River of Life Church
Job Facts
Tons of steel: 57 tons
Architect: Bignell, Watkins, Husser Architects
Contractor: Tanner & Sons
Project Manager: Tony Tanner
Subcontractor: B&B Welding Company, Inc.
Erector: LR Willson & Sons, Inc.
Anchor rods. Put one in wring and you’re in a whole world of trouble. Put 24 in wrong, and your world turns upside down.
But that’s just what happened with the River of Life Church job in Prince George’s County Maryland. The contractor, Tanner & Sons, had never taken on a project of this magnitude before. And apparently, neither had their concrete man, because his handy work very nearly sunk the project.
Enter B&B.
Following AISC guidelines — our standard operating procedure — B&B required an anchor rod survey before erection. The results: we had never seen such a high percentage of anchor rods set outside of AISC tolerance: 24 of 25, or a 96% failure rate. Tanner, who was not familiar with the concept of the survey, was stunned.
“Just imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t insisted on the anchor rod survey,” says B&B’s Ralph Eisenhuth. “The cost would have been two to one. It would have been the nightmare scenario.” From the crane rental to the idle men on the field — the costs would have been massive.
Needless to say, the concrete guy had some explaining to do. But we didn’t stick around to hear him. Instead, we put our heads together to solve the problem. After receiving a proper survey with centerlines, we reached the conclusion that not every anchor rod could be relocated. Instead, the concrete guy reset the elevations. “They were off up and down, left and right,” says Ralph. “Everything was out of whack.”
Working on-site and with our models, we replaced all 24 base plates. Where possible, we moved the base plates on the column shafts to make the bolt connections fit. Hardly ideal. Nevertheless, the changes did the trick. And all Tanner could say was, “Thanks guys.”
Not surprisingly, the job encountered considerable delays. The steel erector, LR Willson, had to reschedule. The trades scrambled as well. With the anchor rods behind us, we fabricated the beams and columns for the three-sided, boomerang-shaped church. For the bell tower, we recommended galvanized steel support. And when the balcony of church started to say from the design flaw, we fixed that problem too.
What’s the lesson learned here? “We’re sticking to our guns on the anchor rod survey,” says B&B’s Dennis McCartney. “This job just emphasized how correct the AISC is in recommending the survey prior to erection.
