Up Go The Walls!!

What a day! On Thursday (July 22), a crew of volunteers from IBM laid the deck for House 3 (Bol's house), and got so much done in a day, that they challenged Saturday's crew to get four walls framed and up... the gauntlet had been thrown down - and we rose to the challenge with enthusiasm.

7 hours later, and in 90+ degree heat and high humidity, four walls were framed and up! (Not to mention the basement floor joists had been supported in the basement (the intrepid over-the-head-hammering crew of Michelle, Colleen and Katie got a good shoulder workout!).

Thanks again to all who volunteered this week, it was great to meet more of our Charlotte neighbors on Saturday!!





Mike's in charge, making sure it all gets done according to the plans.




Nothing quite so exciting as being a part of the building of your own house, right Bol?


One wall up!












Framing the walls!



HYDRATE!!! We went through 10 gallons of water in 4 hours... and then some!



Hot and tired, but still smiling! Great job everyone! Look, Bol! Your house has walls!!!

Basement Floors Bring Me to Tears...

Bol's House's new basement floor!!




Our house viewed from the south. I discovered today that my camera has a timer feature... so I took my own picture in the basement window!!



Our smooth and wonderful basement floor!

It is a humbling experience to visit this site so often, see the progress that is being made, and find myself suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude and joy... just to see the basement floor has been poured. Thank you to everyone who works with GMHfH and on our home. We are so blessed.

mmmm.... insulation....

Perhaps it is odd to be obsessed with insulation while the temps crank up into the 90s here lately. Yet, we all know how great it will be to have tended to insulating our homes well. Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity raises the bar for us all! The following pics and videos show the laying down of 12 inches (yes, truly it is not a typo - 6 layers of 2" insulation) of rigid foam insulation between what will be the basement floor and the gravel bed beneath. It is a combination of tetris, legos, and those mindbending block puzzles to cut the foam just right and get the whole thing level. It looks so simple in the drawn plans... Not to mention how hot it is in a basement hole when the sun comes out and it is 90 degrees or higher.

Many thanks to all who came out Saturday to help! It was fun and we all learned a lot! Huge thanks to those who came to work on our homes in the heat wave of last week - dedicated volunteers undeterred by difficult conditions!






Kevin and Denny, fitting pieces together. Katie bringing over more layers!

In Bol's house, details are considered, measured, and computed.

Marking the wall where the poured basement floor will need to be leveled to.

Videos of Saturday July 10, 2010 workday in Charlotte.

What we often don't see is what keeps us warm and dry

Herein is my grateful tribute to insulation and drainage. As many of you know, my current domicile has suffered a relentlessly wet (sometimes ankle deep) basement, dampness even throughout dry summers, and a kind of basement cold that comes from being over 150 years old. Watching the process when Habitat builds an extraordinarily efficient passive solar home, therefore is immensely exciting. These pictures are of the insulation and perimeter drains that are being installed.