325 First Street North
April 29, 2009
The excavation has started!! We may be putting down foam on May 2nd, but a lot of things have to fall into place.....this wasn't one of them! We will update you as to when we will have volunteers on site.
May 9, 2009
We trenched around the forms for the slab and placed foam insulation. On the 16th we will place the rest of the foam so the slab can be poured the following week.
May 16, 2009
We leveled the excavation and placed the sheets of insulating foam. It was a real challenge with the 40mph winds! The plumber placed the tubing for the hydronic heat today and the slab will be poured tomorrow or Wednesday.
Beginning Wednesday the 27th we will be on our usual schedule of Wednesdays from 9 – 1, Fridays from 12:30 – 4:30, and Saturdays from 9 – 4:30. It is time to start hammering so come join in the fun!
May 29 and 30, 2009
We set the mud sills and got the first wall up on Friday. We also cut some 39” headers….and fortunately needed some that were a little shorter too! Saturday two more walls went up.
Our next work day is Wednesday the 3rd and that kicks off our usual schedule of Wednesdays from 9 – 1, Fridays from 12:30 – 4:30, and Saturdays from 9 – 4:30. We have been a little light on volunteers so far, so if you have an opportunity please come join in the fun!
We worked at 325 First Street North on Friday and Saturday (until the rain came down…….). We got the rest of the exterior walls (save for the garage) up, we moved all the lumber inside and locked our makeshift door.
We are on our usual schedule of Wednesdays from 9 – 1, Fridays from 12:30 – 4:30, and Saturdays from 9 – 4:30.
On June 19th we plan on placing the trusses, that is an important day to have a bigger crew……thanks!
One of those deals where I take a week off of building and Bruce and the gang have the interior walls up and the trusses placed. A huge thank you to Jim Anderson and Ellis Stone for providing Travis and the crane to lift the trusses…..it is a HUGE help.
We will be putting the fascia boards on and start sheathing the roof during the next few sessions. Again, this is labor intensive and any time you are able to spend with us will be greatly appreciated…….thank you.
The week of June 22nd we were busy putting trusses on the porch, placing the fascia boards nice and straight (if I had done it right the first time it wouldn’t have taken 3 hours to do 14 feet……) and sheathing the south side of the roof. We will be continuing with the sheathing then move to drip edge and shingling over the next several sessions.
Our next work day at 325 First Street North is Wednesday July 1st (July already?? Gak). We will then take the 3rd and 4th off and resume work on the 8th, 10th and 11th.The week of June 29th we nearly finished sheathing the roof and got most of the blocking in for the ceiling drywall. We will finish the sheathing Wednesday and start on the drip edge. The shingles are coming on Friday, so a roofing we will go!
The week of July 6th we were busy roofing. On Wednesday all the felt and drip edge was put on in preparation of the shingles arriving on Friday. With the support of a great crew both Friday and Saturday (thank you Woodland’s Church!) I am thrilled to report that within 24 hours of delivery of the shingles the roof was essentially finished. Unbelievable!
Just in case we don’t appear busy enough, we started the site preparation on our next home directly east of 325 First. We expect to begin work there within the next several weeks.
The week of July 13th we got a lot accomplished. On Monday and Wednesday the Tyvek and foam were placed, the window openings were framed out and a couple windows were installed. Friday and Saturday we got two more windows in, placed the hurricane clips on the porch, put up the F-channel for the soffit (amazing how many Habitat volunteers it takes to snap a line….all good!), placed soffit, and trenched for and placed the insul-guard around the foundation.
The week of July 20th we continued to get ready to put the vinyl siding on by placing more soffit and getting the starter strip in. This week we will get the new site ready for the foundation pour on Wednesday, and then back to 325 First on Friday and Saturday.
Weeks of July 27th, August 3rd 2009
We have accomplished a bunch in the past two weeks. The rest of the windows were placed, and nearly all the soffit, fascia and siding is finished. As the electrician finishes up we will be placing insulation and then hanging drywall.
Kristi and Haley installed proper vents. The electrician will start this week.
We carefully measured and placed some ceiling dry wall and got started on the fiberglass insulation.
A little weed whacking was in order.
On Friday with the help of the UW-SP Woman’s Basketball Team we placed vapor barrier on the ceiling and continued with the fiberglass insulation. Saturday we essentially finished the ceiling sheet rock.
The name of the game right now is drywall…..hanging drywall. As usual our volunteers hung a lot of rock in short order. Nice job!
With the help of the usual gang and some UW-SP students from the Pharmacology Club and Positive Psychology, we worked at both 325 First Street and 324 Second Street this week. We hung all but the last drywall, cleaned up, and leveled some black dirt.
We completed hanging the dry wall. The drywall finishers are there now and we expect that will be done this week. Then it will be time for doors, cabinets and trim work.
UW-SP students were out in force with groups from Theta Xi Fraternity, Positive Psychology and the Campus Habitat Chapter. Together with the usual gang of suspects we primed at 325 First and although it may not look like it a lot of paint got on the walls too!
We hung interior doors and “dry-set” the cabinets so they could be measured for countertops. We plan on closing on Kristie’s home on November 20th, so it will be a big push from here.
We had a great bunch painting and another crew putting up the last drywall in the garage, then taping and mudding it.
Bruce said we only have about 12 working days left before closing to paint, trim, place cabinets, place closets, spread dirt………..
Our great volunteers , including UW-SP Burroughs Hall, responded and this week we had a super crew painting, cleaning donated trim, mudding the garage, placing closet jambs, spreading dirt, trimming doors and placing cabinets ( our volunteers are always ready to share the thanks….or blame).
We close on November 20th on 325 Third. Please stay tuned for info on the dedication and celebration.
I can’t begin to tell you how blessed we are to have such a wonderful group of selfless volunteers working with us to provide decent, affordable housing to our neighbors here in Portage County. You humble us, thank you.
Man, we needed to get lots done this last week and yep…..we did!! The UW-SP Positive Psych and Psych Club pitched in and we finished the baseboard and the painting. We hooked up the washer, dryer (apparently very enjoyably) and range hood. We placed the outlet covers, some window sills, and the countertops then we cleaned up and readied the house for carpet installation on Tuesday. This week we will place the closet doors, put the other doors back on their hinges, paint the utility room floor, clean, clean, clean........then take a huge collective sigh…..and we are done!!
We close at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. Please come join us for our dedication and celebration, hosted by the UW-SP Positive Psychology students, beginning at 4:30 on Friday at Kristie’s new home at 325 First Street.
We got it done, we literally had our great volunteers working until the last possible moment, but we have Kristie and her children in their new home!
Our sincerest thanks to you, our volunteers that made Kristie’s (and Habitat’s) dream come true. Without you, our workforce, we are nothing.
We got the dedication started at 4:30 (ok…..4:50), Father Letona lead us in a prayer and a blessing, Jeana Magyar-Moe and the UW-SP Positive Psych students orchestrated the food, Portage Country Republican Party presented an American Flag, the Stevens Point YMCA gave a one year membership, UnderCover Quilters gave wonderful quilts, the Children’s Museum gave memberships , Doug Henderson a DVD full of pictures, , Habitat a bible and THE KEYS!!
And…………..another deserving Portage County family is in safe, decent, affordable housing……for Thanksgiving!! Again, thank you.
