Category: News

News

September House Report

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House Report – 9/17

Things are changing on the grain truck highway. On the way to Columbus this morning there was a field full of birds. When I got close, it was Canada Geese in a bean stubble field. First harvest I had seen this year, did see several more bean fields that had been combined and one combine working in a corn field. The landscape at the AGR house still looks good and the grass is really growing. We do have a big Ash tree by the property line back of the upper parking lot that is in the process of succumbing to the Emerald Ash Borer. This will need to be removed before we install the fence that is required by zoning.

Inside some of the odds and ends have been completed, still more to do. The window sills in the rear entry have been installed since my last visit. Right now the rear entry is pretty much filled with the hood that is for over the kitchen stove. It is a monster. It must be eight feet long and weighs 400 pounds. It will be interesting getting it into the basement. The plans are to drop it down through the elevator shaft. Looks like a case of overkill to me, but that is code. In my estimation there are a number of things I call overkill that have cost us money.

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News

Congratulations!

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Alpha Gamma Rho is very proud to announce that the newly-renovated chapter house is ready for the undergrads to move in! Thank you for your patience and support through this project.
Parking for the football games is available but limited due to the new landscaping and will be first come, first served.
News

Donation & Reflections from Dick Zoerb

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Hello Bill,

Thanks for the quick reply. I’ll make out a check to the corporation and send it directly to you. Wish I could do more, but since I’m planning to live to 100 (84 going on 85 now), I need to stretch our remaining funds out carefully.
My 3 years at Ohio State and Beta Chapter were some of the best of my life, but I can’t complain about all that has followed either: 4 children, 10 grandchildren, and one great granddaughter, so far and have managed to set foot on all 7 continents (no. 34 on my bucket list?).
The only ones from the class of 1951 and perhaps the only ones still alive that I regularly correspond with are the twins, John and Hugh Moore, originally from Canal Winchester. I’ve followed the progress of the house on the website and hope to stop by one of these years to see the finished product. I was the “Crescent” editor during my senior year, but also helped to keep the chapter grade point level up scholastically. Met my future wife, Margaret Lucas of Coalton, Ohio and a 1953 graduate, during the last months of my senior year. She was pres. of Delta Zeta and a couple of other Home Ec. groups. We were married on Oct. 10, 1953 at North Broadway Methodist Church a few weeks after my army discharge and right smack dab in the middle of the Ohio State- Illinois game in Columbus. Good thing there weren’t cell phones in those days, or half the attendees wouldn’t have heard our vows. As it was, my dad was an Illinois grad, so wasn’t too happy about our scheduling the wedding then. Any way, we are primed for our 62nd anniversary this fall.
Not sure if there’s a way to transfer some of the above to a future “Crescent” issue, but if there is, feel free to use any or all, so that somebody besides the Moores will know I’m still alive.

In the bond,

Richard C. (Dick) Zoerb
72 Hawkstead Hollow
Nashua, NH, 03063
Grad. June 1951
News

September Construction Update

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House Report 9-3
Back when we had that monster hole alongside the house lots of pictures were taken.
At that time the inspector said they did not need to see it, pictures would do.
Doesn’t matter now, the inspector wants to see it.
Like I said before, don’t get our superintendent started.
The crew is almost there. Unfortunately the concrete in the bottom of the stair well looked to be about a floor thick, so it was a slow process getting through it. The drain pipe is now exposed and from the pictures we have, it is not much farther to get to the connection to the sewer. Then we can call the inspector.
On a more positive note. The carpet is in place on the front stairs. AGR GREEN. Looks good.
I had lunch with Bill Flinn today and then took him to see what we have done with the AGR house.
The furniture for the living room, library and lounge area was delivered today. All of it is still in the living room in plastic wrap. Dining room furniture scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.
The painters were busy again. More touch ups today, getting hard to find spots that still need paint.
The grass blades are still getting longer. Rain there last night. Rain there again tonight as I was leaving.  Perfect for our grass seedlings. As I make the drive up and down the grain truck highway, the landscape is changing. As our lawn keeps getting greener, the grain fields are losing their green. A few soybean fields are very yellow.
House Report 9-2
Today an inspector said he has to see the connection we made to the sewer way back when. Back when we had that monster hole alongside the house. The floor drains in the old house ran out under the basement door and down to the 4 ft sewer that goes under the house. We did not make a new tap, we tied into the original pipe. Lots of pictures were taken. In the past anything that our contractor has done the pictures were sufficient. Doesn’t matter now, the inspector wants to see it. So. At 6 am tomorrow morning the crew will be there to saw cut the floor in the bottom of the outside stairway. Like I said before, don’t get our superintendent started. Stay tuned tomorrow for the results.
On a more positive note. All of the floor tile is complete – everywhere! The basement looks great. The stair treads are all complete on all levels of the back stairs. All of the tack strips are in place for the carpet on the front stairs.
The kitchen area is complete, walls all painted, floor all finished. It should be cleaned up by tonight’s cleaning crew. That will make it ready for all of the kitchen equipment to be installed.
Today the roof railings were being installed. There is a one story flat roof over the rear vestibule. There are 5 or 6 condensers on it. The brick wall goes up a couple feet and the railing goes on top of that. There is also a flat area on the very top of the building, where the three different buildings come together. Six big condensers up there. You can see them from the drive by the church. The side toward the patio drops off and that is where a railing is needed to protect anyone working up there.
The painters were busy again. Today was touch ups on the hallway walls. Yesterday was rooms, different color. The women from the furniture company were very instrumental in picking our paint colors. Except for one wall of the library. Our collegiate members had expressed the desire to give the house an AGR look where we can. So that library wall is AGR green. Looks good.
Electric and plumbing have passed inspection, next up will be structural.
The grass blades keep getting a little longer. A little less straw showing today.
House Report 9-1
The dry wall ceiling is in place in the rear entry and the mudders showed up about 2 pm today to get it all filled in and smooth. The ceiling is complete in the dining room. The Chapter room is done! Carpet on the floor, baseboard molding in place. Really looks nice. The ceramic tile in the kitchen and basement restrooms was being finished up today. All of the odds and ends pieces were cut and in place. They were finishing up the grout when I was leaving. The stairs in the 57 addition from the first to second floor were covered with the rubber stair treads today. That is a time consuming job. Each one has to be measured and cut individually. First he worked his way up doing the top surface of the steps and then the facing got the same treatment. Two more stairs to do like that, one up and one down from there.
The panic bar door latch (has to meet code) was installed on the patio door since I was last there. The painters were busy. One was doing touch ups and will doing the same tomorrow. Two others were painting the remaining basement walls in the old house, the old coal bin and what is now the water and electric rooms under the House Mothers quarters. Rough old concrete, lots of nooks and crannies to get paint into.
Every door is now in place, several of them were a challenge to make the frame fit and then to make the wall area around them look good. Some trim work still remains to be completed.
The HVAC passed inspection. One more step out of the way. Counting on our guys being able to move in on Friday. One small problem today. The furnace room by the kitchen had water running out the door. There are three different drain lines that drop into a floor drain. It looked like one of them had to be leaking. After quite a while of study and consternation Roland figured it out. A condensation line that comes from the air conditioning units on the second floor ends about an inch above the floor. When the fans are on, the air current is such that the dribble of water does not drop straight into the drain, it was blowing slightly sideways onto the floor. He made a temporary baffle with a paper cup, tomorrow the pipe will get extended.
The grass blades keep getting a little longer. The straw is not completely hidden but it is getting there. Keeping our new plants adequately watered in the heat this week could be a challenge.
Bill
News

Final August Construction Update

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House Report 8-30
Last report for August, because I cannot be in Columbus on Monday, so I went this morning. Some of our collegiate members did not waste any time in using the parking lot. Plenty of room for them now.
Everything got watered again today. There is not a lot of weekend activity happening. Saturday a lot of prep work was accomplished on the basement floors. It looks like that is all finished. Pretty smooth everywhere. Well maybe not everywhere. In the hallway that now goes from the chapter room over to the basement door, the old concrete floor is anything but level. I am sure that in the original building, the basement was a dirt floor. It appears the different sections were poured at different times with different levels and different textures. So it may be smooth in any one spot but it will probably wave at you when you see it.
Today tile was being laid in the basement. The stair covers for the basement stairs were cut this morning and ready for installation.
Yesterday Roland did a lot more clean up in the parking lot. The last big dumpster should be hauled away Monday. Today he finished up installing the hardware on all of the new windows. The carpenter intends to be there today to install all the hardware for the new door to the patio. This door somehow was not on anyone’s bidding list so it was late arriving. The old double doors that were there did not meet code anymore so they were replaced with a single wider door.
Across the street are some changes. The Sammy house has been closed for some time and is now scheduled for renovation. Based on ours, theirs would be a logistical nightmare. Up the hill, driveway under the house, impassable for most all equipment and probably not enough parking lot if they can get there. Next to the Sammy’s now is the $1.65’s. Across from us in what was the D Phi E’s in now ATO. I think back in my day they were down Iuka next to the Phi Delts. Next to ATO is Phi Sigma Kappa. Their letters just went up but there is still a for rent sign on the front of the house.
The grass blades keep getting a little longer. A few sprinkles of rain this morning. It was good for the grass but not enough for our new plants.  There is a green haze over much of the straw cover. By the time I am back Tuesday afternoon I expect a good part of the straw to be hidden.
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House Report 8-28
A good day today except for the first theft that I know of. When I went to water the plants around the window wells on the church side, everything was not all there. All of the English Ivy plants were gone, I guess someone thought they needed them more than we did.
Harold Herd put in a full day riding herd (pun intended) on the installers for the window blinds. All done. They also hung the curtain rods in the living room for us. A washer and dryer were installed today. In accordance with the standards of OSU housing, the mini refrigerators were delivered today and put in each room. A city inspector came by to check the gas lines for leaks. They are all good, which we already knew, since the HVAC guys had already checked them. More painting accomplished today. One wall in the kitchen is about the only big area that I know of that is remaining. Lots of touch ups to do. The outside paint crew finished after 6 pm, they decided to stay and finish rather than come back again. That was an eleven hour day for them. Of course, Roland our superintendent did better than that, his was a 14 hour day. Without Roland, we would not be where we are today. The house certainly was in need of new paint. The front porch looks really great and the fire escape is shiny black. The striping crew was supposed to be on site about 2 pm. They finally arrived at 5, it seems they locked their keys in their truck. At any rate, the job got completed, parking blocks installed and lines painted. There were a few questions and decisions to be made and the job was finished about 8 pm and I called the undergrads to tell them they could now park there. I am sure they will be happy that they can get their cars off of the streets.
I do not remember which is which, but there are inspections scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The inspector who was there this afternoon started the process for us for our temporary occupancy permit. That is needed to allow us to move into the house. Floor tile work is scheduled for the weekend which hopefully should just about finish that process. A carpenter crew is also scheduled to continue work on installing doors.
The grass blades keep getting a little longer. As opposed to early in the year on our project, a rain would be welcome now.
Bill
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News

New Construction Update from Bill Thornton

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House Report 8-27

A good day today. The gas is on.
It got turned on at 7:30 last night. The plumber has the hot water up and running. The gas furnaces were all tested, everything is good. All of the partitions are installed in the rest rooms. The dining room floor tile is complete. I think it looks great. It took a lot of grinding yesterday to take off the high ridge that ran down the middle of the room. That is where the basement wall was removed. It seems we may never get over making dust. The floor tile in the serving room should be complete by the time they go home for the day.

 

All of the life safety passed today with the exception of the sprinkler system. The ceilings in the dining room and the rear entry must be complete before they will approve. The sprinklers are all in place but until the ceilings are in place and the final collar around the sprinkler head is in place they will not approve. The sprinkler system has been tested and it is up and running. It is live! The fire alarm system was tested earlier this week. No one will sleep through that when it goes off. It was a little hard on those working in the building when they were testing. There are fire doors in lots of places in the hallways. These doors stay open with a magnet high in the wall. If the fire alarm is activated the power to the magnet is shut off and the doors will close.
Painting is still going on. Outside today was the fire escape and the trim on that side of the house and the front porch. Inside was the rear entry area and then pretty much down to small areas and touch ups and there is a lot of touching up to do. Out superintendent’s main man continues to fix and finish problems and hard to do spots.
The grass blades are a little longer today.
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House Report 8-26
Two days. Two steps forward, one back. Forward because a lot of things are happening. Yesterday’s backwards revolved around the exhaust vent that will be coming from the hood above the stove area in the kitchen.  The inspector decided he wanted more insulation around the exhaust pipe. All sounds good except that a 12 inch hole has already been drilled through the block and brick wall and with the added diameter it all will not fit in the area designated for it. So it takes a redesign.
Yesterday the power washing was completed. The air conditioning was turned on and tested. Really cool in there. So no HVAC trucks in the parking lot today. The room units are extremely efficient. The small fan in each runs all the time at a variable sped depending on the load. Each condenser runs 4 or 5 units and each condenser has 50 different internal settings that adjust automatically according to the load. The fence around the dumpster in finished. All of the new down spouts are installed. All of the roof work is complete. Basement floors got a smoothing coat in preparation for tile. All of the small odds and ends of tile work in the restrooms are now complete and the dividers can now be installed. Electric installation in the rear entry is progressing.
Today I think it was four guys painting outside. I had planned on working on the landscape under the fire escape today, they were painting there. Another day. The electrician is close to complete, their outside portable storage was removed today. More parking lot showing. Stain in the foyer and stairway is ongoing. They are rebuilding the door at the top of the stairs to the chapter room. The tile floor is complete in the laundry room. Wow! The floor tile in the kitchen is complete and they are working their way out through the serving room. Some grinding work was happening on the dining room floor in preparation for tile. The plumbing passed the pressure test inspection. Another problem door frame was completed today. Adding a door in the existing block walls is not easy to fit and takes some custom trim work to make it look good.
Backwards today, the gas was supposed to be unlocked for us today. When I left at 4 pm that had not happened. We have to have gas for the hot water to pass the heat test for the plumbing and to test the furnaces. We will have to see what tomorrow brings.
If you look real close you can see that the grass seed has germinated.
Bill
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