More than 100 MiniBlocs are at home in a historic building in downtown Detroit, after a large renovation. The David Stott Building received a total rework, from ground floor to penthouse.
The 38-story building, named after the owner of David Stott Flour Mills, opened in 1929 and cost a whopping $3.5 million to build – extremely expensive at the time. The Great Depression was just around the corner, and because of the economic downturn, the David Stott Building was the last skyscraper built in the city until the mid-1950s.
After renovation, the building will have storefronts on the lower level, four floors of offices and 33 stories of apartments. Crews working on the building wanted to retain its historic look. They went through extensive work, which included tapping on individual bricks. If one was loose, it was removed, remudded and replaced.
Inside the building, crews installed Viega ProPress, MegaPress and the PureFlow System. The contractors, Guideline Mechanical, were already on board with using ProPress from a previous installation, and then Viega District Manager Michael Norgan encouraged the use of the Viega PureFlow System as well. The contractor had previously used PEX products, but not specifically the Viega PureFlow System.
MiniBlocs were specified from the beginning of the project because of the scope of work. Norgan said Viega’s systems were especially useful because workers could shut off the system at specific points if they needed to work on individual fixtures, without having to shut down the whole system.
MiniBlocs and ManaBlocs provide quicker hot-water delivery and less pressure loss. They also provide the ability to turn off individual fixtures – similar to operation of an electric panel – for future maintenance.
