House Erected In Eight Hours By Roth Firm
House Erected In Eight Hours By Roth Firm
Panel Erection Method Demonstrated By Work On Fairview Dwelling
By Jeanne Rockwell
A house built in a day is an often-publicized stunt of prefabricated building concerns, but the construction of dwellings in the same space of time using a more conventional approach plus special speed-up methods has been introduced in Ann Arbor by the Roth Construction Co.
The new system, a panel erection method, was developed in 1937 by H. G. Roth and Clinton C. Carpenter of Detroit. It has been revised this year, and improved through the work of Eugene Young of Dexter, who is in charge of carpentry operations.
Chief innovation of the firm is the use of pre-engineered panels which are manufactured in the Roth plant in Dexter by the same men who construct the houses. The panel work can be done during the year when inclement weather prevents work at a building site.
Roofed By 4 P.M.
On one of its projects this week, a crew of six carpenters and helpers, starting at 8 a.m. with only the subfloor in, had a house at 118 Fairview up and roofed by 4 p.m. The house, which is shown in various stages of the day’s work in the accompanying photographs, is being built for a veteran and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Shankland.
The Roth houses were designed by Ragnar L. Arnesen and will sell for $9,500 and up, according to the size and the type of heating, plumbing and equipment wanted.
The panel sizes are four by eight feet and are placed on two by four fir stock, using an adjustable jig table designed by Young. Window and door opening panels are made on this adjustable jig and three-quarter inch insulation board is placed on the panels while in the jig table.
The panels are erected by using stran-steel channel plates, which are nailed on the subfloor. They are slipped into the channel plate and each successive panel in spiked to the one preceding it and also spiked from the side of the plate, with a double stud occurring every four feet. Four inch corner posts are made by spiking two 2x4’s to the end 2x4’s of corner panels.
Walls Held By Steel
The top steel channel plates are then placed over the top of the panels, spiked through, insuring that the outside walls are completely held in place by steel.
After the interior partitions are put in place in the same manner as the exterior walls and the roof put on, the house is ready for installation of plumbing, wiring, and heating, plastering, exterior siding, and painting.
According to Roth, the big advantage of the new system is the standardization and concentration of operations, which results in improved efficiency in utilization of labor. He claims that it is faster to make framework in panels than to place each stud and plate in position on the building site.
Speed of erection—the outside walls are erected in 30 minutes—enables contractors to conduct more jobs at one time, Roth believes. He added that the panel sections are light enough so they do not have to be put in place by derricks.
Progress Of House Built 'In A Day' Shown In Pictures
8:10 a.m.—One window panel is in place, another wall panel is lifted to the subfloor in the house built "in a day" at 118 Fairview by the Roth Construction Co.
9 a.m.—Sidewalls are all up and rafters are put in place as workmen show how efficiency methods can be applied, through pre-engineering practices, to custom-built homes. The panels are made at the firm’s plant in Dexter during bad weather.
4 p.m.—Shell of house Is complete with windows installed and roof on. Now heating, plumbing and wiring can be put in, and interior and exterior walls finished. Use of stran-steel channel plates is another feature of the construction.