Pipe Dreams

April 14, 2022

Work has really ramped up in the past couple weeks! Our chairs are nearing completion, we’ve created more watercolor paintings, and the plumbing for Rosie’s Home has been finished and buried! Scroll down to see more of what we’ve been up to!

Entrenched in Our Work

We’ve spent the last few weeks digging trenches on our site. Through driving rain, the roof kept us dry enough to continue working. After marking out the placement of various fixtures, we were able to complete the plumbing for our wastewater drainage system. Then, we performed a flow test to check the slopes of our buried pipes and ensure that the water would drain properly away from the building to the septic system.

The team checks the batter board string accuracy.
Then we mitigated drainage issues on-site.
Did the flow test work??

Once the pipes for water and electricity were safely buried and the ground was level, we brought in the Bobcat and spread gravel across the footprint of the building to prepare the ground for the incoming foundation. Next, we used shovels and rakes to spread the gravel evenly. We will level and tamp all of it to final elevation this week for the upcoming slab pour. After the initial leveling, we used some of our excess gravel to repair Rosie’s driveway.

The team used the Bobcat to unload gravel.
We used the site level to ensure the gravel was evenly spread.
The extra gravel was used to repair the driveway
Crunch, the cat, joined our site shenanigans.

Next week, we will be preparing to pour the concrete slab!

That’s History

Our class visited the Jemison Mansion in Tuscaloosa, AL, and the many outbuildings of an 1800s farm in Folsom, AL.

We discussed the details of the Jemison Mansion.
We visited the old Folsom General Store.
We saw the famous Folsom Seedhouse.
We also sketched the Corn Crib in Folsom.

This week, in lieu of a tour, we had a review of all of the sketches and watercolors we have made this semester. This included a watercolor that we recently completed of a house that each student designed. These houses were designed to be as self-sustaining as possible, as well as serving as a beautiful subject for our paintings.

Chair-ish This Moment

All of the teams have been making great progress on their chairs in Woodshop Class. The Zig Zag Chair team has begun assembly. The Alto Stool team has been steam-bending and cutting out their stool tops. Finally, the Folding Chair team has been testing the foldability of their assembly and begun cutting mortise and tenon joints for the feet of their chair.

Tune in for our next blog to see the final results of our chairs and the progress on the slab for Rosie’s Home!