We're Open!

It's been a long journey! A lot has happened since our last post, but we'll have to fill in the blanks later. Here are a few photos of our finished climbing terrain. Creating our climbing walls was a multi-staged process, ending with artistic coloring done by the scenic artist for the Lord of the Rings movies! (We'll share some photos of that process very soon.)

Our coursesetting has been headed up by six-time ESPN X-Games medalist, Chris Bloch. Chris and a team of very talented setters have done an awesome job of filling our walls with super grippy new holds. We have enough set to keep anyone busy climbing for weeks! Notice the chalk on the holds and floor... we couldn't just let the walls sit there, could we?

A Few Fun Photos

Building Bridges Rock Gym has taken a lot of hard work from a very dedicated team. With our opening just weeks away, we thought we'd share some photos of the fun we've had so far.

Ready to Climb??? (almost!)

Here is the Rockwerx team in action. These guys are awesome. Watching them work so hard day after day with steel, plywood and texture to turn the little model on the computer screen into to real climbing terrain has been absolutely amazing.

Mezzanine Flooring

With many flooring options to choose from, we selected a true linoleum product for the mezzanine café and lounge. Linoleum is an entirely organic and biodegradable material that is extremely durable.

Electrical, Plumbing, and Heating

We tore everything out, and started from scratch. Our good friend Skippy took on the enormous task of running all the new wiring.

The Rock Walls Are Here!

After much anticipation, our walls are finally here! Thanks to Cort at Rockwerx for being so patient with the design process. We are very excited to see them go up.

Sewer Replacement

Well... we have to make sure the toilets flush! This meant putting in a new, bigger, better sewer line. Subcontractor dogs are always a bonus.

Painting the Ceiling

When we found this building, the ceiling was one of the first things we fell in love with. The trusses reminded us of old railroad bridges, and we could see that there was beautiful wood under all the peeling grey paint. It took some time to power wash, scrape and wash again, but we cleaned it up and gave it a couple of fresh coats of paint.

Framing

The past few weeks were spent framing the locker rooms, offices, childcare room, main entrance, lounge, café, and fitness area. It's very exciting to see the concepts we've been staring at in the form of black & white drawings being turned into real three-dimensional space.
Whenever it was possible, we purchased FSC Certified lumber. There are many lumber certifications out there, but the FSC stamp is the most reliable assurance that the wood being used has come from landowners and harvesters following strict rules with regards to sustainable forestry practices.

We also used engineered lumber, made of smaller bits of wood all glued together. The main benefit of this process is that it reduces the number of large trees that need to be cut down. Engineered lumber is also stronger than the same dimension of regular lumber. As a result, we'll enjoy a slightly higher ceiling on the mezzanine than would have been possible with wider sawn lumber.

Concrete Day!

The new concrete for the locker rooms, offices, and child care room is complete! The rush to finish setting the steel was worth it. It was very satisfying to see the team of concrete workers working so smoothly and efficiently. During a break we got them to give our scissorlift-tightened slackline a try!

Over the next few weeks we'll be framing the walls and mezzanine to handle the weight of the fitness equipment and cafe.

The production of concrete's main ingredient, cement, emits over a billion tons of carbon into the earth's atmosphere each year. In order to do our part in reducing this emission, we chose a concrete mix that replaced 50% of the cement with steel slag and fly ash. Both of these materials are industrial byproducts, and often end up in landfills. As we walk around on the new concrete, it's nice to think of how over two tons of CO2 were saved from our atmosphere, and 3300 lbs of waste were diverted from our landfills. Check out this YouTube Video about Green Concrete.

Setting Steel

We thought it would be a good idea to install the concrete reinforcing steel ourselves. Turns out this is one of those areas where the "tricks-of-the-trade" were trickier than we thought. The difficulty of it is that everything is permanent once it's surrounded by concrete, so all the future locations for walls, showers, saunas, sinks, toilets, etc. had to be laid out exactly. It all worked out in the end, and after many long days (and nights), we finished on schedule!

Underground Plumbing

The plumbers did a speedy job of installing new underground plumbing for the locker rooms over the past 3 days.

Concrete Demolition and Digging

This area will soon be a fresh new concrete slab for the locker rooms and childcare area. All the trenching is for the plumbing pipes and concrete footings to hold the cafe mezzanine above.

This was a fun phase of the project. Watching 7 or 8 guys remove 15 cubic yards of concrete and hand-dig another 20 cubic yards of dirt in just 3 days was amazing. Plus they leveled the slackline yard so fast we missed the photo opportunity. And the cleaning continues...

The Scissor Lift

The right tool for the job...

Demolition

Rather than just sending it to the landfills, we sorted all the material we tore out and recycled a ton (literally) of steel and hundreds of pounds of copper. This is just the beginning of our commitment to building our gym as green as possible. Damian Cooksey, Owner and Manager, is a NARI Certified Green Builder. Sustainable building materials and practices are in the plans for all elements of the construction of Bridges Rock Gym.

What do you do when you have a bunch of stuff that needs to be torn apart? We debated hiring a professional demo crew or inviting a few friends to come in and have some fun. We decided to have fun with our friends! Here's the destruction in action.

Cleaning, Cleaning, and More Cleaning

Since it was used as a machine shop for many years, our building was VERY greasy. I don’t think it has been mopped for 62 years! These photos are of the beginning of our cleaning process (we’re still cleaning!)


We had to buy a power washer to clean the dirt and grime from every square inch of the building. Without this beast, it would have been impossible.

How many gallons of Simple Green will it take?!

Progress! Here you can see the difference between a clean wall on the left, and... a not so clean wall on the right.

Another use for the power washer.

Washing dishes!

The Future...

Looking at the building, it’s fun to think of how much we’ll transform it in the next few months. Remodeling a warehouse that has been used for industrial purposes for 62 years takes a lot of planning and a ton of imagination. Plans for the layout of the gym are complete! Here are a few photos of the building before we started the remodel.





View of the Hill



Future Party Room



Future Grass Lawn



Boulders to the left, slacklines to the right



Future Main Entrance



Future Cafe



Future Men's Locker Room



Future Women's Locker Room



Future Child Care Room



Future Cave

The Building Search Ends

After years of searching for the right location, we walked into a rough warehouse on March 14th. Former home to Long’s Drugs cabinet shop, Glaser & Associates, and Marvin Collins Construction, the charm and beauty of this old warehouse immediately impressed us.