FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) - When the workers who built the scaffolding that now surrounds the clock tower on the Webster County Courthouse were going to work each day, a tenant in the apartment building across Sixth Street had a message for them.
Written on a cardboard sign and placed in their window every day, the friendly messages gave the workers something fun to smile about.
Friday’s was “Freaky Friday.”
Richard Firmstone, site superintendent for Neumann Brothers, said the scaffolding and plastic sheathing is now complete for the tower and ready for sub-contractor Baker Group to start.
“The last went up last week,” he told the Fort Dodge Messenger.
“Baker group will be here Monday,” Firmstone said. “They came Wednesday and took a 3D laser scan.”
Putting up that much scaffolding, that high, to bear that much weight is a carefully planned and considered project.
“We gave a blueprint to the sub-contractor that built it,” he said. “There’s a design process and an engineer has to sign off. There’s a lot of load on each leg.”
There’s actually scaffolding inside the building below the actual clock tower. It transfers the load of the structure above to a lower floor inside that can safely handle the weight.
The biggest hindrance to the process has been wind.
“If the winds are upwards of 40 miles per hour we’re not on the scaffolding,” Firmstone said. “Actually, they’re starting to think about it at 20 miles per hour.”
The last step in building the scaffolding was enclosing the top around the tower in plastic sheeting. Firmstone said it’s not there to hide the work, it’s part of keeping the courthouse weather proof once the tower is taken apart.
Once workers from Baker Group begin, they’ll be dealing with a variety of materials. Cooper sheeting, wood support beams and steel.
“They’ll strip off the copper,” he said. “There’s wood inside that. All the wood is then removed. It will be stripped to the steel frame.”
Some of the old wood has deteriorated beyond reuse. They’ll evaluate each piece, some will be reclaimed, some will be recreated with new wood on site.
The copper will go through a similar process. The result is that some of the old pieces, with their bright green patina, will remain next to shiny copper pieces. Firmstone said the mix of old and new will hasten the oxidation process for the new pieces.
There’s actually a small room under the clock tower with a newly installed door to access the roof that they’ll use as a workshop.
The plastic sheeting will block the view of the work. It won’t come off until the work is done.
Workers access the roof by a scaffolding stairway. Firmstone said it’s about 56 feet to the roof. Once there, they cross the roof and access the tower scaffolding on a ladder that goes to each tier. He said the top of the tower is 107 feet and the very top of the scaffolding is at 118 feet.
Other work that’s part of the project will be starting later, crews are building scaffolding on the south and west side of the building to work on the Mansard roof and then eventually the skylight.
The scaffolding for the skylight will all be inside the building filling up the open area under it. Workers will build a deck on top to work from called a Dance Floor.
“You won’t see that from the ground,” Firmstone said.
Firmstone is very happy to have been selected to oversee the work.
“It’s a once in a lifetime job,” he said.
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