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Rock Creek Craftsmen holds Mini Master Class for Mitchell Elementary School

Submitted by: Kevin Meek on Apr 19, 2011 at 12:50 pm Tagged with: custom builders, Historic Preservation, Kevin Meek, Master Class, Rock Creek Craftsmen Source: Rock Creek Craftsmen Inc

Mitchell Elementary students got some firsthand experience in historic preservation when Rock Creek Craftsmen showed them the ins and outs how houses are built, and how old houses can be made better than new.

Kevin Meek, owner of Rock Creek Craftsmen showed the students how a 1910 Charleston Foursquare was built, explaining antique knob and tube wiring, coal fireplaces and such things as how pocket doors and old fashioned sash windows work. The students saw the innards of house framing, got to see how house renovation and recycling go hand in hand, and used an antique catalog to find dozens of examples of door styles, mantles, hardware and other bits and pieces of the old house's original construction.
The Mitchell students are learning about architecture, engineering and construction as they become more aware of art, design, construction and preservation-- things they see every day in the neighborhood, and places they might one day help rebuild. They learned how materials can be re-used, how an old house can be made highly energy efficient through modern insulation techniques and high efficiency heating and cooling systems-- tankless water heaters, for example.

Everyone had a great time, saw things from a new angle, and hopefully went away with a whole new idea about what a house really is, and what an old house can be.
Since a major part of the day's lesson was saving energy, the bus stayed parked at Mitchell, and the students walked to and from the job site.