Saturday May 11th

Hey Folks,

Walked on site on Saturday the 11th to find the Tuesday & Wednesday crews had completed the siding on houses 5 & 6. Great job!

They also wrapped the Thrivent/Women Build houses with Tyvek weatherproofing. 

I'm embarrassed to admit, but since I started Habitat, I swear I thought they were saying tie back, which didn't make sense to me but I thought 'Oh well, construction jargon'. On Saturday, I finally read the big blue letters and...yeesh! Obviously I've had a very long Homer Simpson moment. :-P

The plumber was deep into the plumbing in the WB house so it was outside work for us. He brought the pipes from the subfloor, branched them out on the first floor for the kitchen & downstairs bath, through a wall and up to the second floor bathroom. 

You can see the hot & cold water valves in the outlet box for the washer & dryer that will be in the first floor bath.

 It's been so interesting to see what goes in behind the walls of a house and why things go in certain places. The planning of the plumbing, ducting and electrical really do take an experienced mind to plan out well.

I had to laugh, he's got several big burlap bags of elbows and whatnot, that he dumps all over the floor and picks out pieces here and there as he needs them. It seems like a bit of a crazy way to do things, but he gets the job done for us. :)

We had two fantastic groups helping out. The wonderful folks from St Puis X Lutheran Church came and gave their usual best getting siding installed on the Thrivent house as part of their church wide commitment to service. Too, they were kind enough to bring and share lunch with all of us.

Also working with us was an enthusiastic group of women from NW Natural's Women's Network. I found it interesting this network for women began in 1992 to offer a place within NW Natural for women to discuss related issues in the workplace. As time has passed, men have joined, the organization has proven to provide good networking opportunities for members throughout the company and they also reach out to serve their community. 

In doing this, members are able to participate in activities (like building homes!), they may never have done before. And we all know it can be easier to move outside of your comfort zone when you're surrounded by supportive peers. Cindy explained the organization's goal in a nutshell, “Build your network within the company and bridge to your community.” That sounds fantastic to me! More power to them!

J channel

One of the fellows I had the good fortune to work with during the week, Mike, showed me how to add what are called 'J channels” to some back porch covers. We will slide in some of the house siding in between these channels so the porch roof will have a look consistent with the rest of the house.

We also finished the sheathing. We could only get so far on this project as we ran out of trim wood and needed to wait for more to be delivered during the week. After lunch it was siding for me too.

It ended up being a beautiful day and we were all glad to be outside. :)

Siding colors are English Wedgewood for the
Thrivent house, Desert Sand for the WB one

Until next time, live your best life, however big or small it may be!

Nanette