by Brody Parrott
In week three the crew made some great progress on Pedro and Damaris’ home. On Monday we got a visit from John and Marc from SIGA, who showed us their interior vapor and air control system. The ceiling and walls were covered in their Majrex 200 roll product and all the seams in the house got Rissan tape to keep everything sealed. The product managers vapor drive in harsh New England climates by regulating high moisture air from entering homes in the summer, and keeping that same air indoors during the winter. They had lots of tips and tricks for getting difficult areas in the house sealed like corners in the windows and doors. We are very thankful for their time and expertise, we learned a lot about efficient building technology.
On Tuesday the team continued to put up the Majrex, as well as starting on the gable end rain screen that supports the cedar shake siding. The exterior siding on the gable ends is going to overhang the living module to make on-site installation of the roof easier (and allow water to flow off away from the living module below). First vertical 2×4’s were attached to the sheathing, and then 1×4 strapping (ripped in half) was installed horizontally to hang the shakes. The resulting pattern was a very satisfying grid.
On Wednesday all the Majrex seams were taped on the walls, floor and ceiling, finishing off our interior air and vapor barrier. Professor McNally from the UMass BCT program brought a class of local high schoolers to visit. They were learning about the importance of green building and wanted to see the space we’ve put together. We all got a lot out of seeing future architects and construction students learn something from our work.
On Thursday we got another visit, what an exciting week! This time Michael DeSorgher from Yeoman Design Build came to volunteer his time on our straw bale wall. Mike showed us how to mix and apply a natural clay-based plaster to the wall which will allow it to “breath” and not trap moisture in the wall cavity. The plaster was made of local clay, sand, straw, and water and the base-coat applied ~3/4 inch thick. The base coat is currently setting up and when it’s dry a final coat using finer clay will be added for a total thickness of ~1″. The result will provide a partial accent wall with a unique texture along with a locally-sourced ash wood shelf atop it. Additionally the aforementioned cedar shakes were stained and some courses were installed before weather got in the way.
The week ended in the most fun way possible, drywall! Now that the house is sealed, sheet rock can be installed starting with the ceiling. Some trouble arose pretty quickly, the ceiling trusses were bowed up creating a slight vault in the ceiling. While some panicked and declared the whole house to be ruined, our incredible project manager, Ben, reminded us that the ceiling trusses were probably designed with a slight convex shape to combat sagging under load (we essentially have none, other than the insulation and drywall) and that we could shim the strapping to make our ceiling flat once more. We were able to fix the issue and get all the ceiling drywall panels hung on Friday. A great way to end a very productive week
