14-Classroom Addition Coming To Kensington Parkwood Elementary

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) started construction on a new addition for Kensington Elementary Schools in 2016. Completion of the project is for August 2018. Planning Department staff were generally favorable of the addition plans and recommended the Planning Board, in its advisory role on school construction projects, ask MCPS for minor additions such as bike racks and widening nearby sidewalks by one foot. Kensington Parkwood, the school at 4710 Saul Road  is no stranger to addition projects or overcrowding. The original 1952 school building underwent a renovation and expansion in 2006 that bumped up its capacity to 472 students in a 77,000-square-foot building.

There were 643 students enrolled in the school this year and seven portable classrooms located along the side of the building that face Saul Road.The approximately 25,000-square-foot, two-floor addition will add 14 classrooms and teacher support spaces, and expand the existing multi-purpose room. This will increases the core capacity of the school serving kindergarten through fifth grade to 746 students, eliminating the need for the seven portable classrooms. The new addition is being built on the south end of the site on a hilly area directly in front of the main entrance and has left room for a small courtyard between the addition and existing building. The addition project would also bring 10 additional parking spaces, increasing the total at the school to 60 spaces.

Scope of Work

For this particular job the General Contractor Keller Brothers  as our to team to install an air barrier systems transition membrane and spray foam insulation. Air barriers systems are an essential component of a well-performing building envelope. They are the first line of defense in maintaining energy efficiency and improving indoor air quality. As moisture and air seep into a building, its structural integrity begins to deteriorate.

The Spray foam insulation of all types rely on using two specific manufactured ingredients that are mixed and formed in the field by skilled installers. Typically, these highly trained professionals will use equipment that is mounted in a trailer or truck. Flexible hoses carry the needed ingredients from there to a hand-held gun that both mixes and sprays the combined product onto the surfaces being insulated. As soon as the two parts are mixed, a chemical reaction begins causing the liquid mixture to foam, expand, and eventually take its final shape. This customized on-site application means that the sprayed insulation readily conforms to the shape and geometry of the surfaces it is being applied to while its chemical make-up provides the needed properties for it to adhere to those surfaces.