T. Valley Building Trades Home Features Rare Ceilings
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE – Despite the many weather cancellations and delays during this school year, the Tippecanoe Valley Building Trades program is finishing its house for unveiling. The open house is from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The home was built for Lynn Montelongo, 8482 S. CR 1200W, Mentone. According to a press release from Tippecanoe Valley School Corp., the home has 6,714 total square feet of living space, with a 2,829-square-foot main floor; a 2,829-square-foot walk-out basement; an attached 936-square-foot three-car garage; and a 120-square-foot storm shelter. Included in the living space are three full bathrooms and three bedrooms. The living room features a cathedral ceiling, while the dining room and master bedroom feature trayed ceilings with can lights, according to instructor Wes Backus during a tour of the home Monday afternoon. The kitchen features a coffered ceiling. Backus said it looks like false beams. “They’re rare because of the man hours required,” he said. They’re done for aesthetics not functionality. There are seven different archways in the home. While they originally were supposed to be all different sizes, they were changed so three are one size, three are another size and the seventh one, which is an opening looking from the kitchen to the dining area, is its own size. Backus said they also aren’t normal archways. The sides go up and square off, and then the arches are more abrupt at the top. The home’s exterior features vinyl siding with shake siding on the gables, stone veneer on the foundation and a full-length porch on the east and west sides. The northeast end of the house features the master bedroom, bathroom and closet. The master bathroom has a jacuzzi tub, and there are dual shower heads in the shower. Backus said the homeowner requested an additional two feet to the deck, which will now be 8 feet. There will be a roof over the deck. Some of the work for the deck was subcontracted out to Old School Construction, who is working with the students to complete the decking. There are two chimneys in the house. The upstairs chimney is for propane, and the chimney in the walk-out basement is for a woodburner. The chimneys line up and share a cavity, Backus said. The laundry room also features a pantry. A cubby for a swiveling iron board and the attic access also can be found in the room. There’s a guest room for Montelongo’s grandchildren, and the guest bathroom has two separate sinks. Besides the big family room in the basement, there’s a spare bedroom, spare bathroom, a television room, a kids playroom, the mechanical/storage room and the storm shelter made of concrete. The home is heated and cooled by a closed-loop geo-thermal system. In his first year of building trades, junior Zach Gordon said, “It’s been a work in progress. I just hate the cold – that was the most annoying part of it. Out here it’s been 30 degrees below zero. We got through the jobs we’ve been assigned.” He said he enjoyed wiring the lights in the garage and some of the roof work the most. From his first-year experience, Gordon said he learned, “You don’t want to do something twice.” He’s already signed up for building trades for next year. Senior Colton Francis is in his second year of the class and compared the houses from last year and this year. “It’s about the same amount of work. The square footage is close,” Francis said. “I don’t mind siding. Windows, I don’t mind. I don’t mind putting them in and stuff. All the exterior walls and stuff, I don’t mind,” he said. The home is one mile west of Tippecanoe Valley High School. To reach the Montelongo house, take Ind. 19 south of Mentone to the flashing caution sign at CR 800S. Take a right turn on CR 800S and travel approximately one mile west to CR 1200W. Go one-quarter mile south on CR 1200W, and the home is on the east side of the road. The public is invited to attend the open house.
