Cedarbrook on schedule

At 400 linear feet per day, work is right on schedule to complete the infrastructure at the new 30-unit Cedarbrook housing development at Iola’s north edge.
A crew from Burlington Construction is on the scene, working rain or shine.
“We’ve been doing a lot of covering and uncovering during the rain and pouring between rains,” said Jeremy Hugunin, crew foreman. Burlington is doing the concrete work on the project, both streets and curbing.
“They’re doing a great job,” said Jeff Bauer, Iola’s code enforcement officer.
“We’re meeting our quota every day,” said Hugunin.
The eight-man crew frames up, smoothes out and adds stress-relieving saw cuts to the concrete curbing by hand each day.
“It’s a pretty good feat, really, to pour 400 feet by hand,” said Burlington Construction owner Tom Hugunin.
Altogether, the crew will have laid 9,000 linear feet of curbing by the time the project is done.
“We will concrete the street as well,” Tom Hugunin said.
After slicking the cement to a surprisingly smooth surface, the crews coat the curbs with a sealant that both cures the concrete and prohibits its drying too quickly.
“On residential work, it’s not done a lot,” said Tom Hugunin, but the treatment helps strengthen the curbs by creating a better bonded product. “We have 12, 55-gallon drums of sealant” for the project, he said.
Much of the work the crews are doing is invisible to the untrained eye.
Hugunin explained it’s part of the physics of concrete: “Concrete cracks, so you have to give it a place to do it.”
“Every 12 inches there’s a saw cut through the curb and the street,” he said. That provides room for the concrete to expand when hot and contract from when cold, without stressing the overall structure.
Every 30 inches along the curbing, there is a 1/2 inch piece of L-shaped rebar, acting as a frame to hold the street to the curbing. In addition, beneath the street surface are an array of “dowel baskets:” metal rebar frames that acts as a floating bed for the concrete. These structures weave the street together, also prohibiting cracks.
The end result is streets meant to last many, many years, said Hugunin.
Grading of the housing lots should start in June, as soon as the curb work is done, said Bauer.
The houses are scheduled to be built beginning in fall, Bauer said, and should be ready for occupancy by the end of the year.