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| 28021 Coker-Vail Rd * Holden, LA 70744 * Phone: (225)567-2700 * Fax: (225)567-3089 |
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| INNOVATIONS |
| Gator's Den "Floating" Sewer Treatment Plant |
| Manchac, Louisiana |
| Gator’s Den Bar and Restaurant is located in a Louisiana Swamp off Lake Maurepas. Due to a boom in their local video poker business, the owner’s were undertaking a major expansion in the only direction possible - up! This expansion would double the size of the existing bar. The finished design is a lighthouse with its beacon extending 65 feet above ground level. When complete, the Gator’s Den Bar and Restaurant will be a landmark in the Manchac area highly visible from Interstate 55 between Ponchatoula and New Orleans.
Gainey’s was contracted to design, manufacture and install the Gator’s Dens’ 5,000 gallon per day extended aeration sewer treatment plant. Manufacturing the precast tanks was the easy part. The design required us to work through the details of setting a sewer treatment plant out on a cantilever slab. The installation required our 4-man crew and our Heila HLR 45000-2S crane truck to lift four 17,000 lb. concrete tanks under a power line, over a wall, which included all the bar’s electrical wiring, and set it 20’ out on a slab 30’ x 30’ wide. Obviously, site conditions required us to take every precaution possible to ensure safety. With extensive pre-planning, this tricky installation took only two hours. Bystanders were amazed to see the speed in which the precast concrete tanks were assembled to form the sewer treatment system. The cantilever slab was counterweighted on the bearing soil area. We used extra steel reinforcement (0.4in²/lf) for resultant shear and tensile forces as the sewer treatment plant extended 20 ft into the swamp area on the slab. The influent lift station was set in the swamp on a two-foot bed of limestone and tied into the cantilever slab to float with the overall slab and sewer treatment plant. To seal this mid-seam above ground plant, we used a specially designed flexible membrane to provide a watertight seal. To complicate matters, the plant is under periodic vibration caused by twice-daily freight trains passing within 100 yards of the site. A combination of rubberized canvas and Sika Flex-1, a polyurethane sealant, served as the membrane. To ensure that the patrons of the restaurant and bar are not disturbed by the sewer treatment plant literally right under their feet, we installed a special low noise blower package. This blower package will yield a mere 70 dB, which is 110 dB less than a traditional blower package. The alternative to setting this system in the swamp was to use their limited parking area or adjacent property. This saved them the time consuming and expensive task of additional land acquisition. Special concrete berm protection was provided as a safety precaution. Should there ever be an overflow from the plant, the berm wall system will simply contain the flow and reroute it back into the lift station. This avoids serious environmental liability and potential damage to their building. The use of precast concrete provided a quick and seamless installation schedule. The restaurant and bar were never closed during construction, and their bathrooms were down for only twenty minutes during the final tie-in. |
| Valve Protection & Access Structure |
| Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
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| At a construction site in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pipelines carrying steam and volatile liquid were installed earlier this year. The lines ran seven feet below the ground within 10ft parallel to an existing roadway. To complicate matters further, the lines were mistakenly installed without shut-off valves. This was discovered when a Subcontractor hit the line during construction and was unable to shut-off the lines. In this emergency situation, the lines were uncovered, cut, capped, and retrofitted for shut-off valves. The general contractor left the area open with the roadway shored until a solution for access to the valves was developed.
A local plumbing company was called in to solve this dangerous dilemma. They asked their precast provider to design and manufacture a tank that could be placed under the valves and allow access to shut off the valves from above. The precaster manufactured a 7’x7’ riser 8’ tall from a panel mold system that would straddle the lines and create access to the shut-off valves. Finally, a flat top was placed on the structure with a cast iron ring and cover for top entry to the shut-off valves. Down time for the project was kept to a minimum because of the quick turn around and simple solution. |
| Precast Castle Tower |
| Hammond, Louisiana |
| “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” But, poor Rapunzel had no castle from which to fulfill this request. That is when a local precast company came to save the day.
Nestled in the heart of Bayou country north of New Orleans, the Louisiana Renaissance Festival has drawn large crowds each year since 1999. The Festival brings to life what an English village and festive marketplace might have been like during the Renaissance. Known for having peasants, gypsies, knights, jousting, and even sword-fighting, the Louisiana Renaissance Festival was looking for a new addition – a castle. The local precast company worked with an organizer of the festival to make this dream a reality. Knowing the versatility and durability of precast concrete, the precast company envisioned a castle that was both unique and would last a life-time. After exploring several design possibilities, a simple and easily assembled solution was found. The precast castle was constructed out of a standard 48” diameter manhole base and eccentric cone section. Styrofoam blockouts were used to create the door and windows, and manhole steps were installed to allow for access to the top of the castle. The castle was then painted and adorned with blocks to give it a true medieval feel. The precast company donated the castle to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival, where it is now dubbed “Christy’s Castle.” Christy is a thirteen year old blind girl who tells stories to children in front of the castle. After story-telling is over, all of the children have the opportunity to play in the castle and climb all the way to the top. So, now that Christy’s Castle has a permanent home, thousands of festival-goers each year will see a majestic use of precast. |
| Killian, Louisiana |
| When local developers, Bruce Easterly and Jerry Eisworth, started planning for their upscale riverfront gated community, they consulted Gainey’s Concrete to assist with the design, manufacturing, and installation of the entrance features. While contracted to provide the drainage structures for the project, our vice-president, Lynette Gainey-Lobell, introduced the developer to our new architectural block building system - World Stone. This new architectural block line portrays the look and feel of cut European limestone with the economy and convenience of precast. At the time, they were just breaking ground. We met with one of the developers onsite to better understand their vision of the development. He wished to market to high-end residential homeowners who desired an affluent, estate atmosphere in this waterfront development nestled along the Tickfaw River. The developers wanted a unique, impressive entranceway to set that tone, which ultimately will also be the location of Easterly’s own home. Since it was the first project of this scale for their development company, the entrance had to balance both grandeur and economy |
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| The design process was truly a partnership in which our design draftsperson, installer, and developer worked to accommodate the customer’s vision along with the practicality of the property layout. After eight revisions, the customer finally had the look they sought at a price that met their budget. The final design captured both the elegance and history of the area with three coordinating features – two gated entrance structures and a waterfront sign. |
| With a project of this magnitude, utilizing 371 precast components measuring approximately 30”x12”x20”, planning was priority to assure a coordinated and uninterrupted manufacturing, shipping and installation process. During batching, powdered beige pigment was integrated into the concrete to yield the “Tuscan Sand” color of World Stone. All components were produced in only four weeks. A meticulous plan was developed for delivering the components according to site location and timeline of construction. The products were palletized, bound and labeled at our plant. Due to the extensive coordination efforts, the six truckloads of block were delivered seamlessly in only two days. Installation of the structures was rapid and smooth, in part because the components were easily identified and always close at hand. The two main entrance structures were constructed in only fifteen man-days, a record pace for our installer. From production to installation, the precast portion of the project took only 37 man-days! The entrance designs incorporated a ship’s wheel with a centered sawmill blade and logo mounted atop a carefully crafted recessed archway. The sawmill blade was used to pay homage to the history of the land, which had been a sawmill that serviced areas far away from its riverfront location. The entrance to the estate side of the community will incorporate a water fountain in the basin of the precast block structure, and the other entrance structure will contain a large palmetto. The World Stone structures’ sleek look makes an elegant statement when combined with the wrought iron fencing. |