Blazer Hall

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Frequent and heavy rains during the construction of the all-concrete structure required that Hoar crews work long hours any time it was not raining, resulting in very long days, nights, and weekends for Hoar personnel. After the foundations were in place and the structure was several stories high, it was determined that the Plasticity Index (PI of 70 to 75) of the soils under the proposed first floor slab might cause heaving of any slab poured on and supported by the high PI soils. In order to prevent the heaving, Hoar removed the top 18” of soil under the slab and replace it with crushed stone. As a result, while Hoar was pouring columns and flat slabs on the upper floors, they were also removing and replacing approximately 4,000 cubic yards of wet clay in a virtual forest of concrete columns and footings.