Built 80 years ago, by a no-frills engineer, our sturdy house is the anchor of our happy home. I am grateful for our house every day—not just on Thanksgiving. But until I recently enrolled in Building Construction Technology class and began to explore the physics and physicality of homebuilding, I never knew how grateful I was to the people who … Continue reading Thankful for House & Home

Right before Thanksgiving dismissal, the director of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Nashville dropped by our classroom to deliver the good news: He approved our proposal to build and sell a tiny office! That means we have a real-life building project on our hands that will incorporate the whole curriculum of framing, roofing, siding, finish … Continue reading Big Plans for a Tiny Office

I recently asked the instructor what I needed to do to hang a bed swing from my porch ceiling. An hour later, I was vaguely conversant with five kinds of loads (torsional, shear, tension, compression and bending); the problem with drywall screws (no shear value); and where to look all this stuff up (Machinery's Handbook). Meanwhile, … Continue reading Loads of Info

 As a carpentry novice in construction school, I was hesitant to chime in—at first. Then we had to calculate how much plywood to buy to build new cabinets for the school's dental technology lab. Using a formula for calculating board feet of lumber (width inches X length feet X depth inches / 12), we quickly arrived at an amount.  … Continue reading Going with the Grain

Today's field trip was more successful than our first outing. This time, we found an actual crew at work on a house. The foundation had already been laid, so today was all about sill plate, termite seal, and joists. We even helped out, carrying boards and fastening washers and nuts on anchor bolts (pictured above). Here's what we learned: Chapter 5 of Carpentry Fundamentals … Continue reading Field Trippin’

Have you ever taken a really good look at a door hinge? Next time you pass through a threshold, study the hinges. Which way does the door open? Left-hand, out? Right-hand in? Or vice-versa? Do you notice that the door panel is not a right angle on the hinge side? It's beveled so it's about … Continue reading Unhinged

It was field trip day in Building Construction Technology class, so we turned in our permission slips and drove to a home site to see a foundation in progress. Here's a play-by-play, clockwise from top left: 1. Arrive at construction site. No one there. Instructor says this is typical in Nashville's building boom, where there's more work … Continue reading Like a Real Day on the Job

Tomorrow in construction class, we will be working on a door, so today we made a door jack, a stand used to support a door while you're working on it, so it doesn't get dinged and scratched. A month ago, my instinct would have been to go to DoorJacksRUs.com, but now I see that if you have … Continue reading Make Your Own

This week in the Building Construction Technology class at Tennessee College for Applied Technology in Nashville, we were building a pair of French doors between the shop and classroom; repairing woodworking machinery; replacing cabinetry in the dental technology lab; and designing a "tiny office"—complete with plumbing, HVAC and electrical—which we plan to build and sell. Here's what … Continue reading Construction School: The Week in Pictures

Every other Thursday we give oral presentations on construction tools--saws, levels, hammers, utility knives, ladders, to name a few recent topics. The first time our deaf classmate stepped up to present, I was curious how it would work. Maybe he'd deliver a PowerPoint? Instead, he stood at the front of the room and signed, while his interpreter translated his silent … Continue reading Hand Tools