I found this picture on the decathlon page. (Credit: David Hicks/Solar Decathlon)

Today was the last full day of construction for the house. The PV, battery and inverter system has been inspected and approved. All the light fixtures and fans are in. The Apricu solar hot water system was installed today. We had 100 degree water after only four hours.
Things that will be worked on tonight and tomorrow:
Finish painting
Trim on the curved header
Landscaping
Furniture will be delivered
UMR was the first team to have the decks setup and ready for the event deck walk way to be installed.
Last night there was a bit of rain in D.C. Good news for us! The house doesn’t leak! Luckily it has cooled off a bit since then.

Late night Picture of the UMR Solar House Team during setup.

UMR’s Solar House’s reconstruction on the National Mall is nearly complete. The girls and guys pretty much kept on schedule rebuilding the complex structure, with both modules quickly placed and assembled and the second story components lifted into place without incident. The weather has been great (if you don’t mind hot and humid), just perfect for those 12-14 hour days of heavy physical effort. On Sunday all heavy work and generator noise was banned to alow the public to wander around the huge competition site, so the team members concentrated on finishing the interior.

Worsksite safety on is paramount so Nicole Annis and Jacobe Colbert (above) install the last solar panels using safety harnesses loaned by Alberici Construction of St Louis, without fear of falling on students simultaneously finishing up the deck systems. The rest of the day was devoted to finishing up railings and rebuilding the main house entry, which is the keystone of the house’s design.

Luke Sudkamp kept busy with a circular saw, but didn’t have much time to take in the sights such as the US Capital in the distance. That will come later.

UMR’s solar house has been topped off with the addition of the upper walls and roof sections yesterday. Three 18-wheelers hauled the modern-style solar powered house the 1,000 miles to the nation’s capital. Two of the trucks unloaded Wednesday, and once the house modules were bolted together and secured the truck carrying the higher walls and roof panels pulled up to the site and the second-story components were carefully lifted into place.

The weather continues to be warm and dry, excellent for an intensive construction schedule, to say nothing of having a roofless house for a couple of days. UMR has a reputation for rapid solar house set-up. In both previous Solar Decathlons (’02 and ’05) the Miners were the first team to have their houses completed and certified for operation.