San Francisco Construction Phase #3: Rough-ins
The Rough-ins phase is one of the longest and least-glamorous phases of construction, because almost everything is getting put in behind the walls. But it’s also the most important since it sets up everything that we need to get our space working–electrical, plumbing and structural.
To put in all the electrical conduits, Juan had to tear apart the ceiling. Can you spot the conduit snaking up from the ground to the ceiling?
Here’s another shot of the conduits running through the ceiling. These are for the pendant lamps and spotlights that are needed to light the space. You can’t tell from this photo, but Carlos is WAY up there on that scaffolding.
Power has to be routed to the space itself as well.
And all of that gets routed to this electrical panel!
Which looked much better a few days later.
Meanwhile, in the basement, the guys were setting up the pipes that will route water to our sinks and machines. Can you spot the copper pipes?
Here’s how they look above ground, built into the die wall that will soon be transformed into our drink station area.
And here are some pipes running along the back wall. Lots of water needed to make tea!
Here’s a shot of David inspecting the pipes to make sure the water is routed correctly.
And this is what we mean by rough-ins being not-so-glamorous. Weeks of electrical and plumbing work and not much seems to have changed to the space.
The structural rough-ins really made a difference though. Here’s a video we took of the space a few days later. Putting up the plywood takes a lot of time, so it’s a good thing these guys had some catchy tunes to listen to!
The plywood walls for the back area started coming together shortly afterwards.
Before each board was installed, Carlos had to measure out the specific locations for each electrical J-box. Their measuring process didn’t seem particularly precise, but the boards fit perfectly!
Special props to this guy for being able to hold up each board (over 80lbs!) using his neck…!
Now that the stuff behind the walls were all done, and the plywood walls were up, it was time to fill in the rest of the gaps with drywall/sheetrock. Stay tuned for an update on Phase #4!
