Building Trades Home Fast-tracked for Warsaw Family
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
A family can wait 10 to 15 years to have a home built by the Warsaw Area Career Center Building Trades program. Jerad Thompson and his family signed up last year. Four months later, they were asked if they wanted a house built for them in the Cherry Creek Manor subdivision. An open house for the home at 2028 E. Blossom Lane, Warsaw, is from 4 to 6 p.m. June 3. It is open to the public. “Friends of ours had one built. They were impressed with what (WACC Building Trades) did,” Thompson said. He and his wife have two children. The house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Once the basement is completed, there will be an additional bedroom and bathroom. Thompson said the building trades program has starter packages a family can pick from, but they can tweak it to their own liking. Gary Hochstedler, with Accucad Drafting Services, drew up all the plans and designed the house to begin with, Thompson said. “He’s worked with building trades a few years,” he said. Though it wasn’t quite ready Tuesday, Thompson said he was pleased with the work the students and Building Trades instructor Tom Heiman had done up to that point. “Tom is an exceptional guy. He’s been doing this 41 years. He’s very professional. All the boys have done a great job and I’m very pleased. I couldn’t ask for more,” Thompson said. Heiman said the house is a total of 3,800 square feet. They started building the second week of the school year and have finished everything on the house except heating, plumbing and electrical. Two groups of students worked on the house five days a week, for about 2-1/2 hours per session. There are 23 students in building trades this year, Heiman said. Thompson provided a tour of the house. A door in the garage goes into the house next to the laundry room. There’s a master bedroom and bathroom, which includes a jacuzzi and custom shower. The kitchen and great room are connected, with a dining area off the kitchen. A back door goes from the kitchen to the porch. Thompson said the back porch will eventually be screened in with a deck. Another room near the front door will serve as Thompson’s wife’s office. Each of the kids have their own bedroom, which are about the same size. They share a bathroom. There are many windows throughout the house. “We like natural light as much as we can get it,” Thompson said. Stairs in the great room descend into the basement. “It’s nice and big. Tall ceilings,” Thompson commented. At some point, the basement will serve as an entertainment area. Besides the spare bathroom and bedroom, it has a big storage and utility area. “The basement, when it’s finished, will make this house huge,” he said. Seniors Josh Wogoman and Cameron Sumwalt are in the building trades program for the first time this year. Wogoman said he’s done siding, framing, drywall, painting and roofing. Sumwalt said he’s done that all too, except the roofing, because he didn’t want to fall off. “I like it,” Wogoman said of the program. “For one, I’m not in school, and I’m doing something I like.” “It’s different. I learned a lot. It took a lot of work and time to build a house,” Sumwalt said. Both of the guys said they learned how to properly install doors and windows, but they disagreed on what was the hardest thing to do. For Wogoman, the hardest part of building the house was installing insulation because it itched. “I would say putting up the walls because if the wall fell, you have to put it up again from scratch,” Sumwalt said.
