Build Days

I don't have much to say about the first two build days, they were kind of lame and there wasn't enough work for 30 people. I actually felt bad with the condition we left the first house in. All we had to do was paint the exterior of the house. In the morning it was fine. We were able to put a brush in everyone's hand. However, after lunch there were a lot of people standing around because we didn't have enough ladders to reach the second story. Then we ran out of time to finish the house. Although we did help, because the job wasn't complete, the house appeared to look worse than when we started.

The second build day we poured a foundation. We were able to make an assembly line of wheel barrows and to transport the concrete. There were just a lot more people than necessary, but it was still more fun than painting.

The third build day in Cincinnati was incredible. It was what I wanted to do the whole trip, just hammer in some nails. We teamed up with Habitat for Humanity while they were building 4 houses right next to each other. We were working on 3 of those houses, putting up siding, assembling scaffolding, building stairs, and building a roof. I was on the roof crew with our fearless leader Ken. He was a great guy that really knew what he was doing and was more than willing to explain. He also made sure we were all being safe because "Safety is Sexy!" It took a little while to get started, we had to arrange all of our tools and materials on the scaffolding. I probably climbed the ladder 30 times within an hour, but I was more than willing. Once we got started we were like a well oiled machine. We put up the gutter board and progressed with the sheathing. It was interesting to be on the construction side of things for once. I've structurally designed roofs before but never have I built them. It definitely gives me a new perspective that will make me better at what I do.

I'm really looking forward to the build days ahead.