C.H.O.I.C.E. House

Raise the roof! The C.H.O.I.C.E. House is finally dried in. After several days of dodging rain, pollen, and morning dew, the team wrapped up our roof assembly with 64 panels of charcoal gray metal. Of course, we couldn’t have done it without 5th-years Meagan and Ashley, John Marusich, and our resident roof cognoscente, Andrew Freear.

With the installation of the ridge vent and bathroom vent done, our heavy hat is officially complete, meaning we can turn our attention inward and onward to preparing for drywall installation. 

 

The biggest pre-drywall tasks are plumbing and wiring, both of which are well underway. Plumbing involves running hot and cold lines to the showers and food prep sink, as well as installing vent pipes in those same spaces. We’ve also run lines to the washer and an outdoor spigot. The plumbing process is like a puzzle. When solved correctly, you get a hot shower and clean dishes! Wiring rough-in, on the other hand, is something akin to weaving al dente spaghetti through a popsicle stick loom. One bright yellow cable at a time, we’re connecting circuits of switches and receptacles and fixtures, around 40 in total. The results are shocking! 

Once these larger tasks are complete, we’ll be able to finish pre-rocking, framing our interior soffits, installing our ducts, and tiling the showers. One might say we’re really “springing” forward. Until next time, when we’ll be sheet-rocking and rolling. 

Around these parts, Kermit isn’t the only green guy movin’ right along! Keep reading to see how our team’s been preparing the units to leap into winter.

First things first—both the units and the third volume are fully sheathed! Having a fully enclosed “shell” to work in offers a couple advantages: As it gets colder, we can focus our efforts inside the units and away from winter wind.

In addition, we’re planning to take a couple weeks off at the end of the year to celebrate the holidays and spend time with family, so having a waterproof layer of sheathing protecting our wood framing offers some peace of mind during our hiatus.

We also had the privilege of receiving our first big group of visitors since last May’s Pig Roast. Each December, current 3rd- and 5th-years present their work to external reviewers for an end-of-the-year critique. To kick off the day, students, faculty, reviewers, friends, and family alike caravanned to our site for a quick look at our headway. Some of our visitors hadn’t seen the project since it was still on paper, so it was exciting to share our progress.

Getting right back to work, we installed the fascia and wrapped it with metal flashing. The width of the fascia gives the appearance of a thickened roof plane or “hat” that reveals itself under the porch as an assembly of thin layers. How’s that for a detail you can hang your hat on?

Moving inside, we poured both units’ showers. With those last two pours, all of our interior concrete is done. That means as soon as we return in January, we can dive right into framing our interior walls. 

Now, the team is signing off for a much needed break. Make good C.H.O.I.C.E.s, and we’ll see you all in January.

Howdy, folks. It’s time for another C.H.O.I.C.E. House roof raising roundup. Y’all know the drill, so let’s jump right into what we’ve been up to since our last post.

It’s been a long time coming, but we are happy to finally report that trusses are up! Thanks to our friends working on Patriece’s Home and the expertise of “Crane Shane,” we raised all 25 trusses in one day. Everyone was pleased to see our 8:12 gabled roof make its way off paper and onto the streets of Uniontown as well as a first look at our big hit, the porch!

After truss day, we wasted little time moving right along to bracing and purlins. The bracing helps connect the trusses to each other and offers some more stability while sheathing the roof is in progress. Purlins are horizontal support beams that support rafters in the roof. We also installed hurricane straps as another layer of protection against future severe weather events.

Purlins were a multi-day adventure. For our readers looking to put up some purlins of their own, the process looks something like this. First, harness up (safety first!) Next, install the sub-fascia along the East and West ends of the units. Use the sub-fascia as the starting point for your first purlin. Make sure the purlins that are exposed under the eaves are painted gray before you install to ensure a coherent detail language. Alternatively, locate a younger student and hand them a ladder and a paintbrush. Begin moving up the roof! Adjust your harness as you climb. As you ascend, use the previously installed purlin as a step stool for placing the next one. Brace yourself against the wood to nail in the next 2×4. Take a moment to ask yourself: Why you didn’t wear knee pads? Finish nailing and make a mark for the next board at two feet on center. Repeat process until all purlins are installed.

On top of purlins, we also took some time to raise the trusses for the third volume with the help of Steve and the “Bob crane,” a.k.a. our Bobcat with a crane attachment. In the next few days, we’ll get the third volume sheathing going just like the roof of the main units.

Back at the main units, we’ve moved on to sheathing the roof. This team knows that the girls are capable of some tough stuff, so Hailey and AC have taken over the roof and turned it into a girls-only zone. Next time you see us, we’ll be dried in for winter, allowing us to frame up our interior walls without worrying about winter wind and rain. 

In the middle of all of this progress, we even took a day to dress up and check out the current 5th-year projects at Halloween Reviews. I guess you can say we think we’re hot (and spicy!) stuff.

One month since we last posted, and our site is practically unrecognizable! It’s been a productive few weeks out in Uniontown, so let’s catch up.

South Street’s newest slab was just itching for some walls, so we started by installing pressure-treated sill plates. Using a powder actuated nail gun, we shot nails through the lumber and concrete, giving our walls a solid connection to the slab. 

We then framed up all of the exterior walls, attaching them to the sill plates and bracing them back against the ground to keep everything plumb and level. 

After bracing the exterior, we turned our attention to the porch and ramp where there was yet more concrete to be poured. We built formwork for the column base, porch caps, and ramp edge. Over the next couple of days, we hand mixed and filled the formwork. Mixing the concrete ourselves allowed us to work at a slower, more careful pace and finish the pours to our satisfaction.

Then we were seeing green – green ZIPS panels that is. Thanks to the fine folks at Huber Engineered Woods, we started sheathing our walls to make them more rigid before raising the trusses.

And now we’re ready to raise the roof for real! Our trusses are on site and ready to be raised within the next few days. Until then, Auburn’s basketball team won’t be the only ones practicing their crane skills.