With the help of Rick and his dad, great work was accomplished at the end of the week. The frame of the entry is up and ready for cladding, electrical wiring is 100% done. The team worked with Rick on patio details and even though the patio did not go up as planned, we are very close of reaching this goal.

electrical discussion

pulling electrical wire

Foster working on frame for front entry brow

entry brow is up

flitch column detail drawing

flitch plate column detail

Rick and Shawn welding patio beam

column assembly

Finally at the end of the day we get to test the columns and see if they are level.

flitch detail

The columns are level!! now we can take them down and go home.

We are now in session three and in full throttle. Rick has arrived last night for his second visit to Bluff this semester. He is ready to give us his expertise to make sure we are moving in the right direction. Roof, cladding, patio, entry, doors, interior finishes are a number of many teams working together to achieve one goal., a successful completion of the Biljohn’s House.

the awning window from the south bedroom

aluminum cladding with a window brow

aluminum cladding beneath the cedar screen

The double o Ps., Patrick and Patty working the aluminum cladding.

roof transforms into the south wall – corrugated metal cladding

“j” channel reveal at drywall to be covered with “plaster of Paris” or equivalent

“j” channel reveal w/ OSB to be claded with cedar planks on top

Harvey admiring their house.

Foster’s pride and joy – the floating entry pad

‘Twas a rainy day for a material run to Cortez.  Almost as exhausting as a day of working on site, the many stops necessary definitely proved to take just as long.

Our first stop was Belt Salvage to sell some scraps from our yard.  We happily got enough cash back to buy the steel needed for the patio.

Though this wasn’t the exact pile we dug through, it still took a while to find just the right pieces.

Here is a shot of the crane unloading our trailer for us.

All around, a successful material run.  Can’t wait to see the progress on site tomorrow!

This week the kitchen team is busy installing the plumbing wall and shelves so that we can get our plumbing in! Because of the SIP construction we chose to build a secondary plumbing wall directly next to the West wall in the kitchen. The shelves in the kitchen are built in to the plumbing wall for extra support and for a clean connection.

Over the summer a few students in the Bluff crew took part in the Aspen studio. During the studio the students have the chance to visit several local firms and tour some of their highlighted projects. One project in particular from A4 out of Carbondale inspired some material experimentation. The firm chose to utilize the OSB as a cladding material for the interior of the residence. OSB, a low cost particle board material typically used on walls prior to drywall. From a distance the walls seemed to glisten with an uncanny resemblance to white marble.

We are planning on using a similar material tactic in the kitchen. We [meaning mostly the amazing Meg G] have been concocting varying mixtures and procedures in which to alter the OSB to our liking. To complement the natural wood grain and warmth in the cedar of the wood boxes [bed + bath] a pickling finish [whitish] will be applied to the kitchen shelves and possibly the cabinet faces. Before the pickling, the shelves were thoroughly sanded and treated with a wood pre-stain. After a thin coat of watered-down pickling product, the OSB received 4 thick coats of polyurethane. Because OSB is not made to be a finish material there is some concern regarding the waterproofing and structural stability of the material for the cabinet faces. However, with the full polyurethane treatment the mock up of the shelf seems to be withstanding standing water without a problem. We have also been researching other methods, so keep tuned in for updates.

For dinner tonight Amy + I (A Huey) made an egg ensemble if you will. There was a vast assortment of quiches, peak to peak pancake (a baked egg pancake), jam//creamcheese muffins, and the complimentary potatoes to pull the whole br[egg]fast together. And then we all washed it down with premium western family juice blends. Quite a scrumptious meal if I might say myself.

Also—this Saturday night’s themed party has been declared [[BAD A**]] by the one and only Hot  Pink Shawnie, so hopefully some photos will leak onto the world wide web for your viewing pleasure.

Lessons Learned:

Cutting onions is much more pain free when one uses goggles

Well off to put another coat of polyurethane on the kitchen cabinets! Another week down.  Another week closer to the Billjohn’s complete home. Essentially, we have built  [[.42]] of a house. Go us

It’s definitely fall here in Bluff, and we’re all back for more fun in Session 3. Some of the goals for the session include: rough plumbing, pulling electrical wire and installing boxes, pouring entry slab and patio piers, grinding the shower and bathroom floor, and installing furring and gutter on the south wall. We also installed one additional window in the main bedroom on the south elevation. The group worked hard over the break to finish drawings and continue mock-ups, so we all get to see more of the details this week in our design meetings. It’s exciting to see things coming together!

electrical in the bedroom

entry slab footing is dug and ready for formwork

We make progress on the roof, interior walls and aluminum brows.

Thursday saw the completion of a few exciting things as bluffers donned ski goggles and bandannas to protect against the sand and wind gusts.

 Atsushi, Lacy and Patrick work on getting the ice and water shield up on the roof.

Framing the last of the interior walls

Using the break to fabricate the scored and cut aluminum brows

The aluminum brows are finished! Complete with slope for drainage and drip edges.

A corner study model for a brow that runs over a window mullion in the nook.

Even inside the house: This is what happens to your drawings when there is a wind storm.

Getting a little delirious at the end of the day.

Last but not least…a black widow we found living under some cardboard in the house. Eek.

Seth said it the other day: it is starting to feel like fall.  We are wanting to stay warm in our beds a little longer each morning, folks are clothed in beanies and sweatshirts at morning meetings this week, and I saw my breath yesterday… but, I was told that maybe its because I’m full of hot air!

Regardless, the change is welcome and noticed, especially as this session comes to a close and we meet our goals.  Yesterday, for example, we reached a huge goal: we finished installing the SIP roof!  The roof consists of 12 roof panels, 6 of which are 16 ft long and 6 that are just over 20 ft long; and, they are something else to manuever!  It took most everyone at site to help lift and push them up to the roof team, who then pulled them and nudged them into place, glued, nailed and fastened them down.  Shawn, our roof team lead, did a fantastic job.

The group helping to get the final roof panel up, Harvey, too!

The house with the roof in place, looks out towards the north and Blue Mountain.

Harvey gazes out through the rough opening of the front door.  The house now has a more tangible sense of enclosure with the roof installed.

Through the rest of the week, we will continue to install the interior walls, dig and pour the patio footers, wrap the building in ice and water shield, install aluminum flashing over the remainder of the blue board, and fabricate the aluminum brows for the windows.

Patty, Megan G. and Dana work on the aluminum eyebrows.

The interior walls continue to go up.  Here, the framing for the wall between the bathroom and the nook is being installed.

And, not to forget the place we are living and working in, here is a view looking back at Bluff and our campus from the rock outcropping to the north of Twin Rocks; as the sun sets and fall is in the air.

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