Today Brittni and I really worked great together. We finally accomplished finishing the railing, which was so painstaking because myself and her were designing it as we went. Im very proud of what we did and I believe I can speak for Brittni in saying it looks quite cool. Im excited to see what tomorrow bring in the other part of the loft. We had a group decision in a strong design change today and the design stayed the same, im hoping to convince the nay-sayers otherwise tomorrow — time will tell!
Blog Archives
Today in the Land of Mordor
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The Land of Mordor, where the Shadows are.
Remains of the Skatelite from the trimmings.
Insulation Installation
Preparing to fill our showcased void.
-Nic
Tuesday, right?
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Today was a good day. Rough start after a late night… Coffee. Seeing everything coming together gives everyone extra energy/motivation.
Kris and I finished up the slatted area of the kitchen then after a little sketching and discussion on the size, spacing and orientation, we began to assemble frames and remove the seams from the bags. Stretching the burlap was a fairly smooth process, after the realization that my hands were more successful than the canvas pliers, intended for stretching canvas- and tearing burlap. By the end of it the floor was covered in the tattered remains of unused bags, some coffee bean stragglers, staples, etc, etc.. Messes follow me.
With the panels up in place, it made it easier to visualize some options a few of us talked about earlier to resolve the 5 inch spacing of our balusters. The night ended at a decent time. I went home and fell victim, yet again, to a 4-hour marathon nap attack.. Looking forward to finishing the guardrail assembly tomorrow. So. Close.
“Well that’s cool.”
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I snapped this photo around mid morning. The interior wood work within the shelving structure is filtering the light nicely, and makes for a really nice effect in the interior.
08/16/2011 Group 1
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…rough weekend
We got Sunday off and boy did I make the best of it. One of my good friends got married and there was an open bar all night. I will spare you of the details because a.) I don’t want this blog session to turn into a small novel and b.) I honestly cannot remember much of what happened after the cake was cut.
Monday morning was a rough wake up and awful drive to work. If you take the rough wake up and multiply it by a factor of 10, that is how my entire day felt. The constant sawing and hammering were like small explosions going off in my head. I helped Andrew fill and wash gabions all afternoon. I am pretty sure anything regarding a power tool was off limits for me. Around 7pm, Nick ordered pizza for the gang; however, I could only muster up the courage to eat 2 slices.
Around 8:30 I left and was sleeping by 8:55.(I am staying 35 minutes away…the math is correct)
Today Andrew and I put up the gabions on the North wall, only to see them buckle upon each other. It was not a pretty site. Half a days work gone down the drain. I had an idea for the East wall which later on worked out great. We took the empty gabions and screwed them on to the furring strips with the tops off. The rocks were washed and then filled in-place. After they were filled, I stitched the tops shut with wire while Andrew salvaged the angled gabion.
The finished product looked great, and we are going to tackle the South gabions tomorrow.
– L. Schneider
Loft Concept Sketch
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Here is a quick sketch I drew up on some scrap wood to illustrate an idea I had for a portion of the loft.
8-16-11 trimming thoughts
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Today, one of the biggest thing that was on my mind was how to trim the windows. We had already installed the corner trim, basically an “L” that extended beyond the siding for the two walls its connected, but we still needed to find a solution to trimming the windows. With our limited amount of Richlite, our initial idea was to mimic the “L” at the corners and only use two pieces of Richlite per window edge, yet we soon found a problem in this. It would work on the interior but the exterior needed to show the super insulated window frame detail. We finally decided to use three pieces on the exterior, creating an “L” where the window opening meets the siding to maintain the same detail as the corner, then the third piece would close in the insulated chamber around the window frame. The three images show the original super insulated frame detail, the window opening, and the start of this trimming process.
Red Wood Flooring
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John and I spent most of the day installing reused red wood flooring under the sun shading structure. The project went well, but after completing our installation, we discovered some weak spots underneath the flooring that could potentially cause an accident. John and I then pried up the flooring and took extra precautions to make sure that all the weak spots we reinforced properly. Johnny proved the sturdiness of the reinforced section, and got rid of some frustration, by jumping on it. 
Learning Curve
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DAY 1
Lao Tsu said ”A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
My journey as an architect started when I walked into my first design studio. However, I have not truly begun to walk until I picked up the tools of construction.
As stated before I will be discussing the changes and evolution of my tool belt.
This is the start of day 1, stock and clean. Thank god I am not on a real construction site cause they would tear into me.
Goal 1: break in the belt.
How to measure a day . . .
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Today could be measured in metal, lots and lots of metal and perhaps a little acrylic too.
So I got the task of putting the acrylic up in the East side door to showcase the framing of the walls and the insulation that will be in there, since I have worked on a lot of the windows. It all started will an aluminum L- shaped piece that was 6’ long. I had figured out that we would need 24 pieces that could brace the acrylic. I marked out all of my measurements of 3” apiece and I would just cut in the middle of the mark so that each piece was roughly about the same size. The grinder and I were not friends it seems, I did end up getting all of my pieces cut but they were all jagged and parts were kind of melted by the grinder. The next solution was to find somewhat to even out the sides; well this brings me to the file. I filed 24 aluminum pieces down to make sure they were even on the ends, this took all day and during this duration of time I got a slight sunburn on my shoulders but each piece got done and looked good. As, Nic and I were putting up the acrylic we noticed that parts were starting to bow out so we ended up using more on braces then I originally intended, to make sure that it was flush on all sides. At the end of the task, the door way looks great, but the upper window needs a little more security, I guess we will just have to wait to see if tomorrow brings more aluminum or not.
Log 13
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Log 13-
Today was…. exhausting. After leaving my house at 7am and getting back at 10:30 pm, I am VERY ready for sleep. That aside, I really had fun today. Brittney and I really did a lot with the loft railings and slat walls. Her and I both designed a way to have supportive 2×6 railing posts that not only can support a grown person, but also doubles as a base for the slats to be finished nailed into. I believe Bringing up the slat wall to the ceiling on the south side of the stairs really had a beautiful impact on the overall quality of the interior. I am very much looking forward to continuing the slat details and burlap tomorrow.
Grounded (august 15)
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We arrived with our heads high and started straight away. The north and east side were getting finished up while the shading structure was getting stitched to the ground. The cables were put in along with the rings, a detail worth the exploration. Granite arrived and Andrew stated to fill the time boxes. The rock boxes looked great. After a bit we had a guest to talk to us about the infamous robot in the box. After some discussion we made some decisions and Nick, Peter and I hung the mechanical system any adjusted the walls. The day carried on, and on. We ordered pizza, the sun went down and the building came to life. It looked as though it was a model built in studio, in fact this evening felt like a late night in studio.
Glass (august 13)
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Today we cracked into the crate and began to move the massive windows. Kjell showed up and helped us with the installation. We put in the tilt and turn then the door, which I began to really appreciate. The door is beautiful and the sheer mass of it resembles a vault door. The color was much better than I anticipated also. After we placed two windows I had visitors. My parents made an appearance. It was great to see them; the build defiantly surprised them. I think it made my father really happy to see the re-embodiment of the granary. Soon after they left Mike, Malini, and Noor showed up, and they brought ice cream! Just what we needed, well while Andrew and I were stuck up in the lifts everyone else ate ice cream. Soon with our feet back on the ground and away from the shading structure we enjoyed our share. The day was over quickly and we took off with our day off in sight.
Compressed (august 12)
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Today was the day of presents. We received many shipments and with each one it was difficult to find room to place them. With the vendors arriving we are starting to consolidate and make the most of the room we have. The shading structure was stating to go up and all the verticals were raised. The tunnel began to form and it was satisfying to see the shading structure with all of its siblings. The day ended without us realizing the time. I made a few cuts in the rich-lite and began to understand how to use the material a bit better. Mike and I bought new nail cutting blades just to get through the stuff.
Andrew B hero of the day
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every time something is forgotten that needs to be done you turn around and find Andrew just finishing it up… Awesome
How to measure a day . . .
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In frustration, would be the one and only word that could sum up a day like today. To bad my frustration was not toward anyone in particular but an object or better yet a window. This is not just some ordinary window oh no, it is the window that seems to be the most difficult and stuburn thing in the entire world.
My day started out fine, I was told to close up the window like the all the rest of the windows half plywood, half OSB, and than we would but a strip of pine in the middle to act like framing since there wouldn’t really be a window going in this rough opening. So, I started to measure the OSB and got it in place and screwed it in, when I was informed that I needed to tape the window. Well, this isn’t a problem right, one should not be so sure because I had to tape the outside OSB to thesheathing in the interior. Well, this ment that I needed to remove and cut in half the pieces I has already made, take off the siding on the interior wall, remove a couple of the 2 x 4’s from the side of the window and pry open all four sides of the window. This was not an easy task at all, it took about 5 hours to complete and the tape was probably the worse part. However, it got finished and the window now even has a membrane on the exterior, and the pine in the center to make the window not the best looking thing in the world but a very well insulated and protectedrough opening.
Taping of the East window
The window finished
The uneven fit of the center pine
Robot (august 11)
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Today we had to park out of the regular lot because they were marking out a parking lot in the gravel. As soon as I got there I got to work on the light boxes. Soon the electrician showed up and we were underway. I got the LED cans in and finished up the rest of the wiring runs. We still have a couple issues to work out but all the electrical is looking great. Several trucks dropped of materials today and we got out mechanical system today. It was a bit more confusing than I expected. No lego booklet with this one, and a lot of the parts are labeled in german. The robot of a device was planned out on the floor so we could test fit everything. We scratched our heads for a while and put it the robot back in its box until tomorrow. Andrew and I finished up the shelving while the slats went up on the other side. It was rewarding to finish the south side of the shelving. It was exactly what Andrew and I had drawn up. It had a progression up even though no stairs existed. Tomorrow will be busy, I can’t wait to see this mammoth of a sliding door. Word in the passive house is that the sliding door weighs about a thousand pounds.
Quackulations
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Today I jotted down some quick arithmetic to see if we have enough siding left to cover portions of the North and East face of the house. I was accused of being a mad scientist.
Snag (august 10)
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Today I woke up and headed on our way to the Eco-Exhibit from Minnetonka. On the way we were slowed up by a bad crash in both east and west tunnels so Nick and I busted out the iPhone to find our way through traffic. We were about a half an hour late, not bad considering the traffic we almost got stuck in. On site I began work again on the shelving structure but soon switched over because the electrician had arrived. I gave him a rundown on the routes and left him to his work while Nick and I once again braved traffic in pursuit of some LED recessed fixtures. We ended up driving all the way to Plymouth to pick up the fixtures and we are still one short, but we will get it. Once back on site I continued to work on the shelving but only in brief moments. I was informed by the electrician that he ran into a little snag with the inspector and that we are unable to use the LED ribbon lights in the windows… Well this is still getting resolved it is a problem. I hope tomorrow we can begin to sort it out. The shelving was put in place and the day ended. I can already feel time creeping up on us.
shading structure has begun…
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So today the wood showed up for our shading structure. After much anticipation we were finally able to begin! Most of the morning was spent sorting and pairing up the 2x8x12′ for the first row of columns. Each member was paired with another primarily based on both color/tone, and crown direction. After pairs were matched, we marked out the bolt placements and starting drilling holes through sets of pairs. After all of the holes were drilled they were off to the sander. Palm sanding action with some finely gritted paper smoothened each stick out to a smooth finish. When sanding was through it was time to start fastening the pairs together. Shortly after laying out the hole placement on the 12 footers, I began cutting the 14 footers to exact length and the previous process was repeated for this set. Later, Lyle and Melissa began assembling the floor structure. Some photos of the process thus far:
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY DESIGN BUILD 