Philadelphia University's Design Build
Crefeld School Permaculture Center
Tuesday- Making Progress
After a busy and productive day on Monday, the team was ready to begin building the frame of the greenhouse. During this construction, the Chicken Coop team started on their Chicken Villa and the Aquaponic Master started on the construction of the greenhouse aquaponic system.
Wednesday- Confilct Resolution
After discovering the damaged pipe on Monday we decided it was best to properly fix it. Once the appropriate materials were collected, we decided to dig in and fix it. WELL, after our trusty advisor cut the pipe we discovered the pipe did NOT house septic overflow, but some cable wires. It turns out that the pipe housed the wires for the school's security and fire alarm system. It was definitely a set back, espeically once the cable people had to show to fix the wires, but we managed to actually get a lot done today!.
Monday- Groundbreaking
After 2 visits to the school prior to the official ground breaking, the PhilaU students and volunteers were ready to build! The main goal for the day was to ensure that ground where the greenhouse would stay was leveled and ready for support posts as well as to make sure that the big bushes in the area were pulled. During the initial leveling of the ground we found a mysterious pipe, which happene to have gotten damaged during the day. Stay tuned to find out wha this pipe was!
Build Week
July 28th- August 1st 2014
Thursday- Strawbale Day
We were finally ready to construct our iconic strawbale wall on Thursday. Between trimming the strawbale to make it fit properly and having to hammer in the rebar to make the wall nice and sturdy, it was quite the process. Thursday was also the perfect day to make some real progress on our roof. It came in handy for when it started to rain on Friday!
Friday- Finishing Touches
Friday was Plaster day. We were able to plaster (a mixture of water, sand and clay) the strawbale today! The plaster is used to protect the strawbale from the elements as well as add some aesthetic to the greenhouse. The sheet metal for the roof was also accomplished and the chicken coop is nearly completed. We were set back today because of the rain and the late start on the plastering of the strawbale. We are going to rectify this situation by adding another work day on our last day of class on Tuesday 8/5.
Tuesday 8.5 - Last Class
We had three hours on Thursday to get as much done as possible. Unfortunately because it rained over the weekend we were not able to complete the finish coat of the plaster on the strawbale wall. That was okay though, because we had plenty more we had to finish. We were able to put up more of the solex (the material used to cover the wood) as well as make remarkable accomplishments on the chicken coop to near completion and the aquaponics system was installed and ready for planting.