Another busy week of moving dirt. The foreman estimates that contractors have moved about 500 tons of dirt in the past few weeks. Why is so much Fairbrae dirt moving? Overall, the pavers will be sitting on a layered filtration system with different types of rocks and fill. We need to make room for trench drains, gas lines water pipes for the pool, and electrical cable. Digging also uncovers “buried” issues that would come back to bite us eventually if not addressed. We’ve had several examples of this in the past few weeks:
- Pool pipes need to be buried deeper than they were initially set. We will have new pipes buried at the appropriate depth.
- Pool skimmers (suction points for pool filtration) and related piping will be replaced and updated.
- A gas line leading to the clubhouse was discovered to be quite corroded and needed replacement (see images below)
Note corroded gas line pipe (under L-shaped pool piping)
From a different angle (Clubhouse), you can see how the gas line is being dug out.
There was extensive corrosion found in the electrical panel in the equipment room, likely due to chemicals that were stored in the area at one time (some years back). We believe this because the corrosion is unique to this area. The corroded panel and affected areas will be replaced.
When we discover something like the gas line mentioned above, we consider options and costs. Do we still need it? How much would it cost to replace it? PG&E comes out to assess the situation. We decided the cost of replacing it was within our contingency budget and leaves our options open. We’ll have gas for the near term, and a future board may decide to upgrade to electric if the cost/benefit works out in the future. RDL bids out a contractor to replace the pipe. In this case, it was much cheaper to have the contractor currently digging to do the work as an hourly add-on to their current work.
These are the issues/decisions coming up at this point. We are close to moving to and above ground level, where there should be fewer surprises. Bill, the RDL foreman, believes we are close to this point, and that we should see some above ground changes in the next few weeks. The locker rooms are cleared out, and since they are not in the “dug up” area, work in these areas can be prioritized.
We are aware, especially on beautiful days like we’ve been having, that our club is still closed for recreation. We’ll keep asking RDL about the tennis court availability timeline. The pool will be inaccessible for longer than the tennis courts. We were close to an arrangement with Cupertino Hills when they had a power surge and had to shut down for repairs. We thought they’d be back in action by now, and will keep following up. I went to my old Mountain View YMCA for a swim at the end of October. My first time in months, and it made me realize how much I miss swimming. I was planning to re-join for the next few months, but they told me they were closing the pool on November 1st for renovations. We’ll keep trying, but clubs are a bit territorial, and options are limited. We appreciate your patience – the structural updates in the rehab will let us be in control of our own destiny for future swim seasons.