Like True Volunteers, we went where we were needed, even if it meant doing the jobs that were not as glamorous as building houses. Monday and Tuesday we volunteered to work on the punch lists for houses on Alvar St. in Musician's Village. These were homes that were already built, but still considered "under construction" because there were touch ups, replacements, and things to correct. We corrected them so technically we "finished" 4 houses. The tasks for the punch list included trim work, evening up paint lines, goo gone the soffits, fix a fan, and repair damaged dry wall. These two days also had us doing two completely unrelated jobs that they needed extra people for. They were loading sheetrock onto a flat bed, and getting a bus out of the mud.
By Wednesday we had enough of the punch list stuff and wanted to see a house under construction. So, we went three blocks away from Musician's Village to work on French Street. This house had all of the bones together, and we helped with some of the interior and exterior details. Mom was inside with putty, and caulk tending to all of the trim in the house, while Tara and I volunteered for Landscaping outside. This would be a great time to tell you that in construction terms "Landscaping" is another terms for "moving dirt." Yes, Tara and I spent 8 hours on Wednesday moving a truck load of dirt to grade the yard. And by truck load I mean truck load!
Thursday, we were very sore from the dirt moving and quite frankly were scared to go back to that site for fears that we'd have to move dirt again. So we decided to go to the Warehouse where they needed some things done. The warehouse was very cool! Pieces and parts all waiting to be put together in the exact way to be someone's home! Over at the warehouse they are still getting things organized, so we helped clean it up a bit, salvaged some wood, and then there was the big project..... There is this piece of soffit that is made out of vinyl that goes on every house. its about 10 feet long, really flimsy and are sold in cardboard bundles of 40. This is all fine, except when the delivery is left outside on the loading dock for months on end. Our project was to remove the cardboard, rebundle them with shrink wrap and move them inside so they could be added to the inventory and used appropriately. So Thursday we spent with millions of our closest friends called Termites. They had been living in/on/off the wet cardboard for a while. We also saw some other wild life such as palmetto roaches, salamanders, and a skeleton of an appendage we still aren't sure what it belonged to.... By the end of that day we were very smelly, and very itchy as our minds played tricks on us!!
Our last day we decided to return to the under construction house with the dirt pile. Our awesome crew leader was so excited to have us back and put us to work on other things besides dirt duty. Mom was busy caulking again and did some painting, I scraped drywall paste off the subfloor, Tara helped organize some things outside, did some caulking too, but by the afternoon the weather turned warm and Tara and I took over the dirt pile again to soak in the last few rays of 70degree weather we could get. WE were the ones to level it!! WOO HOO!!!
So overall we may not have built a house in a week, but we were an active part in the process to bring people back to New Orleans to live in safe stable homes. I think that's pretty cool.
By Wednesday we had enough of the punch list stuff and wanted to see a house under construction. So, we went three blocks away from Musician's Village to work on French Street. This house had all of the bones together, and we helped with some of the interior and exterior details. Mom was inside with putty, and caulk tending to all of the trim in the house, while Tara and I volunteered for Landscaping outside. This would be a great time to tell you that in construction terms "Landscaping" is another terms for "moving dirt." Yes, Tara and I spent 8 hours on Wednesday moving a truck load of dirt to grade the yard. And by truck load I mean truck load!
Thursday, we were very sore from the dirt moving and quite frankly were scared to go back to that site for fears that we'd have to move dirt again. So we decided to go to the Warehouse where they needed some things done. The warehouse was very cool! Pieces and parts all waiting to be put together in the exact way to be someone's home! Over at the warehouse they are still getting things organized, so we helped clean it up a bit, salvaged some wood, and then there was the big project..... There is this piece of soffit that is made out of vinyl that goes on every house. its about 10 feet long, really flimsy and are sold in cardboard bundles of 40. This is all fine, except when the delivery is left outside on the loading dock for months on end. Our project was to remove the cardboard, rebundle them with shrink wrap and move them inside so they could be added to the inventory and used appropriately. So Thursday we spent with millions of our closest friends called Termites. They had been living in/on/off the wet cardboard for a while. We also saw some other wild life such as palmetto roaches, salamanders, and a skeleton of an appendage we still aren't sure what it belonged to.... By the end of that day we were very smelly, and very itchy as our minds played tricks on us!!
Our last day we decided to return to the under construction house with the dirt pile. Our awesome crew leader was so excited to have us back and put us to work on other things besides dirt duty. Mom was busy caulking again and did some painting, I scraped drywall paste off the subfloor, Tara helped organize some things outside, did some caulking too, but by the afternoon the weather turned warm and Tara and I took over the dirt pile again to soak in the last few rays of 70degree weather we could get. WE were the ones to level it!! WOO HOO!!!
So overall we may not have built a house in a week, but we were an active part in the process to bring people back to New Orleans to live in safe stable homes. I think that's pretty cool.
