Cedar Rapids Student-Built House

The student house project reached a significant milestone today, with our students working alongside Klingler Painting & Decorating Inc to prime the walls and ceilings. Upon equipping themselves with tyvek suits, the students efficiently learned the operation of paint sprayers and managed to prime most of the main floor walls within the class. The project will progress tomorrow with the application of the final ceiling and closet paint, and subsequently, the first coat of wall paint. The paint materials being used are all 0 VOC, proudly supplied by Benjamin Moore and Klinger Paint & Interiors. Klingler Painting & Decorating Inc Klinger Paint & Interiors

In the last two weeks since students returned from winter break, we've finished insulating and learned to hang and tape drywall like pros with Precision Drywall. We've picked up some new tricks and methods along the way. Next week, we'll be kicking off the painting process with Klingler Painting, and once that's done, we'll dive into installing LVP flooring on both levels of the house.

This past week our students were gifted some awesome apparel and construction workwear supported by Acme Tools, various national construction vendors,TRUEWERK, and the pFoundation for the trades grant. Each student recieved a new CR student house t-shirt, a pair of T2 Truewerk pants, lined gloves, a stocking cap, and a CR Student house Logo’d M2 Truewerk Hoodie. This is a fantastic start for students professional construction apparel and it is a great form of winter PPE for each of them to wear this winter as well! Thank you to everyone who made this possible for our students and our program! We handed this bag of goodies out on Friday just before students left for the Holiday break!

On another note! We also were able to officially bless the house with a Broken Hammer… It has become a CR Student House Tradition over the ladt 8 years to break Mr. Loughs wooden Stiletto hammer each year. The students and Mr Lough use and misuse the wooden handle hammer throughout the framing process and once broken we label the house and year on the handle and hang it in the school shop with other years hammer handles! It is a goal each year for the students to be the one to accomplish this!

The last couple of weeks leading up to winter break tend to be chaotic at the jobsite as we collaborate with MEP trade partners to complete all rough-ins and obtain necessary inspections. We partnered with Dwayne and Reece from Ilten's Inc. to install the HVAC system, worked alongside Nate and Mike from Benchmark Electric Inc. to rough in the electrical, and collaborated with Brown Plumbing's team to install drain and water supply plumbing systems. The students gained invaluable knowledge over the last two weeks leading up to break. On Thursday afternoon before break, our students participated in a meet-and-greet with representatives from the city code enforcement divisions. Following this, students were divided into groups to conduct a walk-through of the house with various inspectors, gaining insight into their inspection processes and observing the inspection in real-time. This was a novel experience for our program and proved educational for everyone involved. Notably, our trade partner contractors were also present during the inspection, facilitating a collaborative learning environment. Now that we are on break from class, our major student gift is being installed - insulation and drywall by Kinzler Construction Services and Precision Drywall. This will enable the house to be heated and maintain heat throughout the remainder of winter. Upon the students' return, we will hang garage Sheetrock and then finish the drywall in the garage and mechanical rooms. By the end of January, the house will be bulk painted by Klingler Painting to seal the drywall, and we will be transitioning into our flooring installation.

Ilten's Inc. Benchmark Electric Inc. Croix Shebetka