Superior Walls: Zero to Done in a Day

Just as Superior Walls of NC owner Bob Bauer had previuosly explained to us, this amazing process was conducted with precision, efficiency, and on a frightfully cold, sunny day. The three flatbed semi trucks and 100-ton crane rolled up to the building site at about 7:30 am. I arrived about 8:30. At 11°F, they were dressed for the tundra, and working hard, prepping the base gravel and running snap lines along the track of the incoming Superior Walls.

After three hours of that, along with much discussion about how best to get the 250 linear feet of concrete wall panels from the trucks on the street, 125 feet back into the lot at the building site. They had hoped to have a boom truck to transfer the panels, but with some mechanical and scheduling conflicts, that wasn’t happening. So, options:

• Could they jockey their flatbed semis back up into the driveway to get them closer? Nope.
• Would they get a larger crane with a longer boom (which would have torn up some tree tops as it swung back and forth with 5,000–6,500-lb. concrete panels)? That would postpone the entire job a day, at considerable added cost. Nope.
• Could some strings be pulled to get the boom truck they thought wasn’t available, within an hour? Yup.

By noontime, (when the temperature had soared to 15°), the process of setting the wall panels had begun. By 6 pm, as the sun had set, the moon had risen, they had completely installed the entire lower level wall system, and were clearing out. Here’s more background on Superior Walls.

• The first video captures some high points, in just under 10 minutes.
• The 2nd video is a quick tour of the walls, inside and out, taken a couple of days later.