I Description of property
Houlihan Stadium "The Big Sombrero"
- former home field for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This facility
had 365 expansion joints (70 feet high), 896 pipeline holes (75
feet high), 16 aisle corridors (40 feet up), over 15,000 feet
of bleacher expansion cracks, 42 ramp expansion cracks (20 feet
high) and a sign over 80 feet tall. These all served as home to
well over 50,000 bats.
II Description of problem
The Big Sombrero was scheduled for demolition but the project
had been halted (thank goodness) until the bats could be safely
removed. Three other firms were contacted. Two said the job
was too large and the third said that it would take several
months to complete the job. Friends of Bats was consulted and
guaranteed the job would be completed in 10 days and that the
facility would be bat free within 14 days.
We were actually a bit off in our estimate. The job was completed
in 7 days with a 3-man crew.
We installed one-way exclusion flaps on all of
the expansion joints and other roost sites. Over 3,000 areas were
serviced totaling over 100,000 square feet of materials used.
Access was gained using multiple boom-lifts, ladders and body
harness climbing equipment.
IV Unique attributes of this project
Great heights with thousands of cracks, holes
and other hiding places were our biggest concern. By the end of
the seventh day we had serviced every possible roost spot in the
facility. On the eighth day, we rested - and celebrated!
When the time came, the Big Sombrero went down
with a bang. Thousands of people watched in person and on television
and not one bat was seen, not one bat injured. In fact, they were
probably watching from a new home not far away.
What some viewed as an impossible project was completed in 7 days!
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