The retail part of the new store will have a timber frame structure and, while the foundation and site work are being completed, the timbers are being cut.   We are working with South County Post and Beam of West Kingston, RI and the frame is being fitted in their shop.   First the timbers are cut with a computer controlled Hundegger machine.

CNC Hundegger Timber Cutting Machine

Next all the joints are finished the old fashioned way – with hand chisels and wooden mallets.   And finally the wood is planed and prepared for delivery. Below South County’s Dave Webster works on the mortise and tenon joinery.

Dave Webster Hand Finishing the Timber Frame

While we continue to work onsite – grading, compacting, and backfilling, we are also building components of the Charlestown Package Store offsite.  We are using Climate-Block, made by Delta H of North Kingston, RI, to cover the timberframe and for the entire structure of the wine storage room, beer cooler, and stair tower to the tasting loft.

Made of expanded polystyrene and engineered lumber the wall panels have an insulation value of R30 and the roof panels a value of R40.   And  there is no thermal bridging as the structural components do no extend from the outer surface of the panel to the inner surface.   The horizontal chase in the wall panel will allow us to run wiring for the electrical and alarm systems and similar chases will allow us to run the plumbing. The outer framing member of the roof panel extends 3/4″ past the foam and creates an air space under the roof sheathing to allow for ventilation and a cooler roof.

Traves Ogilvie of Delta H and Oysterworks' Megan Moynihan inspect a mock-up of the Climate-Block system

We have been working with Delta H for several months and are very excited to be pioneering the use of these highly energy efficient panels.   We will be posting an article about the Climate-Block and blogging about our experience using them.

The Big Cat is back and the perimeter of the foundation is getting backfilled.   Once the outside is done, we will build a bridge over the foundation wall and fill and compact the interior.

Backfilling the Foundation

After the concrete set we stripped the forms and sprayed waterproofing on the outside walls of the full basement.   At the end of the week we will backfill both the outside and inside of the foundation, after making sure there is no frost trapped in the ground.   Once the inside is backfilled and compacted we will form and pour the interior footings for the support posts.

The metal straps coming out of the concrete are hurricane straps that will be bolted into the exterior walls and will prevent the building from moving in the event of a hurricane.   We are building in a D zone which assumes sustained 100 mph winds and 120 mph gusts.

Forming  and pouring the foundation had  a couple of unusual challenges.

• The main part of the building will be timberframe and with an Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) curtain wall that is 8″ thick.  Both the wood structural posts and the EPS panels require full bearing, so the foundation had to be 16″ thick. And, as the timberframe has  been ordered and will arrive on site already cut, the foundation had to be perfect.
• The wine storage room and beer cooler are offset at a 66 degree angle and the foundation for the wine storage room requires oversized forms.

Ca-Gin Concrete is doing the foundation work and we meet with them repeatedly to go over the plans and check the elevations.   We were pouring more than 170 cubic yards of concrete.  To the right owner Jon Maldon, Dan Cassidy and Bobby Gingerella of Ca-Gin Concrete, and architect Megan Moynihan at the end of the day.

First the footings.

And then the walls