Raising the Roof in the Old Section!

I have some wild photos for you today! During the last few days, the construction crew has been removing the roof from the old section of the building.  These first few photos were taken last Friday, and show the roof removed from the old hallway area.  This section will have a raised atrium roof to let in the light.

This photo was taken from the old audio books collection area.  You can see the remainder of Leslie Twitchell's lovely Idaho mural to the right.  Our old entrance doors are now blocked off.  They will eventually be an emergency exit.

These fun pictures were taken right down the middle of the old section.  If you keep heading down that hallway, you'd get to the new side of the building.

The walls are still coming down as well.  This is our old staff break room and restroom area.  This will eventually be public restrooms.

This photo was taken from the farthest north west corner of the old building.  The window is our east window where the Adult Collection used to be.  You can see the sunlight streeming down through the opening in the roof.

This is what our old entrance looks like!  You can see the monument to the previous library (the one that went in the flood) out the window.  This area is now a construction zone.  No one can be admitted here without a hardhat.

Here are a couple of views of the hole in the roof.

This photo was taken from the farthest south east corner of the old building.  Its looking through the entire youth sections.  Again, you can see the sunlight coming in through the hole in the roof.

This final photo shows our flagpole and flag that sits out in front of the old library.  With the construction flags, it looks like a carnival!

Putting on the Roof

On January 25th, the construction crew began to put the roof boards on.  They used the big crane to get the boards to the roof.  Here's a few pictures -

Then the crew pulled the boards in place.  It was quite a process to watch!

Here's a photo showing the amount of snow that had fallen in through the atrium into the interior of the new library:

Now with the new roof going up, the crew won't have to fight the snow so much.

Putting up the Roof Beams and Supports

In early December, the construction really began to take off.  It became much more evident how big the new addition really was as the crew put up the first of the roof beams and support posts.  Later, ceiling trusses would be added. 

Here's one of the construction workers connecting one of the roof beams to an upright support.
 

The weather also played its role - note the snow in all these pictures.  The cold didn't delay the process too much, however!  The work went right along.