Whoop-ds, Schwoop-ds, and farewell Alyssa.

Before we begin our final interior plasters, we must first sob in our mixing buckets because our fellow intern Alyssa had to part with us a couple of weeks early to jump into a Montana trail crew program. If I could see the computer screen well enough through my tears, I’d wish her well. Sniffle….

Mud, mud, mud. Hint of lime.

Our interior and exterior walls each receive three coats of earthen plaster. In the past couple of weeks we have learned how to apply the second coats, which are applied with hawk and trowel. In one hand (usually the left) you hold the hawk, which has a pancake’s worth of plaster balanced atop it. In…

Dirty Dancing

Hey folks! I’m guest posting with Lauren this week to fill you in on all of our dirty (or as we all like to say, “dare-tee”) work since Spring Break. Our fist day back we installed windows, tied up some loose end projects, and prepared for our initial coat of exterior mud. Within a few…

Glazing

In the same week that we learned about solar pv panels, we installed our windows, also known as glazing. The amount of glazing determines how much sunlight will penetrate the house and provide heat input. Our house is designed with the majority of its glazing facing south to gain solar radiation. The energy is absorbed…