Leary School Job Site

During this past year, the staff and students at the Leary School JobSite have almost totally built the newest home construction project. Once ground was broken in the late fall of 2002, work was begun in earnest on getting this home under roof as quickly as possible.

This house, the sixth new home construction for the Leary School JobSite, is similar to the house we completed in 2001 - a two story, four bedroom, 2½ bath home with a full basement. The main floor has a great room, a dining room, kitchen, laundry room, half bath, and mud room. The second story has a master suite, three additional bedrooms, and two full baths. In addition, the basement has been roughed-in for a full bath and there are front porches on both the first and second levels.

At this time a year ago, following a winter full of snow, melting snow, more snow, ice and melting ice and snow, the students had dug the foundation and installed the floor joists to support the first floor as seen in the picture to the left.

Following the installation of the floor joists and the sub-floor for the first floor, the exterior walls for the first floor were installed followed by work on the second floor. Framing for the exterior walls was next, as shown in the picture below.

By the end of the 2002-2003 school year, the roof was on; that included laying plywood and shingling. Due to the pitch and height of the roof, some of the work was done on the ground and then hoisted up to the roof.

The second year of this two year project focused on the interior of the house, although Hurricane Isabel slowed the progress a little. The hurricane, however, gave the JobSite students the opportunity to secure the site and then seeing how their preventative measures had prevented damage. It also gave the students a chance to help out one of the Holyoke Drive neighbors with repairs to their roof.

By Thanksgiving, the interior walls were all up and work had begun on running the PVC drain pipe for the plumbing. Following the Winter holiday, the duct work for the heating and air conditioning systems as well as the waste and vent system for the plumbing were installed, the heating and air conditioning system were installed and the water supply pipes were run. The concrete floor in the basement was poured and the stairways, both to the second floor and to the basement were installed.

Another late winter period of snow and ice hampered work for a short time but by February, the students were ready to begin hanging drywall. Hanging the drywall took several weeks but, at the same time, the exterior siding began to go up.

The last part of construction will focus on the trim and painting, installing plumbing and electrical fixtures, putting in kitchen cabinets and floor coverings and, finally, landscaping.

Plans for an open house and dedication are in the works for early June - please plan to attend!

Alan Peck, M.S.
Vocational Coordinator