, PA needed a scaffolding company to erect scaffold for painters to restore the exterior luster of their beloved church – they turned to Superior Scaffold. Our experience with historic buildings, churches and structures has made us the tri-state leader in the scaffolding industry.
The contractor wanted a stair tower to access the scaffold and a nice sized storage deck. And to eliminate ascending the scaffolding from the ground each time, Superior constructed a special walkway across the roof.
You will see the photos below but I think this Youtube video gives the best visual description.
At the front of the video you will see the newly painted surfaces. Also, about halfway through you will see the scaffold going up and the freshly painted gold domes. It’s quite impressive looking.
St Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church – Mcadoo, PA – Catholic Church
http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Marys-Ukrainian-Catholic-Church/121069767906788
Superior Scaffold uses unique earth anchors to hold canopy in place.
So, not only did we help scaffold the building for the new support steel but we just installed the canopy at the entryway. In the background, you can see the 5 story steel structure where our scaffolding used to be. They are making great progress on the new addition at the Chester County Hospital, and we are grateful to be a part of such a unique project. (See the original blogpost here.)
And speaking of unique, this was a very cool and innovative way to tie-down a canopy. It’s not something you see everyday.
Normally, there are many places to tie-down a canopy to keep it stable and secured from the elements. But as you can see from the pics there wasn’t much to hold on to out here in the front of the hospital. On the one side, you see the large cement Jersey Barriers (no problem) but the opposite side just had blacktop. And how would we tie into that?
So our super duper team of engineers and builders came up with an awesome system to keep this baby anchored properly.
Look at this little gem – called an Earth Anchor. Aptly named for its ability to anchor just about anything down to the good ole’ blue planet. If you look carefully, you will see an X type of bracket that has two tubes on it at 45 degree angles. X.
Long steel rods (about 2′ – 3’) are driven through those X tubes and down into the ground itself. The idea is to create an apposing force in the soil that is virtually impossible to pull out. “You would literally have to move something like 40 square feet of dirt to pull one of these ties from the clutches of mother earth,” said Superior Scaffold’s main man, Shawn MacDonald.
And then, at the top of the X bracket is a fastener where the tie-downs hook in. The canopy then can be ratcheted down to these brackets making it super stable and virtually impervious to high wind.
Here are a few photos of the canopy (sidewalk shed) in place.
Superior Scaffold – innovative scaffolding solutions. (215) 743-2200. Philadelphia, PA
Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA is embarking on a $45.2 million building project to increase inpatient bed capacity with 72 new private rooms and to install a new, state-of-the-art linear accelerator for the treatment of cancer.
Scaffolding Sculpture
Artist Ben Long’s ‘Scaffolding Sculptures’ are series of three-dimensional constructions made from conventional scaffolding components. By using these builder’s materials out of their everyday context, Long creates meanings and symbols an audience would not normally expect. In this exhibit he creates the words Art and Work.
The word ‘ART’ embodies the creative thought-process inherent in the conception of a piece as well as the practical skill required to physically make it.
Likewise, the word ‘WORK’ describes not only the intellectual endeavor in pursuit of a final idea, but also the effort involved in an artwork’s construction.
By separating the word ‘artwork’ into its two component words, Long leads us to contemplate the key ingredients required in the making of any work of art; the initial spark and development of an idea, and the productive course of activity that makes an idea into an artifact. (from the Man&Eve exhibit blog)
He does amazing things with scaffold materials that we, at Superior Scaffold, use everyday. Here are videos of him assembling his gallery pieces.
Renovation at Princeton University Firestone Library
Superior Scaffold was selected to help in the renovation of Princeton’s Prestigious Firestone library because of its long history working with historic buildings on the campus.
In light of the library’s importance in teaching and research at Princeton, the University has committed to a comprehensive renovation of Firestone Library. The renovation is a long-term project that is being done in multiple phases and will take almost 10 years to finish, during which time the library will remain open, and its collections available during normal hours of operation.
Superior erected system scaffold allowing crews to get access to all areas of this monumental restoration and parapet wall replacement project. The library has to remain open while crews do the work. Superior also provided a series of debris netting and trash chutes to the project.
The Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library opened in 1948 as the first large American university library constructed after World War II. Roughly 1.5 million volumes were moved during the summer of 1948 from Pyne and Chancellor Green Halls, which until then had served as the University’s main library. The library building was expanded in 1971 and again in 1988 and currently has more than 70 miles (110 km) of bookshelves, making Firestone one of the largest open-stack libraries in existence. Though not the largest university library in the world, the library has more books per enrolled student than that of any other university in the United States.
You can keep tabs of the multi-phase renovation here:
Superior’s emergency scaffold services at Cooper Medical School, Camden, NJ
Superior was called out to scaffold the auditorium in the new
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, in Camden, NJ
so lights could be repaired and installed.
The challenge here was that all of the auditorium seats had been placed into their permanent locations prior to fixing the lighting issues so Superior designed rolling scaffold to access and repair the malfunctioning lights – and to work around the seating.
“Superior Scaffold and our emergency services team quickly assessed the problem and quickly came up with a mighty fine solution,” said estimator, Pat McAndrew.
Rowan University and Cooper University Hospital have embarked on a unique partnership that will initiate the next generation of medical education and will improve health care delivery throughout the region.
With national rankings and a history of educational leadership, Cooper and Rowan are well prepared to develop what will be the first new medical school in New Jersey in 30 years. Students in the planned four-year allopathic program will be educated in a new facility in Camden and graduate to serve the greater South Jersey community and beyond.
New addition at Chester County Hospital calls for Superior scaffolding
Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA is embarking on a $45.2 million building project to increase inpatient bed capacity with 72 new private rooms and to install a new, state-of-the-art linear accelerator for the treatment of cancer.
As part of the plan, the Chester County Hospital and Health System called in Superior Scaffold to help work on the 93,000 sq. ft. Tower Project at 701 East Marshall Street.
The scaffolding, constructed on top of the first floor’s roof, allows crews to get to the floors above it to remove the skin (facade) and expose the steel to tie into. The new addition will be 5 stories tall and as wide as the old section beneath it.
Those black squares you see on the lower roof are temporary coverings for the new steel columns that are underneath them. “Once the facade is removed, horizontal steel will come out of building and connect to columns coming up and out of those holes,” said Superior estimator, Pat McAndrew. Superior also provided a 70′ trash chute with a hopper on every level.
The Chester County Hospital is the only non-profit, independent community hospital in Chester County, and it has been serving the county and its surrounding communities for 120 years.
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