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One of five wavy wooden ceiling panels in the new library. More complex photos in June 3 Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger FB post. Linda Lemmon photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — As the clock ticks down on the end-of-summer finish date, the work ramps up on every level at the new Municipal Complex.
Elaine Sistare said that the project is still under budget. Ed Ladd, Downes Construction Company project manager, said that the project is on time. The official date for the town to begin moving in is mid- to late August but Ladd said they hope to give the town the opportunity to move in in early August. Sistare said after getting settled in, the town would like to open to the public in early September.
Ladd said work is coming along. Many offices have carpet “planks” installed (if a section of rug is damaged or stained, that “plank” can be replaced). Painting is progressing. Most of the window framing is installed and stained. The window shades should be in in two weeks. Cabinetry is going in. The prep kitchen has most of its cabinetry installed and the fiberglass-reinforced plastic walls, which are easy to clean and disinfect, are up in the kitchen.
Against that progress is, this month, a speed bump Downes is “working through” — defective glass. Ladd said a fair number of windows and glass installations had to be rejected — sometimes twice — because of scratches in the glass. Two soaring glass installations, the two-story front entrance and a tall wall of glass in the library, are waiting for replacement glass sections.
With humidity arriving this week, Ladd said they are putting up plastic barriers to keep the humidity from affecting the millwork. He told the building committee and town officials touring the property June 3 that he expects most of the glass to be in by the end of June. The glass that will grace the grand staircase at the main entrance is coming from a different manufacturer and once it’s installed it will be encased with millwork.
In the library, the ceiling was painted white in the adult section and one of five wooden wavy ceiling panels is installed. In the reception and children/teen half of the library, the ceiling will be painted light gray.
The tiling in the bathrooms is finished and Ladd said the week of June 13th the bathroom partitions will come in.
The 115 doors will be shipped for prepping on June 20 and will then be installed. In an effort to allow the Aspinock Historical Society to move all its records and collections currently stored in a trailer, Downes installed a temporary door on one of Aspinock’s storage rooms. If that gets the OK from the building inspector, the society can move its records.
Outside the concrete walkways and sidewalks are finished. The rain garden is mulched and planted as are some of the plant beds in front of the Municipal Complex. Many trees are also planted.
Ladd anticipates a July 6 date, weather permitting, for paving. The two entrances and one exit to the complex off School Street, as well as the roadway through the complex will be finished.
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