Construction Blog #1

Greetings, and welcome to the official Construction Blog for the Pilsener Haus and Biergarten. This Blog will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the progress of our build, transforming from an old factory into a bar/restaurant. We will update you a few times each month and take you from where we currently are on Thanksgiving through to Opening Night.

Over the past few months there have been many people working hard in order to bring this establishment to you in early 2011. It hasn’t been just the hard work of the physical laborers such as the carpenters, contractors, plumbers, and masons; but the designs of the architects, engineers, and hard work of the management team as well.

Initial demolition at 1422 Grand Street began back in August in what used to be an old Light Assembly Factory on the corner of 15^th and Grand Street in Hoboken, NJ.

It took nearly a full two months to fully complete the demolition by stripping down all of the old walls, floors, and ceilings to the bare brick walls and wooden floors. All of the old electric and plumbing were also removed in the process.

The Building

One of the first projects to be accomplished in this transformation was the painting of the “Biergarten” and “Pilsener Haus” signs on the top and sides of the building.

Signs for "Pilsener Haus" and "Biergarten" can be seen on all sides of the building

Within the past month brand new windows have also been installed which have made working inside the building significantly warmer. With the window cutouts open the wind whipped through the building, and with the cold winter winds rapidly approaching it will help to make work go a little smoother

A little over a month ago a new sewage pipe and new water main were both installed under the Grand Street sidewalk; a process that eliminates any potential future problems if we were to have used the old existing system.

Wintergarten

Out back, the foundation for both the Wintergarten and emergency staircase has been completed and construction on the emergency staircase is ongoing. In the last three weeks, the concrete back wall and support pillars were erected for the Wintergarten area.

View of Wintergarten from main entrance (emergency staircase on left next to scaffolding)

View of Wintergarten from the 3rd Floor

Kitchen

After jack-hammering through the concrete floor and cutting out the iron I-beams, new PVC plumbing pipes and new grease-traps were set to match the final layout of the kitchen. The maze of white pipes was covered by dirt and now the only remnants are the stacks sticking out of the ground.

Cinder-blocks are for support columns. Floor level will actually be close to where you see the color-divide on the wall

Main Dinning Area

In mid-October the electrician ran all of the wires in the ceiling for all of the lighting and within the past week the ceiling was sheetrocked bringing it one step closer to completion.

Metal tracks are to space out the layers of sheetrock for fire-proofing purposes

New plumbing was installed underneath the concrete flooring and the tracks that were cut out for those pipes have since been filled in with dirt then had concrete poured in.

View of dinning hall from front entrance

 Bathrooms

The bathroom areas were framed with cinder-blocks and their plumbing was set along with the instillation of the new sewer system. Just like in the kitchen area the majority of the pipes that could be seen a month ago have had dirt dumped and packed down over top of them. 

Office

The office will be located on the second floor of the Pilsener Haus building. The office area needed to be stripped of all the old plumbing on its walls as well as have the paint scraped off the bricks. About two weeks ago carpenters started to frame the areas in the office for the employees’ locker rooms as well as the owners’ office.