Building Common Ground Kitchen & Taps in McMurray, PA

After the fire and the clearing of the old building, we were set to break ground. Then a foot of snow fell the morning of the groundbreaking, and the shovels waited a little longer. Once the ground thawed, the crew moved into overdrive. Underground pipework went in, the footers were set, and the first concrete was poured. None of it shows once the doors open, and all of it is what holds the building up.

From there, the concrete block walls began to rise. Window openings were framed in, and the footprint started to read like a building instead of a plan on paper. You can already see where the dining room will open up and where the afternoon light will come through.

Then the structural materials started showing up. Precast concrete components came in by flatbed, staged and ready for the crew to set into place. Each delivery moved the build one step closer to a finished restaurant in McMurray.

With the walls in place, the heavy lifting began. A crane swung structural steel up and over the block walls, and the team guided each beam down into position between the lifts and ladders. Beam by beam, the frame of the building came together.

Steel roof joists were set across the structure, spanning wall to wall. Standing inside and looking up at the framing, it finally read as a real room, one that will soon hold a wood-fired oven, a full bar, and tables full of neighbors.

With the block walls standing and the underground work in place, the crew poured the interior slab. A walk-behind power trowel made the first pass across the surface, and a finisher followed on kneeboards to hand-trowel the wet edge. The sprinkler riser and floor stub-ups are set and capped, waiting on the rest of the building to catch up. It is a rough gray floor today, and it is the one people will walk across on their way to a table.