As the school year at Iola High School concludes today, building trades students were able to put all but a few of the finishing touches to the house they are completing in Iola’s new Cedarbrook Addition.
Instructor Larry Wittmer will take care of the remaining “odds and ends,” in the coming days.
The three-bedroom, two-bath house will be on the market as soon as it’s complete, Wittmer said.
If only the weather would cooperate.
Wittmer noted the remaining items — installing the carpet, applying stucco to the exterior of the foundation and pouring the home’s concrete driveway and front porch — all depend on Mother Nature’s fickle demeanor.
Wittmer spoke Thursday as he applied caulking around exterior light fixtures, carefully positioning small sheets of plywood to serve as his ladder’s base in the thick mud.
The wet ground means pouring the driveway still is several days away, Wittmer said. The same goes for the porch.
The carpet, meanwhile, will not be stretched until the temperature is consistently above 70 degrees.
“That has something to do with the manufacturer’s warranty,” he said. “I’d never heard of it before.”
Wet weather slowed the construction project at the start of the school year, although students were able to complete the home’s shell and move indoors before the onset of wintry weather.
Twenty-four students — all newcomers — helped with construction of the home, near the Scott Street cul de sac in the Cedarbrook addition.
“Usually we have some second-year students, but we didn’t have any juniors last year,” Wittmer said. “The kids did a good job.”
It’s too soon to tell where next year’s house will be built. The city has indicated it would offer other lots to build in the same neighborhood, but that has not been decided, Wittmer said.
Building trades house nearly complete
