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Housebuilding Project
Keefe Technical School Carpentry, Electrical, and Plumbing students have once again participated in the school’s annual House Building Project, working together to assemble and put the finishing touches on a new, energy-efficient home at 264 Elm Street, Framingham.
The back view of the nearly completed energy efficient house at 264 Elm Street in Framingham. Keefe Technical School Carpentry, Electrical, and Plumbing students worked together to assemble and put the finishing touches on the home for the school’s annual House Building Project.
“This has been a great experience overall,” said Julie Novack, owner of the Elm Street home. Novack and her husband Mark waited a year to become part of the Keefe Technical School House Building Project. “We applied to the program, and then were entered into a lottery, and this year we were selected,” she explained. “Construction should be completed by the end of June.”
Keefe Tech Carpentry, Plumbing and Electrical students worked to assemble and finish various elements of the 2,100 square foot, contemporary 8-room farmhouse, which includes 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.
Carpentry students used their skills to complete the frame, build the deck and interior partitions, and install roof shingling, windows, exterior doors, trim, inside stairways, chases for HVAC ductwork, and pine flooring throughout the house. Plumbing students installed the house’s drains, vents, CPVC water supply lines and underground drainage systems, and Electrical students then put in grounding wire systems, outlets, service conduit pipes, and wiring throughout the house.
“The annual House Building Project is a fantastic way for our construction trade students to show off their skills and see a house come together as a result of their hard work,” noted Margaret Ellis, Keefe Tech Vocational Coordinator. “This year they also gained a lot of insight about building with energy-efficient techniques and using environmentally-friendly materials.”
With plans drawn up by a green-industry architect, room measurements were designed to minimize the amount of waste created when cutting wood and materials. The house features many energy-efficient elements suggested by ZeroEnergy Design of Charlestown, including skylights, a solar tube, and many south-facing high-grade windows to maximize natural light and conserve heat, compact fluorescent lighting and a tankless water heater to help save energy, and soy bean-based spray foam insulation, The Green Cocoon.
“The workmanship on the house is really amazing,” said Novack of the Keefe Tech students’ constructional contributions. “It’s a solid, well-built house, and we’re very happy with it.”
Keefe Technical School, located in Framingham, MA, is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. In addition to 13 different vocational programs, Keefe Tech offers a complete college preparatory program to students from the communities of Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, and Natick.
Keefe Tech carpentry students install pine flooring as part of their contribution to the school’s annual House Building Project.
