{gallery}06_08_10/gymdemo{/gallery}Demolition crews weakened the steel reinforcements of the old gym by bending them, using a trackhoe as a sort of battering ram Saturday morning, moments before the roof came cascading down. Brisco Demolition, a Cheyenne-based company, is razing the building. Tribune photo by Kara Bacon Demolition of the old high school gym entered a new phase last week as the walls of the original building began to come down.The project began in April with internal work. Actual demolition began with the addition to the gym built in the late 1960s, which included the Tartan Gym. That part of the project was completed by Memorial Day, and last week work on the original 1948 building began with the removal of the west wall. Saturday morning the roof came down, which will allow the demolition to proceed from the inside.

Bruce Riter, foreman for the project, said working from the inside will maximize salvage of materials from the gym. The steel in the structure is recyclable as is brick, but the brick must be kept separate from other waste to be recylable, and working from the inside makes it easier to do so.

“Our biggest cost is landfill costs,” Riter said. “The more we can recycle, the better it is.”

Riter said the contract calls for the demolition to be completed this month and site restoration by Aug. 3.

The gym will be replaced by a gravel parking lot, and the site will become available for planned construction of a lunchroom and additional classrooms for Powell Middle School.

Cost of the project is estimated at approximately $405,000.

Recycling the gym

A Powell High School student and his father have found a way to preserve a part of the old PHS gym in a unique way.

Logan Moore and his father, John, are using planks from the bleachers in the gym to create child-size picnic tables, shelves, and possibly other items.

The Logans purchased some of the boards, which were offered for sale recently at $1 per foot, and were looking for ways to use the wood. A small picnic table that Logan and his sisters had enjoyed when they were younger provided the inspiration, and the first table was completed. Late last week, they were completing the second one.

Both John and Logan enjoy working with wood, and John said he likes the idea of recycling old wood rather than discarding it. John's wife, Connie Moore, pointed out small cheese-cutters made from wood salvaged from the remodeling of a Meeteetse church as well as a shelf made from the wood from the gym.

John Moore said they have enough wood to make “about a dozen” of the picnic tables.