Rev.WalkersHome

A Variety of Tasks

August 9, 2021

Welcome back to my journal, dear reader! This log aims to provide for you an accurate account of the goings-on of Reverend Walker’s Home. Might my words inform or at the very least entertain, then I should be satisfied with its effect. I generally begin these entries with a current description of Hale County as a whole, to provide a context to place the actions of my crew.

As of late, the county has sunk into a thick, languid humidity that prevents large amounts of evaporation. This atmosphere results in dense fogs, oppressive temperatures, swampy ground, and incredible displays of heat lightning. It is not a forgiving climate, to be sure. But it is a West Alabama climate and it’s in it that the special quality of Hale County is made.

My crew labors through these conditions with spirit and humor. They are a hardy bunch indeed. But enough of my musings, dear reader, you must think me sentimental. I have set the team a multitude of tasks to be completed. These range from procuring materials and making final orders to wiring and plumbing the home.

Interior Framing

putting in the interior walls

To separate program and create a loft space, a small number of interior walls were built. These divide the living and core spaces, and divide the core space into a bathroom and kitchen, with a small closet facing the living area. It was not a big task, but it was a good feeling to be done putting the bones of the home together. After getting the sticks up we put together the loft floor and were ready to sheath.

Sheathing

Reverend Walker’s Home uses an OSB sheathing system wrapped in tar paper. The large sheet material makes it a relatively quick process. It was interesting to experience the space in and around the solid volumes for the first time.

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing

Before we can get drywall up, we need to install the guts of the home. This includes running wire for fixtures and plugs, running water lines, drains, and vents. Reverend Walkers Home uses a PEX water supply system. Getting to focus on some nitty-gritty MEP details was a refreshing change from rough carpentry.

Lighting Design

Before we can finish up electrical and get insulating, we need to develop a lighting strategy. To help we used the built volumes as 1:1 mockups, and clamped lights around to draw conclusions. We did this for the interior and porch spaces. Interestingly, our initial idea for lighting the exterior was to use the overhead roof as a lighting device. Instead, we found it far more comfortable to reduce the scale by bringing the light down. This has developed into an overall strategy of letting the spaces be grand and open during the day, and shorter, closer to human scale at night.

Windows

The quest to crank out window units continues. You will recall the custom cypress windows our team have designed. We are eager to complete these and get them in the house so that we can move forward with cladding the home in galvalume r-panel. In total there are five windows of three varieties. The difference being in the proportion of glass to hatch. I walked into the shop for some pictures, this is what I found Addie up to.

Indeed, my crew has been hard at work. I have put my full trust in them to perform their tasks well. Fortunately for me, they are a good lot which makes management easy, leaving more time to nap. As the Reverend’s home nears completion, look forward to learning about siding, lighting, and finish carpentry. Things are going to begin coming together fast. Alas, dear reader, I must draw an end to this journal entry, for I have grown weary. I believe I will choose the Reverend’s slab porch for today’s restful occasion.

Cordially,

Taterhead

Tags: Electricity, exterior sheathing, Lighting, plumbing, polebarn, Rev.WalkersHome, ruralhome, ruralstudio

Assembling a Rather Large Roof

May 25, 2021

Welcome to the blog, dear reader. This journal is my honest recounting of the design and construction of Reverend Walker’s Home. It is late May. Day by day we ease further into the dense atmosphere of the West Alabama summer. The thickness of the air is visible at certain times of day, beautiful and inescapable. This is the time when a big hat is a necessity rather than an accessory. This being the case, my crew has been pushing to raise the great pavilion roof that is the key feature of the Reverend’s home. The roof will provide a solar reprieve through the coming months. It should then please you, dear reader, to learn that a milestone has been made in this endeavor.

Barn Raising

Trusses are up! Thanks to Shane of Stillwater Machine, and our professors Steve and Andrew, we were able to get the six trusses lifted, secured, and braced in a morning. What follows is a summary of the steps my crew took to get to this point, starting from what I described in my last entry.

Soon after getting the columns up, the trusses were delivered, and we quickly realized there were a few discrepancies from our specified drawings. The mistakes were fixable so we brought out the angle grinders and got to work trimming steel. Once the revisions were done, the trusses were ready for the boom-truck to lift them into place.

To be perfectly truthful, the process was less smooth than this slideshow implies. There were many obstacles to overcome. But trust when I say, dear reader, that when ill-fated circumstances arrive, my crew does not despair. Due to my fine leadership skills, they rise to the occasion and do what has to be done with their heads held high. With my steady paw on the wheel there is no chance this ship runs aground. I will continue to document the progress of this home in future journals, but for now I see Reggie sitting, and therefore I must also sit. Look forward to accounts of mock-ups, roofing, and window making.

With sincere regards

Captain Taterhead

Tags: polebarn, Rev.WalkersHome, roof, steel trusses

Week 77: A General Update

March 1, 2021

Students working outside on Morrisette Campus

Live from Newbern, Alabama, it’s the Thermal Mass and Buoyancy Ventilation Research Project Team! 77 weeks in Hale County and the graduate student team is still firing on all cylinders. This post, they’ve got updates on concrete panels, drainage, and the steel walkway and stair. Plus, the wonders of the Wood-Mizer, a portable sawmill, for those readers who make it to the very end!

Panel Pour Product

*Section Isometric: a peak at the interior concrete panels*

A couple of weeks back the TMBV team poured four, new concrete panels. These panels were designed to test tongue and groove joining system. Also, this round of test concrete panels experimented with vertical formwork.

As predicted during the struggle of formwork construction and concrete pouring, the vertically poured panels did not turn out so well. However, the team made promising headway with the new joining method. Alright, now that the panels have cured, let’s take a look at the material.

Students undoing concrete formwork from concrete panel — Horizontal Pour… Easy Breezy

formwork lifted from half poured panel — Horizontal Pour… Easy Breezy

First, you’ve got to remove the panels from the formwork. You know from the team’s previous post that one of the vertically poured panels did not make it all the way through pouring. Look at that; live edge concrete!

rough edge of horizontally poured concrete — Vertical Pour Surface

However, the smaller vertically poured panel survived! The results were surprising, as seen above this panel had more air gaps than the traditionally poured panel. The students previously thought having formwork on all sides would create more even and consistent panels. But, without an open surface to trowel, the vertically poured panels were subject to more air bubbles.

The typical, horizontally poured panels turned out smooth and even as ever. And just look at that grooved edge!

Diagram showing the corresponding concrete panel surfaces and joints

Next, the concrete panels were attached to the Fabrication Pavilion pin-up wall to test the joints. The results were inconclusive. Some tongue and groove joints turned out well, while others broke at the edges of the panel. Going forward, the team wants to attempt a shiplap joint for the panels. Also, they’d like to make more, smaller test panels to assemble in a miniature wall configuration.

Drainage Days

As you can imagine, in the everchanging weather of late, the Test Building site became the town swimming pool. The 18″ deep hole containing the foundations was nearly filled to the brim during the past weeks’ rain. Luckily, the team, Mason, and a mini excavator got out while the sun was shining to install the drainage. The French drain leads from the Cooling Porch, betwixt the foundations, into the forest line.

Mason uses mini excavator to dig 18" trench for drain

student digging trench for drain between foundations

Rain between two foundations leading to woods

Walk this way

You might have been wondering how one day you might access the 30′ tall, 8′ above ground Test Buildings. Well, you’ll use the steel ships ladder and walkway of course.

As of late, the TMBV team students have been designing the fabrication and installation process of the stair and walkway. To detail the stair fabrication process, they partook in a classic rural studio technique; the cartoon storyboard.

Next, the team planned out the order of installation of the walkway and the SIPs structural floors. First, they plan to place and secure one assembled SIPs Test Building floor. Second, place the other Test Building floor, using the walkway steel angle frame to square the two to one another. When everything is properly adjusted, lag screw the steel angle frame to the SIPs floors. Third, place 1″ metal grate on top. Next, place and bolt the stair to the walkway and ground connection. Lastly, site weld the handrails to the exterior face of the steel angle frame. Voila! It’s that easy if you only have a crane!

axonmetric drawing showing process of install of steel walkway and stair between test buildings

Wood-Mizer Wonder

And the special bonus; a portable sawmill! Adam Maggard, an Auburn University Forestry and Wildlife professor and Extension Specialist in Forest Systems Management, travels the southeast with the Wood Mizer portable sawmill conducting forestry management research and reaching out to family, forest land owners. Adam collaborates with Auburn Architecture Professor and TMBV colleague David Kennedy and Rural Studio Alum Will McGarity. The three gave the students a Wood-Mizer tutorial as well as an introduction to their research.

Rev. Walker’s Home Project team requested the visitors to help mill some gorgeous tree’s from Rev. Walker’s land. Each student took a turn milling down either the cedar or pecan tree. The students were amazed by the machine and even more amazed that freshly cut cedar is bright, pink. It was a remarkable experience, big thanks to Adam, David, and Rev. Walker from the Thermal Mass and Buoyancy Ventilation Research Project Team!

Tags: concrete, concrete panels, drain, experiment, formwork, french drain, Rev.WalkersHome, tongueandgroove, wood research, woodmizer

In Hale County

December 14, 2020

Yep! We’ve been here the whole semester! It’s time, dear reader, to spill the beans on our comings and goings, our hopes and dreams, our successes and failures, and our project. Come on in, make yourself comfortable. Pour a hot cup of tea, listen to our story. The tale of Rev. Walker’s Home project team is only the beginning.

Field with cows in Hale County — A common sight in Hale County

Our journey, as 5th-year Rural Studio students, begins in Hale County, in August. The county is a sparsely populated, tapering rectangle in West-central Alabama. The foothills of the Appalachian Mountains find their end in the northeast corner of the county. The densely forested rolling hills of the northeast quickly give way to the astonishingly flat plains known as the “Black Belt.” This area is named for the rich soil that is optimal for cultivation. Greensboro is the centrally located county seat populated by 2,291 residents. Ten miles south of Greensboro on Alabama Highway 61 is Newbern, home to Rural Studio headquarters. In Newbern, the beloved Red Barn, can be found. Red Barn, the workspace where the us Rural Studio students put pens to paper. We spend a lot of time in Red Barn, and its leaky windows and visibly tilted walls endear us to it.

Rev. Walker’s Project Team hard at work in Red Barn

The beginning of each semester at Rural Studio is marked by “neck-downs.” Neck-downs defines a time dedicated to maintenance of studio grounds, small projects, and the assistance of teams whose projects are in the construction phase. This Fall, neck-downs included repairing facilities at Perry Lakes Park in neighboring Perry County, assisting the Horseshoe Hub Courtyard team on their site, and taking care of odds-and-ends on Morrissette Campus. Typically, neck-downs lasts one week. This year, it was extended and incorporated into our studio schedule. Some of the work is ongoing and gives us moments throughout the week to put away the pencil and pull out the shovel. “healthy bodies, healthy minds” our captain, Andrew Freear, likes to say.

Neck-downs extended from the Horseshoe Hub Courtyard in Greensboro to Perry Lakes Park near Marion

group of 13 students pose together at Perry Lakes Park — Neck-downs extended from the Horseshoe Hub Courtyard in Greensboro to Perry Lakes Park near Marion

Simultaneously with the site-work around the area, our entire 5^th-year student cadre worked to further the exploration into post-frame structures and formulate a thesis. The idea, first proposed by the 2020-2021 outreach master’s team, uses a post-frame structure to reduce construction cost and timeline. Our charge is to take the system and the efforts of the outreach team and expand on it in two didactic ways. We started by touring past projects around the county, exploring ancient barn structures, and documenting local building trends.

Taking note of the trend in the area to expand one’s home as means and needs allow, the 5^th-year thesis project’s has developed into two expansion approaches. One strategy is a home underneath a large roof, provided by a post-frame structure, on an expansive foundation that will enable an owner to quickly add enclosure without compromising structure. This is Rev. Walker’s Home strategy. The other is a home that encourages interior expansion and customization by bringing the post frame structure into the envelope of the home. This is the Myers’ Home strategy.

Diagram of Reverend Walkers Home — Reverend Walker’s Home

Our team is designing and will be building Rev. Walker’s Home. This team was chosen in an age-old ritual, of which here I will not tell. We like to think of ourselves as hardworking, strong-willed, opinionated individuals who can even be considered fun. I am, of course, the leader of this motley crew. My name is Taterhead the Cat. I enjoy drooling on unexpecting scratch-givers and surveying my land, which Rev. Walker’s Home will occupy. I am a skilled delegator. My leadership style is strict yet fair, and I expect only the best work from my team.

The Site Cat being scratched by student — Team Leader: Taterhead the Cat Purrveyor of Wisdom

Here’s the rest of them: Becca, George, Paul and Addie. Becca has a three-legged cat named Rocko and is the maker of the fantastic yellow hats seen above. George is just a dude with no distinct personality traits. (Editor’s note: This is an unfair representation of George, a very impassioned individual.) Paul likes to spend his time collecting objects from the ground. He likes sheds. Addie has a dog named Pat. She drives the biggest truck in Hale County.

It will not be an easy path to walk with this lot. Their refusals of scratch-giving will be met with reprimand. But rest easy, dear reader, for I am at the helm and will guide the ship to clear waters. My hope for this journal is to provide a clear account of our journey to the edge and back, and to bring you along with us.

Until next time – Taterhead.

Tags: 20khome, 20KProject, halecounty, meettheteam, neckdownss, post frame, post frame home, ReggiesHome, Rev.WalkersHome, rs5thyears