INTERVIEWS
|
Bob
Hewitt
Seedorff Masonry, Inc.
|
JACK
SHEPARD INTERVIEWS BOB HEWITT FOR STORY ON IOWA STATE CAPITOL
RENOVATION
Interviewed February 29, 2000
JACK
SHEPARD: Bob, how many years have you been out here and what's
the future look like for this project?
BOB
HEWITT: Well, we started here in February of 1997. We expect
to be out of here in July of this year [2000].
JACK
SHEPARD: You've been working on this south side the entire
time?
BOB
HEWITT: We started up here at the east side of this pavilion,
and we've gone all the way around the building to the west side
of the pavilion. And now we're finishing up on the porch, which
is the south side. This is Phase VIII; the whole job is bid in
phases. And we're doing what is called Phase VIII.
JACK
SHEPARD: After you retire and you look back at this project,
what's this going to mean to you?
BOB
HEWITT: I was going to retire four years ago, and then we
got this project, and I said, "Well, gee, I'd like to do that
before I retire." So I asked them to let me do it, and they agreed,
and that's why I'm here. I'm going to be sad when it's over. It's
been a fun experience, enjoyed every minute of it. Quite a lot
of challenges, but it's been a lot of fun.
JACK
SHEPARD: Yeah and everybody I talk to is impressed with this
Capitol and the way it was built back in the late 1800s. Has that
been your opinion also?
BOB
HEWITT: Not a day goes by that we're not totally amazed at
how they constructed this building with no more equipment than
they had. It's just totally mind boggling. We have all the equipment
in the world. We've got half-million-dollar cranes, we've got
forklifts; we've got everything you could think of. And still
some of that stone is a challenge for us to elevate and set. These
guys did it with nothing but block and tackles and pulleys and
ropes and manpower. It's amazing!
JACK
SHEPARD: It's been a passion, too, maybe?
BOB
HEWITT: Yeah. And everything is not exactly precise. I mean
the stone over in that corner of the building is not exactly the
same as the one over here, but they're so close that it's amazing.
JACK
SHEPARD: Do you think that everybody associated -- at least
on your crew -- is a little proud also of working on this project?
BOB
HEWITT: Oh, every one of 'em. We've stopped or shut down for
two winters. This winter we worked continually, the winter before
we closed down for the winter. And in the spring I'd call up the
guys and say, "You want to come back?" The response was usually,
"Oh, absolutely, absolutely we want to come back!"
JACK
SHEPARD: Tell me about some of the toughest things that are
involved with doing your job.
BOB
HEWITT: Of course number one is safety. The company is really
big on safety. In fact, we are as individuals too. Nobody wants
to get hurt. And with handling materials of this size, there are
so many things that can go wrong. We look at a phase that we're
going to do, we discuss it, we analyze it and then maybe we'll
do it all over again before we ever touch the thing. One item
is up there on the porch. Steel shoring had to be put up to support
the roof while all the existing masonry was torn off. And then
when we put the new masonry back on, the steel shoring comes off.
Well, that steel shoring is in the way of a lot of the new stone
that we have to replace. We have some pieces that are 12 feet
long that have to be feathered in between pieces of steel and
actually set down on something and then re-hooked to get back
where we wanted them. Things like that created quite a challenge.
JACK
SHEPARD: I remember you having to get a bigger crane for some
of that stuff. Do you remember how big some of those have gotten?
BOB
HEWITT: The two stones that set back to back on those columns
were about 18 feet long, and they weighed 8 tons a piece. We had
to bring in a special crane to set those two. Our crane would
have handled it, except that we had it set too far away to reach
it, so we had to bring in a special machine to do that. It took
forty minutes to set those two pieces of stone after we got that
machine in.
JACK
SHEPARD: So that was the right move to bring in that other
machine?
BOB
HEWITT: It was a tremendous amount of money for that 40 minutes.
JACK
SHEPARD: But it probably put your mind at ease knowing that
you had the right piece of equipment for that job?
BOB
HEWITT: Oh yeah, we wouldn't attempt it any other way.
JACK
SHEPARD: That's come through in the way you've treated us
too; we've always felt like you wanted us to have this hard hat
on. You wanted us to be on a certain place on the scaffolding
and not moving some place where it was dangerous. I always felt
like you were looking out for our best interest too, and I appreciate
that. Have there been any injuries in any of the facets of the
construction?
BOB
HEWITT: Other than cut fingers, raccoon attack and maybe a
wrenched muscle, nothing.
JACK
SHEPARD: That's great. When you bring your grandchildren out
here and they happen to notice how great this building is looking,
what do you tell them?
BOB
HEWITT: I've only had occasion to have one grandchild here
and, of course, they don't really realize what it's all about.
They get to go inside, and the thing they're impressed with is
the gold on the dome. They don't really understand what we're
going through out here at this point. They will later, but I've
talked to a lot of kids and given them a lot of pieces of stone
for souvenirs. When they get a little older, they appreciate it.
JACK
SHEPARD: Now you're working at a really dangerous height.
If you don't watch what you're doing, it'll be the last step you
take. And it's on your mind all the time, I imagine.
BOB
HEWITT: It's on your mind all the time. You don't dwell on
it, except that you're aware of where you are. You're aware of
where you're stepping. You know you don't step backwards until
you know what's behind you and that sort of thing, but no, you
don't think about it. You don't dwell on it.
JACK
SHEPARD: Have there been some surprises, or is it just like
you've studied it well enough to know that if you take that piece
out nothing else is going to happen? The rest of them are going
to stay in there?
BOB
HEWITT: We've had a couple of surprises, and we've been pretty
fortunate that there wasn't a serious accident because of them.
For example, we'd be taking out a piece of stone, and it'll suddenly
break in the middle with no indication that it's going to break.
We take all the precautions in the world to prevent that from
happening. Or maybe we'll double hook it so if it does happen,
no problem. We've had one tremendously large piece of stone we
brought down, and it was probably five feet square and probably
a foot thick. I'm guessing it weighed 3000 pounds, and we had
it all the way down to the rubble pile, three feet from where
it was going to land, and it broke. That's scary!
JACK
SHEPARD: Can you say that this building's going to be in better
shape after you guys get through than it was when it was finished
back in 1894?
BOB
HEWITT: Oh yeah, absolutely. As far as structurally it probably
will not be in any better shape because structurally it's in pretty
good shape now. The only problem with it now is the stone projections
are all eroded and they've been falling off over the years. And
they are dangerous to people on the ground. But once you get by
the projections, the stone is solid. The building would last forever.
But it's because of the danger of those pieces falling off that
they had to replace it all. So, what we're doing now won't make
it any stronger structurally, but it'll make it a lot safer. The
building should last another couple hundred years, I would think.
