Construction Blog #3

Happy New Year from everyone at the Pilsener Haus and Biergarten! We hope that everyone had an exciting and festive holiday season and is excited for 2011; we sure are.

As the calendar was changing from December to January the site of the Pilsener Haus and Biergarten was going through many changes of its own. As you will see below in the third installment of the Construction Blog, there are many noticeable and exciting developments over at 1422 Grand Street.

The Building

Over the course of the past few weeks many parts have gotten delivered that aren’t necessarily being installed right away, but will be needed in the coming weeks. They are currently a few doors down in storage while the rest of the construction prepares for them.

The motor for the new elevator which will need a crane to be lifted into place on the roof

New pump for the sprinkler system which will be housed on the first floor

Another major development is that all of the central duct work has been installed on floors two to four. The duct work will be for all of the ventilation as well as air-conditioning. These main ducts are housed in the back wall of the mechanical closest on each of the upper floors.

All of the addition ducts for the bathrooms and rental spaces will branch off of this main chase.

The elevator company has also installed the new elevator doors on all floors except for the main Biergarten level. These are the finished products and, besides the windows, are the first pieces that have a final finish on them; most of the work done on the job so far has been either a base or sub-layer.

The masons helped by closing off most of the elevator door assembly, leaving only a small space on the left side for the electric push-button connection

Sprinkler and Main Mechanical Room

This area will be located towards the main building entrance and secondary Biergarten entrance (the Main Entrance for the Biergarten will be through the Wintergarten area on 14^th street). This floor was poured around the same time as the stairs leading out to the Wintergarten, but the framing for this area was completed in the days leading up to Christmas.

The old pipes on the left hand side of the picture will be moved into the encased closet with the new pump system.

Wintergarten

This has also gone through significant changes since my last entry. During the last update, the rebar construction for the Wintergarten floor had just been completed. Now, the cement floor has been poured and the walls have been erected even higher and are approaching their final height.

Here is a short video of the Wintergarten area from the fourth floor with some of the masons making an appearance.

The steel archways for the Wintergarten have also been delivered and are being stored in what will eventually be the “beer cooler” area in the back of the kitchen. The archways will be completed by the same team of workers who installed the custom smoked-glass, steel-frame windows for the Biergarten.

Kitchen

The concrete floor was poured right after Christmas and the initial duct work as began to take shape up in the ceilings for the cook-tops and grill.

Bathrooms

The bathrooms for the Biergarten have begun to take shape. The concrete floors were poured the same day as the kitchen was and the walls have started to rise in both the men’s and women’s rooms.

Main Dining Area

The moment that everyone has been waiting for, the initial construction of the bar has begun! The bar will be pretty much half the length of the back wall (as you can see below). It goes from the Wintergarten stairs all the way to the very back wall, which buts up against the electrical room.

In this picture you can also see that the ceiling as been spackled (the white dots and lines) as well as had some small soffits framed out (upper left side) along the back wall for wiring purposes

Please feel free to fill the comment section below with any questions you might have (which I will try answer in the following entry) as well as ideas for what you readers would like updates on.

We hope everyone has started off 2011 on the right foot and good luck with all those New Years Resolutions!

Check back soon for more updates!

Construction Blog #2

Since my last Blog entry there have been a handful of both noticeable and subtle changes at the Pilsener Haus and Biergarten in Hoboken, NJ. The individuals that are working hard to bring you this establishment have battled through frigid cold and bone-chilling winds over the past two weeks in order to continue their progress on this building; and until late last week, were working without any heat in the entire building.

The reason that it took so long to be able to turn the heat on was because of the fact that all of the windows were not installed and there were some emergency exit doorways without doors. However, some addition windows were installed, and the three or four spots that are still missing them have been boarded up (along with the doorways) so that no wind whips through.

Don’t get me wrong, it is by no means an island beach resort in there. The Biergarten has one of those big industrial heaters that you see all of the football players huddled around on the sidelines; the upper floors have one heating unit each. All heaters run off of natural gas and are regulated by thermostats which are set to 45 degrees. Yes, 45 degrees… the main purpose of these heaters are to take the chill out of the air so that 1) the sprinkler pipes don’t freeze 2) to take the bone-chillingness out of the air to allow the workers to be able to bare being there and 3) so that no one is spending an excess amount for 70 degree heating on a building that’s not 100 percent airtight just yet.

The Building

As I stated above, the biggest difference is that the heat was turned on for the building. Another major improvement is on the back emergency case stairwell. The staircase will be double-walled with the inside layer being cinder blocks and the outside layer is brick- in order to match the buildings exterior.

A view of the stairwell from the 3rd floor window

Showing the dual layers of the stairwell

 

Also getting pieces added was the plumbing on the upper floors. The cast-iron waste pipes are in (black) as well as the PVC pipe (white), and now some of the copper piping has also been installed for the water.

Copper pipes are for water supply, Cast-iron pipes (black) are for the drains, and PVC (white) pipes are the air flow pipes

The last major building improvement of the past two weeks has been that the elevator company, after stripping the elevator shaft of its old parts, has installed the new electrical tracks and began to install the frames for the new doors on every floor.


Wintergarten

Earlier last week, trenches in the Wintergarten were dug and the plumbing laid in for the bar area that will be along the back wall. After the dirt was filled back in, a layer of tiny rocks was spread on top followed by a large piece of plastic. When that was finished the masons then constructed a grid of rebar, or reinforcing bar, which will add even more support when the concrete is poured in for the floor of the Wintergarten

The white pipes are part of the plumbing

Kitchen

Similar to the Wintergarten, the kitchen area has also had a layer of dirt added too it in order to level it out. Also, where the side wall used to be, has been knocked down in order to make the kitchen and storage area just about three quarters of the length of the building. The kitchen used to be half the length of the building with a wall separating it from a storage area.

A view rom the kitchen looking towards the storage space. the floors will eventually be much closer in height then they are now

A view from the storage space with the wall knocked out

Main Dinning Area

In the dinning room, the areas were the PVC drainage pipes were sticking out of the ground, have now been cut down and had their finished grates installed at floor level.

The back wall which leads out to the Wintergarten has had its trio of doorways installed. The door frames are made out of steel to fit with the theme of the Biergarten, and the masons have laid bricks on either side to match the rest of the interior

In addition, since the Biergarten is actually slightly below ground level, the area leading out to the Wintergarten has had concrete steps poured.

There is a metal rim on the corner of every step to prevent chipping of the steps over time.

The ceiling in the restaurant area has had all of the tracks for the fire-rating installed and the second layer of sheetrock that gets screwed directly into them has started to go up… before the second layer went in, all wires were run in the ceiling for all of the audio and surveillance equipment.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season! Check back just before the new year for additional updates!

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.