wood

These Welds Were Made for Walkin’!

July 10, 2025

Hello and welcome back to the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog. Check out what we’ve been up to the past few months!

students pose with thumbs up nect to walkway — Thumbs-up for walkway going up!

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.

Student poses inside outdoor shower — Checking out our progress

Next, we lifted the continuous tubes into place. Once they were leveled, we bolted them to the compression frame at the recommended force.

Student levels continuous tube — Leveling the continuous tubes

Students bolt continuous tube to compression frame — Leveling the continuous tubes

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.

Student holds truss in place — Holding the trusses

Student and instructor level truss — Holding 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.

Students clamp end caps to truss ends — Capping the ends of the trusses

Students clamp purlins to trusses — Capping the ends of the trusses

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.

View of sheet metal going up — Roof going up!

Student screws metal sheet down — Roof going up!

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!

Rendering of Outdoor Shower Interior — One of our very early renderings of the Outdoor Shower

View of finished Outdoor Shower interior — One of our very early renderings of the Outdoor Shower

View of Outdoor Shower from outside — Finished roof from outside

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.

Students spread concrete for pour — Concrete pour

Instructor shows student how to finsh concrete — Concrete pour

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.

View of finished walkway piece — Walkway ladder #1

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.

Students guide walkway piece into place — Guiding it into place

Students bolt walkway into place — Guiding it into place

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.

Team poses for picture on walkway — Team with plywood cutout Logan

Man poses with cardboard cutout — Team with plywood cutout Logan

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.

Student cuts walkway channel — Coping channels

Student drills into walkway channel — Coping channels

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.

View of tools used for installation — Tools for Installation

View of tools after used — Tools for Installation

The day wouldn’t have been complete without a little more excitement, this time with Shane’s truck getting stuck on our muddy site.

View of truck pulling out stuck tow truck — Whoops!

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!

View of finished walkway — Walkway model

Student balances on walkway structure — Testing our balance and the structure!

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.

Student cuts pieces for trusses — Cutting pieces to correct angles

View of truss jig — Cutting pieces to correct angles

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.

Students pose above Outdoor Shower roof — Goodbye, Down There!

– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team

Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan

Tags: fabrication, modules, rs5thyears, rsleftovers, trusses, welding, wood

Happy Hale-idays from Bathhouse!

December 15, 2024

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog! We hope that everyone had a good and restful Thanksgiving. We would like to share a quick update on what’s going on before we get out of Hale for a few weeks and take a much-needed winter break!

students pose on back of truck with wood modules

First up, we are very excited to share the progress we’ve made with the walls! The new and improved process of creating the modules has been going very well. With this process, we choose six boards, cut their ends off, drill the holes for the threaded rods one by one using a template, stack them, clamp them, and screw them together, board-by-board, using the jig table. The sixth board can be planed down to the thickness needed to get to the overall module height. The module is then removed from the table and cut to length.

students drill holes into boards — Drilling holes using hole template

student uses saw to cut module to length — Drilling holes using hole template

Although this is a very time-consuming process, we are very happy to share that we are nearly finished with the modules for the toilet pod which means that we are about 50% done with all the modules for the project!

Student loads module onto truck — Loading the modules

Students carry module — Loading the modules

On site, we have made progress with finishing all the groundwork. The water supply line has been put in place, and all the electrical breaker boxes have been installed and wired to the main supply.

image of electrical boxes on back of building — Breaker boxes at the toilet and shower pod

We have also had all the CMU block finished for the boot-washing station foundation at the beginning of the bathhouse and the greywater filter at the outdoor shower.

student buries water line — Water line going in!

view of finished CMU — Water line going in!

The team has filled the greywater filter with layers of sand and gravel, placing landscape fabric in between. This filter will clean any soap and shampoo from the runoff water of the outdoor shower before the water enters the infiltration trench.

Student poses with CMU block — Greywater filter CMU in progress

view of finished CMU block — Greywater filter CMU in progress

Drawing of Outdoor shower and greywater filter — The greywater filter is an extension of the outdoor shower foundation and will filter the run-off from the outdoor shower

We also have a very exciting update regarding the steel components of the project. After presenting our project to Jim Turnipseed of Turnipseed International, he has graciously offered to help support the Bathhouse by donating the materials needed for the walkway and roof structures. He has also agreed to lend space and assistance to teach the team how to weld and fabricate the walkway frames and roof trusses. We are so grateful to Jim for his incredible generosity and willingness to support the Bathhouse project and Rural Studio.

image of walkway structure model — Walkway structure model with color-coded, removable pieces

students present using model — Walkway structure model with color-coded, removable pieces

The team has decided to move forward with the construction of the walkway as the first steel components of the project. The walkway will provide a floor surface that is crucial when the team is ready to start stacking the modules in place on site. Recently, we received the first part of the walkway structure, a series of channels that will be attached to the sides of the pods and hold up the walkway frames.

Students pose with metal pieces — We got metal!

Our good friend Brad from Superior Metal Works helped us by drilling holes, cutting slots, and welding some small plates and channels to these pieces.

students load trailer with metal — Load her up!

students talk through fabrication — Load her up!

Once he was done, the team started the process of cleaning and sanding the metal. We quickly realized it would be much better to have them sandblasted if possible.

Back to Brad’s we went and got the beams professionally sandblasted and ready to be painted!

image of sandblasted metal pieces — Sand!

students pose with metal on trailer — Load her up, again!

We have spent the past couple of days painting the beams with two coats of paint. The team will install them all on site early next week (fingers crossed)! Having the walkway supports in place will allow us to double-check our measurements and update any walkway drawings, if necessary, over the break.

student paints metal — Finished painted walkway supports!

students paint metal — Finished painted walkway supports!

After winter break, we will pick back up hard on the modules for the shower pod with the goal to finish them by February. We will also be going to Turnipseed in Birmingham to start the fabrication of the walkway frames and roof structure. We are happy with the progress being made and can’t wait to send another update out in the new year!

Thank you so much for reading along and Happy Holidays from your friends in Hale!

– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team

Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan

Tags: bathhouse, designbuild, modules, rs5thyears, wood

Ditching the Groundwork and Going Modular!

September 25, 2024

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.

Students pose with thumbs up on stacks of wood

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.

student drills into concrete foundation — Dowelling into concrete slab of outdoor shower

2 students pose with finished rebar in foundation trench — Dowelling into concrete slab of 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!

student scoops fresh concrete — The water filling station

fresh poured concrete foundation — The water filling station

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.

students clamp wood pieces to table — Clamp!

student measures module of wood — Clamp!

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.

students screw wood frame — Assembling frames for “Abigail”

students lie on wood frame — Assembling frames for “Abigail”

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.

student poses while chiseling concrete slab — Chiseling!

student chisels concrete off CMU blocks — Chiseling!

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.

picture of pipe in trench — Main Sewer Line

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.

students put last module of stack in place — Putting the last module in place

students pose in front of stacked modules — Putting the last module in place

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!

finished stack of modules for outdoor shower

To prepare for the final stacking on site, we have also added the metal termite shield to the curbs of the outdoor shower.

student drills holes into termite shield — Adding termite shield and drilling holes for threaded rods

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!

student drills through board — Improved drilling process

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.

plan perspective sketch of laundry pod — Laundry pod

plan perspective sketch of getting ready pod — Laundry pod

We are so excited with how everything is turning out and can’t wait to see these spaces come to life!

student poses with cutout cardboard heart

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

Tags: designbuild, masstimber, research project, rs5thyears, wood

Curb Alert!

July 10, 2024

Hello again and welcome back to the newest addition of the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog! We are so thrilled to show everyone what we’ve been up to recently! We have a big concrete update, but first—we’ve started stacking our wood walls!

student team poses in outdoor shower — Progress on the outdoor shower!

This is super exciting because this is the major focus of the project, and will be the finish wall material in most of the spaces. Continuing with the construction of the outdoor shower, we have started the stacking here. With the help of the jig table that we built a few months ago, we can align our pieces of cypress wood on one side (the interior of the building) and can clamp them down to the board below, creating a uniform module of five pieces.

stack of timber on fabrication pavilion floor — Choosing pieces

student stands on jig table with wood — Choosing pieces

We are assembling the modules in the Fabrication Pavilion so we can have a clean working surface. This allows us to stack the modules as they will be set up on site, get everything square and level, and then move the modules in place on site.

We have just a few more layers of modules to assemble and then will begin the process of drilling the holes for the threaded rods in each module.

image of a corner of the stacked outdoor shower — Box-joined corners

As the stacking of the outdoor shower walls was taking place, we also began the process of pouring the concrete curbs around the perimeter of the outdoor shower. We marked the curbs on the slab, assembled framed walls in place on the slab to hold the plywood formwork, and then leveled and attached the plywood to the formwork frames. Next, it was time for the pour!

image of interior curb formwork — Outdoor shower curb formwork

With the assistance of some great helpers, we were able to form a wheelbarrow and bucket brigade, lifting the concrete up into the curbs in the outdoor shower.

students scoop concrete from wheelbarrow to buckets — Helpers, helping

student dumps bucket of concrete into curb formwork — Helpers, helping

After two days, we were able to remove the interior formwork and the vertical formwork walls on the exterior, revealing the hefty slab and curbs!

image of finished slab and curbs — Waterfall edge on west side of outdoor shower

Once we saw how the pour went for the outdoor shower, we used the same process to build the curb formwork for the toilet and shower pods.

students use chalk to mark lines for formwork locations — Marking curbs/formwork

students assemble formwork frames — Marking curbs/formwork

Pouring the outdoor shower first did teach us some things, including how to attach the plywood to the frames and the need to account for gaps at the seam between the formwork and slab due to the leveling process, and generally we learned the overall process of getting the concrete into the curbs.

students pose with caulk on their hands — Caulk hands!

After caulking all gaps, the formwork was set and it was ready to pour!

image of finished curb formwork on toilet and shower pods — Before the pour

Again with the help of some fantastic helpers, we recently poured the curbs for the toilet and shower pods and are so excited to almost be done with concrete!

students scoop concrete from wheelbarrow into buckets — More helpers, helping!

student dumps concrete bucket into curbs — More helpers, helping!

image of toilet and shower pod right after concrete pour — After!

As this is being written, the team has been taking off all the interior curb formwork and the exterior vertical walls on the toilet and shower pod, revealing the slab and curbs!

image of slabs and curbs of toilet and shower pods without formwork — Take a look at those slabs and curbs!

We have another concrete pour coming up in a few days. This next pour will be for the foundation of a gray water filtration system for the outdoor shower run-off and the foundation of the bottle-filling station at the front of the building. We are already busy preparing for that pour with more digging and more rebar! Afterward, the only concrete left will be a topping slab going into each of the existing pods (the laundry and getting ready pods).

student looks through survey — Surveying!

student measures and marks footing on ground — Surveying!

The team is very excited about the progress being made and cannot wait to dive back into the assembly of the wood walls for the outdoor shower and the rest of the building!

students take a rest in outdoor shower — Time for a nap!

Thanks for following along with the Bathhouse blog! We look forward to providing another update very soon.

– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team

Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan

Tags: bathhouse, concrete, designbuild, research project, rs5thyears, wood

New Leftovers in Hale’s Kitchen

May 10, 2022

Howdy from the Moundville Pavilion team! Recently, we were on a nonstop train ride as our final official semester of college came to a close with Pig Roast festivities, Executive Reviews, and graduation. And soon, construction will begin! Woohoo!

Pig Roast

Rural Studio’s Annual Pig Roast was a hit! The team presented the final design to friends, family, and alumni. Thank you to all who came out and celebrated with us and a very special shout-out to Hank Koning and Julie Eizenberg for speaking at our Pig Roast graduation ceremony.

Posing in our “I love Rural” Pig Roast shirts

Section drawings explaining the pavilion’s relationship to the surrounding campgrounds

We celebrated big at the annual Pig Roast Valediction Ceremony

Executive Review Part 2

Following Pig Roast, the team had their final Executive Review with Justin Miller, Rusty Smith, David Hinson, Emily McGlohn, and Judith Seaman. The reviewers provided much-needed feedback to help move the project forward as we prepare for construction.

Discussing the details of the pavilion roof and ceiling

Explaining the proposed process of construction

Moving Forward

In addition to all the celebration and reviews, the team has been meeting with the Studio’s structural engineer, Joe Farruggia, to finalize the column design, and Bill Zahner, of Zahner Architectural Metals, for some advice on aluminum panel systems that are appropriate for our ceiling and roof.

We graduated!

See ya next time!

Sincerely,

Official leftovers of Hale’s Kitchen.

Tags: designbuild, graduation, moundville, moundvillepavilion, pigroast, pigroast2022, rs5thyears, wood