Building Prefabrication Phase I

After reusing much of the oak from the Tire Warehouse to make 2x4s, we learned how to lay out walls for building construction, and used the oak as the wall studs.
Using a nail gun, we constructed all of the walls for the bathroom section of the building.

Once each bathroom wall was constructed, we raised them and squared them off to make sure each one was fitting perfectly at 90 degree angles. We braced the building afterwards to maintain the square overnight until we could continue working on the building.

Site Preparation Phase II

This week the ground began to be prepared for the concrete foundations on site. These pictures, taken Wednesday March 23rd, show the ground excavations for placement, as well as the arrangement of rebar used to strengthen the foundations.


Although they will not be seen in the final product, the foundations are crucial to the construction of the market. They will be used to support the market floor, building and roof.

Ground Prefabrication Phase I

When the pressure-treated lumber arrived last week, we began to measure and cut pieces of wood to the sizes we needed for the frames for the market ground.
After they were cut, we began to layout the sections of wood we had cut and mark 90 degree angles so that the framing construction would be square.

Once the pieces were lined up, we held them in place as a nail gun was used to connect each joist to the girder on the exterior.

The final product, one market floor frame. These will be used to support the market floor made of locally grown locust wood.

Roof Prefabrication Phase I

In order to facilitate the easier movement of the trusses in and out of the high-base space after construction, we built dollies. They also helped us to construct a guide for a fixed distance between the dollies on each side.

Once the distance between the two trusses was established, each truss's location was measured and each truss was nailed to the appropriate guide. We then began framing between the two trusses.

Pre-Construction Phase I

This week, design/build lab moved all of our operations to our off-campus facility where prefabrication will occur. On Monday we discussed logistics and began working towards getting our salvaged materials ready for construction.

We've been working with the wood harvested from the Tire Warehouse in Clifton Forge to cut the timbers down to size for our design.

Because the wood is being reused, there were some nails left over from the original construction. The nails all had to be removed, and the ends of each piece of wood were cut to be square.
The oak seen in these photos will be reused as framing lumber for the building of the market, which includes a restroom, storage facility, and an office for the Market Manager.

Site Preparation Begins

Yesterday preparation of the future site of the Covington Farmer’s Market began with the removal of the asphalt.

The design for the site calls for a market floor and a green park space to cover most of the existing site. However, to facilitate the unloading and setting up of market stalls, as well as parking, the asphalt on the boundary of the lot opposite of Monroe St will be repaved. Some of the asphalt currently being removed from the existing parking lot will be recycled to make the new parking spaces.

Virginian Review, Saturday February 26th

The Covington Farmer's Market made front page news in the Virginian Review on Saturday. Information on the site preparation was announced to begin on Monday, the 28th of February. The article also explained a bit about the steps taken in the design process and the deconstruction of the tire warehouse in Clifton Forge as well as the repurposing of the tire warehouse's wood.