Skip to main content

Spring and early summer have been busy periods at the Railway History Center in Snoqualmie. Construction of the third phase – the Railway Education Center – is rapidly advancing, but Spike is a little behind posting photos.  Plumbing and electrical has been run inside the foundation, the concrete floor has been poured, and now framing is underway.  Here is a short gallery post incorporating some highlights of the floor construction.  Spike will follow up in a few days with another gallery post that depicts framing progress.

An excavator filled inside the stem walls with a select fill.  The
stem walls elevate the building above the flood plain.  Grade
beams and utilities are located within the walls.
 
Plumbers and electricians ran pipe and conduit below what will
be the first floor. Pipe hangers will attach these pipes and
conduit to the bottom of the concrete floor.
 
Lots of reinforcing bar is hidden in floor and foundation! The
Northwest Railway Museum is in a seismic zone and
commercial buildings like this must be designed to ensure
a minimum magnitude 7.2 earthquake without collapsing.
Substantial grade beams, the Geo Pier foundation, the stem
walls, and other features work together to achieve this
design requirement.

The concrete crew pumped concrete into the
rebar cages.
 
A large concrete pump truck simplified the floor pour by
delivering concrete exactly where it was needed.
 
The concrete pumper allowed the crew to direct concrete around
the utility pipes in an efficient manner.

A simple 2×4 board was used to level the concrete.

Hand trowels helped smooth the surface.

A larger trowel helped make the floor surface uniform.

After the concrete cured slightly, workers performed
additional surfacing to create a really smooth surface.

A power trowel smooths the surface of the floor.

The complete foundation and first floor is ready for the
framing crew!
Skip to content