2717 Minnesota

Work has commenced on our newest home. And this is going to rock.....this is our High Efficiency, Low Energy home.

On Saturday September 29th, 2007we placed the solar shunt loop….(huh?)…… When the solar collectors are collecting excess heat, and by excess I mean heat that is both non-storable and unusable, the system shunts the hot water to a closed loop that runs around the footings of the home……cool.

We plan on hitting this site very hard over the next couple months to get a roof on before the ice and snow comes. I know we can do it, but we need your support. Please help when you are able.

Things are rolling at Habitat…..we are working on not one….but two houses!

On Wednesday this week we applied foam to the exterior of the frost wall so it could be backfilled.

Then on Saturday, along with a great group from US Bank (here for their third year….at least), we dug in....literally. Did I mention it was 91? Wow, the crew from the bank got to work sweeping off the frost wall in preparation for the mud sill, then they grabbed the shovels and rakes and worked on leveling off for the slab. I pitched in for a bit with the shoveling and I am here to tell you that group worked…..Thank you!!

Our current new build is the sixth time I have been privileged to hear dozens of volunteers hammering away, starting a new home for a family in need….wonderful!

This weekend we had the UWSP Campus Habitat Affiliate, The Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls, the Positive Psych Students, and the cast of “hard cores” at the house. After a safety briefing we carefully and enthusiastically nailed together the “interior-exterior walls” of our double wall construction and set them to place. We also finished the garage and finished nailing the OSB on the exterior. After ensuring the truss layout was correct we finished for the weekend.

We had hoped to start with the roofing felt and shingling, but we didn’t quite make it.

We plan on roofing this coming weekend….big time! We need to get the roof on before the snow flies, and at this point it is a race! Please, if you have any roofing experience, or want to learn to roof we need you on our next work days, Friday the 16^th, at 12:30, and Saturday the 17^th, at 9:00.

Our gang of volunteers, including the Positive Psych crew (nice job in the parade too), Athletes in Action, and the Sociology and Social Work Organization at UWSP, got a great start on the roofing this weekend, looking like the Beijing Acrobats hanging off roof jacks and chicken ladders. By day’s end the steep roof on the south side was finished….gee….sorry I missed THAT day!

Our next work days are Friday November 30^th, at 12:30, and Saturday December 1^st, at 9:00, at 2717 Minnesota when we will continue on the roofing, and also send a crew to 2733 Minnesota to work on countertops.

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night..............OK, looks like the snow got us this time......drat!

We started out with a great crew thanks to the UWSP Lutheran Peace Center, UWSP Habitat Chapter, UWSP Positive Psych students, and the usual gang of suspects. Hey, it may have been 16 (check out the temperature display in the nice warm car!), but at least it was sunny! We got a good lick in on the shingles on Friday, and a group of dedicated (or silly) volunteers started in at 8:00 on Saturday to beat the snow, and finish the roof.

So.

We hoisted shingles up, laid roofing felt, and shingled. All was going as planned and if the weather-person had been correct with the snow starting at 2 or 3 we would have been fine.

But.

Alas, 10:52 and the SNOW started. We kept shingling, blowing the snow off with a leaf blower......kept shingling........but finally gave up.

So we moved on down to 2933 Minnesota, enjoyed a great hot lunch courtesy of Paul at Arby's (THANK YOU!) and got to work on closet doors, and counter tops.

Our next work days are Friday the 7th at 12:30, and Saturday the 8th at 9:00. We will gather at 2717 Minnesota to see if we can finish the roof. We will also be working at 2933 on Friday and/or Saturday.

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Ahhh…...a little cold didn’t didn’t slow us down, we just bundled up a little more. Nope….that’s not snow flying, that’s our great crew from Baldwin Hall, ripping plywood to place on the window returns. Because of our double wall construction the windows will look a little like a shadow box. We also practiced our Circ De Soleil moves while bracing the trusses. Next we trudged outside and “picture framed” the window rough openings to allow for the one inch of foam insulation that was carefully nailed to place.

Friday an intrepid hard core got up on the roof and shoveled off the area we need to finish shingling. We hope to get that done this coming weekend, then take a week or two off for the Holidays. The roofing job is just a little weather dependant (see last week’s entry….) so we may need to work when the elements allow….stay tuned. We also worked at 2933 Minnesota on Friday and finished trimming out the closets.

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December 14th and 15th.

YIPPEE!!

THE ROOF IS DONE!!

Ahhhh, but a whole lot more was also accomplished this weekend.

On Friday, we readied the rough openings for the windows, and started installing them. In preparation for roofing on Saturday we sent the leaf blower up on the roof top again….reindeer or no…..

But…

Shirley Egner and the UWSP Women’s Basket Ball team stopped by (as they have for YEARS!) and apparently the women needed a cold weather workout….leaf blower????...let’s shovel it off! And the snow started flying. The rest of the gang split up to work on windows and insulation. These gals moved so fast it was just a blur. If they weren’t swinging in the rafters, they were singing (hi ho….hi ho) while working…..or just checking to see that the rest of us were keeping busy. Great job, thanks Lady Pointers!

Saturday, with help from St. Joe’s Parish, we cleaned the roof off a little, contemplated if this is something we really wanted to do, and got to work shingling and finishing the ridge vents. By 12:30 the final row of shingles was on and the final cap shingle nailed down……unbelievable…….I am always amazed by you, our volunteers.

We finished up taping the windows and the foam, and moved on down to 2933 Minnesota.

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January 11, 12 2008

Well we had our dedicated gang hard at work this weekend, but fear not, we bailed early enough to watch the big game.

Earlier in the week, the crew from Chet’s Plumbing carefully installed the solar panels at 2717…..and they look great!

Then on Friday we started framing up the porch and by Saturday afternoon we had it already for the PJ gang to finish it up with shingles.

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January 18

Looks like it was a good call canceling work yesterday…..harsh!

We did have a group of hard cores working on Friday. Even though we placed the insulation in the walls (always a job we are itching to do), it’s not as if it was balmy inside. We also finished boxing out the windows.

Our next work days are Friday the 25^th (at 12:30) and Saturday the 26^th (at 9:00). We’ll gather at 2717 Minnesota……and the forecast is saying 29 or 30 for the high…so time to get those shorts back out my fellow CHEESE HEADS.

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January 25, 26

Well we got a little done this weekend, but until we get a family selected (and hopefully that will occur at our February 7^th Board meeting) we need to slow down a bit. Until the size of the family is known we cannot do too much more with the interior. And, we can’t start out new project “Thrivent Builds” until (and unless brrrrrrr) the thaw comes.

This weekend we did manage to box off the attic space for the insulation, carefully measure and intently nail the bottom chord of the trusses to the top plate, do some fine adjustment (yep.....with a Sawz-All) and get the final framing done on the porch……… complete with a mini avalanche.

Our next work day is Friday the 1st^th (at 12:30) We will NOT be working on Saturday the 2^nd. On Friday we’ll gather at 2717 Minnesota, but we will also work at 2933 Minnesota. 2933 is essentially finished, so yo……time to kick those shoes and boots off and make like a sock hop…….so……wear your good socks.

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February 8th, 9th

Well, we have our families selected for the home at 2717 Minnesota, along with 3001 Minnesota (the site of the Thrivent Builds Homes, home). We will begin on 3001 as soon as the weather allows…..yep…..it is 6 below, with a 30 below wind chill as I write this…….the sooner the weather allows construction, the happier this boy will be!

At 2717 we are now able to finish the interior framing….and that’s just about what we did. We carefully measured, ciphered, measured, thought some more, measured……whacked together a few walls…..tossed ‘em up, and adjusted as needed.

Our next work days are Friday the 15^th (at 12:30) and Saturday the 16^th (at 9:00). We will gather at 2717 Minnesota and may send a crew to try and sift and sort through some of our storage areas. We just received a generous donation of windows and bi-fold doors from Blenker Construction, and as of now they are in my basement.

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February 15th and 16th

Lands’ End began their new Friday affiliation with us. Having the family to work with we continued to adjust and customize the home design. We also finished placing the top plate on the framing, and insulated the space where the tub/shower enclosure will go. The rough framing is finished and the electricians and plumbers will be in next. Once their work is finished we will continue with insulation, then on to drywall. In the meantime, weather permitting, we will begin placing the vinyl siding.

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February 22nd and 23rd

Lands’ End was with us on Friday again. Seeing that the plumber had started the rough in, including the storage tank for the solar system, we needed to tweak the bathroom wall, and thaw out and dig out the shower-unit drain. We also checked the starter strip with a water level and found that Keith and Bob did a pretty dang good job.

Saturday dawned at 11 below with the promise of a warm up for the vinyl siding task. The UWSP Habitat Chapter was up for the job and soon we had the south and east sides pretty well finished…..and look….nice and straight!

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February 29th, March 1st

Snow………please make it stop!

It surely didn’t make us stop though. Friday the gang from Lands’ End placed the Proper Vents for the attic ventilation and the rest of us worked on siding…apparently my effort was so stellar one of my “buddies” decided to sign it for me.

Saturday we finished off the gable on the east, cut felt and shingled the porch roof, and cut and placed more J channel. The exterior doors should be coming this week so we will set them, and continue siding. We also had a visit from the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) students from UWSP who are spearheading the publicity for the home.

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March 7th and 8th

OK…..another of those weekends that I was not there and LOTS got done….cool! We had the Theta Xi Fraternity and the Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority from UW-SP, the Land’s End crew, and Team Ready working this weekend. This was a hard working crew!

The front and side doors were installed, the siding was slid to place, the porch roof drip edge was finished, and the ceiling penetrations were sealed and the vapor barrier put up in preparation for the drywall.

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March 14th and 15th

We finished up the roof on the porch and started on the soffit, got a bunch more siding done, and started hanging the ceiling dry wall in two bedrooms and the bath. As usual the gang got a lot accomplished.

Nice sunny days…..maybe they will even be WARM sunny days soon….I promise not to complain about the heat.

Talking about a crew……Dave Rasmussen gave a seminar for the Wisconsin Technology Educators Association on Saturday and Sunday. Our involvement was getting the gang in on Saturday morning. We also had the UW-SP Psychology Club, and our UW-SP Positive Psychology team. The task was finishing the vapor barrier and hanging dry wall. By noon we had the vast majority of the dry wall done, and were rewarded with a great lunch from Redeemer Lutheran Church. Thank you all!! We marveled at all the work you accomplished!

Neither cold, nor snow, nor Trivia 2008, could keep us from our appointed tasks this weekend……(there is an ugly rumor that the snow and cold will soon be a thing of the past….ahhhh I can smell the brats cooking…..)

We finished up insulating the windows and put on the drywall returns with the help of the Lands’ End and the Positive Psych gang on Friday. On Saturday we finished all the insulation, and the dry wall...except for the garage.

OK…..April showers…….not all that conducive for landscaping……..oh we got a little done anyway.

‘Bout all we did this weekend was get some ceiling drywall up in the garage, carefully finished off the Insul-guard around the foundation, spread a little mud…errr…dirt, put up Jenny’s mailbox and leveled her shed. And we were done by 1:15 on Saturday so I guess we got more accomplished than I thought!

We hung all the interior doors (ok…all the doors but one). We will continue there putting up the closet doors, the kitchen cabinets and the trim. We plan on closing on this home October 1^st !!

We finished hanging the doors and started on the cabinets. As we are closing on this home October 1^st we need volunteers with cabinet and trim experience……..we have to bring it all together very quickly now. HELP!!