Sunday, September 15, 2013

Weatherization



This week we had our weatherization training. This entailed suiting up in head to toe protective gear and descending into the crawl space beneath a house to remove all the debris and laydown plastic. Then we sealed the plastic sheeting and sealed any ducts that were leaking air. After learning how to do that on Friday I led a volunteer to weatherize Vanessa’s house (the house we started last weekend) on Saturday. The space under the house was so tight in the far dark corner I was really the only person who would fit there, and it was so dark I could hardly see. The space could only be navigated by crawling belly down, and in the tightest spaces I was belly down and could nearly feel the house on my back! I’m now covered with bruised from two days of crawling over rocks and hard ground. We managed to lay down and seal the plastic sheeting very quickly. We also grouted two of the three walls around the tub which I had tiled the day before.

When we started I was told that we’ll not have very many volunteers in Critical Home Repair but I’m glad that we’ve had a few. I love working with volunteers and hearing their stories and working alongside them. We do have one regular volunteer, Bob, who comes with our team nearly every day. Bob is 84 years old and has been volunteering with Habitat since he retired. He pretty much only works with T.A. but also puts in some time at the warehouse. Last week we had trouble getting into a good rhythm, but this week Bob and I rocked the teamwork as we tiled the bathroom. All this week Sean led volunteers and ripped up the kitchen floor, replaced all the rotted wood and then retiled it. Tuesday he’ll finish building a concrete support in the crawl space fixing the sagging kitchen!

Friday after finishing working at our house we went right over to one of the new construction sites to help out Alex and Kim’s teams who were framing a new house with a bunch of volunteers. About the time we got there the volunteers were leaving so we were able to help them finishing the day’s framing and cleanup before going back home. I love that our team finishes our day early enough to
show up at another site to help out. That day left me feeling incredibly energized and happy and I was glad to be able to work on a new site in addition to the home repair work I’ve been doing. I feel like I’m learning so much already and I love being an Americorps member again!

Full PPE
Under the House!
Crawl space: Weatherized!

No comments:

Post a Comment