As we come near the end of our, only, third trip to bluff, the studio is getting its final touches with the exterior cladding.  The house is moving along with the roof near completion, interior walls on there way, and cladding getting preped. 

Group workng hard 

Sarah and Hanna working on the soffit

Blake sampling more plaster, no cracks!

The fellas finishing up the studio wall.

Marites, Erin and Adreane getting the interior walls started.

Ummm... not sure whats going on. SMILE

1 down, more to go

So nice, don't you want to touch it!

Ohhhh Mallory, greeting us all home

Lindsay and Jeff work on laying out the placement on the interior walls

The team works hard to get another coat of plaster on the studio

The wind will NOT slow us down

Bryce and Jonathan working on the exterior cladding

Required piece of equipment: goggles

Tami and Haley work on house wrap and no this is not the Arabian desert

Janet gets in on the plastering

Brought to you by Adriane and Jess

view from south (Wednesday afternoon)

Bluff:  A day in the life…

7AM – awake to 13 different alarm clocks and the sunrise over the bluff.

7:30AM – egg & cheese breakfast sandwich, cereal, and juice while preparing delicious pb & h sandwich

8-9ish – load up 3 bluff vehicles & depart for 25-minute commute to home site

9-10ish – discuss the goals & tasks for day, unload & set up site

10:30 – greet 8 pick-up trucks of Navajo Nation construction crew, give tour of site, pass on our knowledge of SIP construction process, change the way a culture builds homes

Navajo Nation builders exploring house

morning – divide & conquer

12 – stomaches grumbling, start looking at clock every 10 minutes

1ish – lunch of pb&h, apple (toss apple core to Bob the dog), carrots, clif bar

awhile later – back to work, re-assess today’s goals

2ish – say hello to neighbor jane as she checks in

2:30 – yell at dogs to go away

3:00 – start thinking about what bath house crew is cooking tonight

3:30 – break 2nd drill bit, go on hunt for new supplies

4:00 – throw drill down in disgust as all batteries are dead

4:30 – is it dinner yet?

5:00 – clean-up and “finish” goals for the day

5:30ish – evening commute with sunset over Monument Valley, sharing the road only with the occasional cow and the rest of the bluff crew, while laughing at the radio traffic report for SLC

6:ish – gather around table for delicious home-cooked meal (tonight, pot roast!) and recount of day’s activities & mis-haps, check out eachother’s bruises, burns, and cuts

post-dinner – scramble for showers, baking of desserts, evening walks, light Anasazi Architecture reading, e-mail catch-up, phone calls home, gathering around stove/fire, guitar serenades, bluff song rehearsal

9ish-12ish – occasional group meetings, begging for back rubs, check for pictures of yourself on Bluff blog, collapse in bed (somebody turn off the light!)

Judson & Trent calculating & plotting

Roofing crew: Tami, Haley, and Hanna

Erin, Mallory & Bryce installing soffit & rain screen on studio

-Erin & Lindsay

We each have our own special way of celebrating Casimir Pulaski Day.  Here is a random sampling of the day’s activities…

1.  Never use nails in your snowballs.

Tip.  Always be prepared for multi-zonal attacks

Tip: half-built houses can be useful snowball fortifications.

2. Nail in Rafters before hanging from them.

3.  walls can be used for climbing, no matter what your parents say.

4. Measuring once and cutting twice still works.

5. Windows can always be an afterthought.

6. Never hang heavy objects from high, unsecured locations.

7.  All tools in a tool belt can kill a person.  Even the tool belt.

Tip:  Keep a loving environment on the job site, and you’ll be just fine.  Or, ALWAYS WEAR YOUR TOOL BELT.

Today was filled with metal roofing, cold weather and standing up the remaining SIP (structural  insulated panels) walls.  There was a group working on tar papering the studio roof and finishing it with sheets of metal roof cladding.  Another group stood up the remaining SIP walls and securing posts for the bump out.  A few other students worked on installing windows in the studio and building small custom windows out of colored 3-form material and finishing fascia on the studio.

Trent & Jess install windows in the Studio

Blake & Judson finish a landscape wall

Roofing lecture

Jonathan & Trent

That which does not kill us will only make us stronger. And today was the day to test that theory. The SIP’s panel arrived today! It has been a long anticipated process and today began with the whole crew out on site early preparing the site for their arrival. They arrived to the site brought by our great truck driver, Tom. He was able to back the semi up right to our site and if any of you have been here, you will unstand what a feat that was. Thanks again, Tom! Mark for Big Sky came down for the install as well. We unloaded all the panels and then Mark showed us what to do. Teams broke off and walls started going up! The pictures do a much better job than I can of explaining this process, but lets just say it was definately a full days work. While the wall team worked, other teams worked on landscaping and fascia installation on the studio. Everyone worked hard and was very grateful for a delicious dinner when we got home. Thanks again to Mark and Tom for making today possible!

This is what the site looked like when we arrived this morning

Waiting for the truck...patiently

The WHOLE crew on site with truck

the SIP's arrive!

Here is the whole house stacked and ready to be assembled

The panels were a little heavy and just a few of us needed to help out

Laying out the first wall

Bluff's Angels..... maybe not Charlie's Angels, but a little more effective, I think.

Hank making sure the first wall is in place

Erin even dressed up for the occasion

Mark showing us how to cut insulation

Krysta and Hiroko attaching the next segment of the wall

Judson digging the S-curve for the retaining wall

Jess living the measureing dream. Its twice, right? and then cut once?

Barn....I mean, House Raising!

The end result of a long day of work

Thanks to Mark and Tom! What a great way to build a house.

We are back in Bluff!  Today is February 22.

Here is a countdown of today’s highlights:

7…   Monday Morning Meeting.
6…   Purchased materials in Blanding.
5…   Landscaping around the property.  It is looking very nice.
4…   Started preparing doors and windows, materials for fascia and soffit.
3…   Took down Janet’s 1x fence, which will become the exterior finish on the house.  See picture of mock-up below.
2…   Almost froze to death because of polar winds.
1…   And prepared the site for SIPs!!!!!  They are coming tomorrow!!!!