Hello and welcome back to the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog. Check out what we’ve been up to the past few months!
At the time of the last update, we were just wrapping up stacking the modules for the outdoor shower’s walls and preparing to install the metal roof structure.
We got our good friend Shane back on site to help us out with the installation. First up was the compression frame on the top of the walls. After welding the rods to the frame, we tightened the bolts to the recommended pressure, compressing the wood walls into place.
Next, we lifted the continuous tubes into place. Once they were leveled, we bolted them to the compression frame at the recommended force.
With the tubes in place, we marked the locations for the trusses and lifted them onto the tubes. Shane then welded the three trusses into place. He also welded the diagonal support bracing between the trusses.
Next, we marked out the locations for the purlins, and once again, Shane welded them to the trusses. With the trusses and purlins in place, we welded the tubes to the edges of the trusses and purlins, capping all the open ends. This step makes the trusses and purlins appear as planar surfaces instead of singular objects. With all the welding complete, we cleaned and painted the welds and touched up any other ugly spots on the structure.
Finally, we were ready to put up the sheet metal roof. We started with the north side of the outdoor shower, making sure to measure to set points on the trusses to ensure the spacing of the sheets was even.
We were able to do this very quickly, and it completely transformed the experience of the space. Although it looks like our early renderings, it’s even better than we imagined in reality!
On site, we poured the small concrete pad on the top of the boot washing station at the front of the building. Steve helped us with the finishing work and taught us how to do the edging and broom finish. This little slab will support a water hydrant that comes up through it as well as several boot scrubbers and/or a water hose reel.
After we finished installing of the roof structure and completing other site tasks, we made our way back to Columbiana to continue with the rest of the metal fabrication. We began working on the walkway ladders, continuous tubes, plates for the ceilings, and the other miscellaneous roof pieces.
Before we knew it, Pig Roast was almost here! The team made a big push to be able to show off what we could of the metal work on site. We were excited to have the first piece of the walkway done, and Shane came out to the site again to help us put it in place. We also finished a mock-up of the guardrail with the help of Flo and Luis in the shop. The mock-up was clamped in place on site to give visitors an idea of the fully finished walkway. We also set up the outdoor shower so that visitors could climb up and experience the space and views for themselves.
With another year down, it came time to celebrate everyone’s hard work and incredible projects at Pig Roast! Although it was rainy and muggy, nothing could rain on our parade. We had a great time showing off our project and the progress made to all our friends and families. We also enjoyed participating in all the evening festivities as well.
The excitement didn’t last long because we had to get back to work in Columbiana. We started back up on the walkway ladder pieces. This work consisted of us cutting the channels to size, coping the ends of the channels to fit together, drilling any holes, leveling all the pieces, welding the outer frame, adding the bracing tees within the frames, and welding those to the channels. We also cleaned and painted each ladder piece when we finished. We have finished fabricating four of the five walkway ladders.
After we had the four walkway pieces on site, we called on Shane once again to help us out. The installation wasn’t the easiest, but Shane and our two helpers were great, and we lifted all the ladders into place and secured them to the structure.
The day wouldn’t have been complete without a little more excitement, this time with Shane’s truck getting stuck on our muddy site.
After working so hard on the design of the structure and fabricating the ladder pieces in the shop, it is very rewarding to see the walkway coming together on site. It looks just like our model!
While working on the walkway, we also continued making progress on the roof structure. We cut out all the pieces for the trusses with their angles. We then used those pieces to help lay out a jig to build the trusses with, just like how we did with the outdoor shower. This process ensures all the trusses are the same. Then it was time to get to the welding. We laid out the pieces, clamped them to the jig, welded the top side, and then flipped them over to every other side and welded them as we went. Once all 31 trusses were welded, we cleaned up the welds and then painted them. Recently, we were able to transport all of them back to site.
The team is delited with the progress being made in the metal shop, as well as site. We have a few more metal things to fabricate but will be wrapping up the work in Columbiana shortly. We will refocus our efforts on finishing making the modules for the shower pod.
Thank you so much for reading along, and we already look forward to speaking again soon! Stay tuned for more fun updates.
– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team
Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan
