Hello and welcome back to the latest edition of the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog! It has been a very productive couple of months, and we are thrilled to share an update of what is going on down at the Bathhouse.
As of our last post, we had just finished up with the concrete for the slabs and curbs and were preparing to pour the foundations for the water filling station and the gray water filtration system at the outdoor shower.
We finished up the rebar and got to pour both foundations, and we are now awaiting the final CMU blocks for both to be laid!
Off site, we continued making the rest of the outdoor shower wood modules for the walls. To drill holes through the modules for the threaded rods to go through, we built a jig with metal drill sleeves.
Once we got all the modules done, we designed and built “Abigail,” our alignment bracing interior jig, to align and justify all the interior faces of the walls. As we were finishing up with the outdoor shower, we were thrilled to receive the rest of the wood for the toilet and shower pods! We moved Abigail and the outdoor shower modules underneath the Supershed to make some space for the new wood.
Before we knew it, summer flew right on by, and we were preparing for the new semester. While very scary, it also meant that another week of “Neckdown” Week was upon us! This year, we were lucky to be working on site all week with an excellent group of helpers each day. Our goal for the week was to be finished with most of the remaining groundwork and the site rainwater infiltration trench. We had teams digging trenches for electrical and plumbing lines, chiseling concrete from the slabs and CMU blocks, taking apart our formwork from the slab concrete pour, and organizing and restacking bundles of our new wood.
Our good friend Tyler from C & T Excavating came back out during the week and spent a day digging the water infiltration trench and then filling it with gravel. This infiltration system is basically a large French drain that will collect the water runoff from the roof and most of our adjacent site. This water will move through the trench and filter into the ground slowly, preventing erosion and buildup of water around our foundations.
The next day, Tyler came back to dig a trench for the main sewer line to the septic tank, placed the PVC pipe, and then refilled the trench. He also spent a good deal of time mounding dirt around the foundations of the building to help direct site water away from the structures.
While all of this was happening, the team restacked the outdoor shower precisely by using Abigail under the Supershed. This allowed us to level each layer and move modules around as needed to ensure the best fit.
Very soon we will begin the process of manufacturing the roof and all metal pieces. Once we have the roof structure ready to go on site, we will begin the process of restacking the outdoor shower on site!
To prepare for the final stacking on site, we have also added the metal termite shield to the curbs of the outdoor shower.
More recently, the team has been very excited to begin creating the modules for the toilet and shower pods! After stacking the outdoor shower, the team decided to have the wood for these pods planed on two sides, making the process of stacking the boards much easier. It has also made the modules much more level and even to each other.
We have also made the process of drilling the holes into the modules much easier by drilling the holes into one board at a time instead of through the whole module. This has led to many less broken drill bits so far. We are also very happy with how the new modules are turning out so far!
As we speak, we are continuing to make modules, finishing the rest of the groundwork (water lines and connecting to electrical service), and finalizing our drawing set in preparation for the building of our roof and walkway structure. The team is also diving headfirst into the details of the design of the interior finishes and fixtures.
We are so excited with how everything is turning out and can’t wait to see these spaces come to life!
While we are happy with the progress being made, we are super excited for the next phases of the project and cannot wait to begin the process of learning how to weld and work with metal in the shop.
Thank you so much for reading along and keeping up to date with all things Bathhouse. We look forward to the next time we can provide a super exciting update!
– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team
Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan