By Scott Pohl, WKAR
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-973459.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI –
Fifty-six feet of brickwork have now been removed from the top of the famous smokestack near Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University.
Now down to 189 feet, all of the white glazed blocks that once spelled out M-S-C, for the school's former name of Michigan State College, have been brought down. You're listening to a worker removing decades of grime from those blocks.
WKAR's Scott Pohl recently visited the site to talk with Erin Bowdell of MSU's Physical Plant for an update on the project
ERIN BOWDELL: "We have a chimney contractor working on this project, and they are using a climbing scaffold system, and this scaffold system is attached by a series of tension cables at the top of the stack. They're tied off, and they move the stack in pieces using this cable system that can basically climb up and down the stack. They move this in pieces, and they reassemble the scaffold as they knock the bricks in, and they're using hand tools. So, they're knocking the bricks down the stack, which they've found to be the safest method of removal. The brick demo itself is actually fairly quick; it's the scaffold and moving the system that takes the longest."
SCOTT POHL: "When I talked with MSU engineer Bob Nestle about this project a while ago, he described the top of the stack as being very unstable. The brick was crumbling. Was there any safety related concerns in terms of getting that scaffolding to stay where it needed to be, so the work could get underway, especially at the very top, where the brick was in the worst condition?"
BOWDELL: "According to the chimney contractor's staff, they found it to be acceptable for their system."
POHL: "In simplistic terms, it's my understanding that the red bricks are just shoved into the inside of the stack, they fall down to the bottom, they're removed from there. A special effort, though, is being made to preserve as much of the white brickwork as possible, the white bricks that spelled out MSC on the side of the smokestack. How is that different? Can you tell me about how the white brick is being preserved?"
BOWDELL: "Yes, we're taking the white brick out as we reach the letters, and we are dropping three bricks at a time. We're lowering them from the stack in buckets, and then we're cleaning and palletizing them for future use."
POHL: "How has that gone so far? Has any of it been unsalvageable because of its condition?"
BOWDELL: "I should clarify that this is not a brick. This is a glazed block, and so it has a thin layer of glazing, a shiny, glass-like finish on the block, and it's aged. Some of them are in better condition than others. There's some rusting. There's some discoloration on some of the blocks, and there's some heat stress, some cracking on some of it. So, whether or not we're able to find a useful way of preserving these and some future use, I'm not sure. I think they will maybe try to do that, but it's hard to say right now. We're just doing our best to take them down in good condition."
POHL: "So you're just taking down the white glazing as opposed to the entire block? Are they separated in some fashion? Am I misunderstanding you there?"
BOWDELL: "We are taking down block by block, so the glazing is on one face of the block, and we're doing our best to make sure we bring that block down intact, so we preserve the face."
POHL: "How big is each block?"
BOWDELL: "The blocks actually vary, but they're approximately six by five."
POHL: "As we speak, has the project progressed in the same time frame that you had in mind? Have there been any stumbling blocks to this point?"
BOWDELL: "We're moving along as projected. We should be substantially complete by August 19th, and so far, we've had no surprises in terms of taking the stack down. It is pretty much going as planned."