CLT

While it may have been expected, do not let the title fool you. In the long journey of every Rural Studio team, everyone will at some point come to a moment where they need to build a mock-up to test their ideas. What would be the point of a mock-up if everything always went exactly how we planned? The unexpected results of an expected endeavor are some of the most valuable lessons we have learned in our effort to design a home for Loretta and her son.

At the end of our last blog, we were ready to move the mock-up core. We were trying to test a few key factors from our design and construction process. Actually, we were mainly testing two factors. First, we needed to see how realistic, or possible, it was to try and move this core from the off-site location of the Fabrication Pavilion to its eventual resting place on-site. And second, we wanted to test the durability of the core and its finishes during this process. We are happy to report that both tests went better than we could have imagined!

Let’s walk through the process and our main takeaways. Our first challenge was figuring out how to move the cores on the Fabrication Pavilion. We used hydraulic forklifts for this step, and they worked just as intended. Next, we had to rig the core on the end of the Pavilion so that our friend, Crane Shane, could move it to the trailer. Here, we realized that the real cores will be larger than the mock-up, so the channels for the straps will be further apart to provide better stability.

Once the core was strapped to the trailer, we took the core on a “joyride” to simulate the strain it would be under over a longer distance. After arriving safely at the site, we rigged it again for the final move. We knew the main trick to this was to ensure that the core was level once it was placed into the slab depression. This went better than planned (unexpectedly we know), and it sat well within our tolerance for levelness and placement.

After celebrating this success, we had to tilt up the CLT (cross-laminated timber) wall that would, in the real project, help to form the area between the kitchen and bathroom cores that will be the laundry and mechanical room. We realized that despite our best efforts, the main slab was not perfectly level. So, trying to rest the wall on this unlevel slab and pull it tight to a level main core was a challenge. We managed this by using ratchet straps to pull it in tight. In doing so, the wall was now too tall due to the misalignments in the slab. As a result, when we placed the CLT roof (meant to cover this space), it did not line up perfectly with the main core’s roof as intended. To fix this, we will deliberately build the stud framed portion of this wall shorter than intended and leave the CLT portion larger than intended. For the real house, we will be able to tilt it up. Then, we can take the accurate measurements for the height of the CLT walls and make the appropriate cuts they need to fit between the two cores.

Lastly, like many students before us, we had to build the “house” part of the mock-up. Unlike our predecessors, who built mock-ups at a smaller scale, our core had to be full scale to adequately test the moving process, the rest of the build had to follow suit. Here, the benefit of a mock-up truly shined. We learned so much about what it takes to build a house. We saw how easy it was to make a small mistake and oftentimes, how hard it is to think ourselves out of it.

With all of this under our belt, we have finally begun work on the real project. We have also gotten the chance to meet with some more amazing reviewers and consultants.

All seriousness aside, we are still making time for a little fun!