Week 3 at Habitat

My third week at Habitat was full of a variety of tasks, which make volunteering for this organization so much fun.


On Tuesday I helped apply grass seed and spread hay over the seed, while the site manager, Jim, and another volunteer set forms and poured cement to fill in a sidewalk slab. Later that day Jim taught me how to drive a Bobcat Skid Steer Loader. It was a blast.

The weather continued to be cold and rainy, but Wednesday we worked inside of the Women Build house, which does not have heat or electricity yet, but at least we were out of the rain and wind. We built window jambs, attached the casing and installed them into the window frames. We also started installing pre-hung doors. Split jambs made the installation much easier. (One half has the door already mounted to the jamb, with the casing already attached to it. The other half of the jamb also has casing applied to it.) As we used the table saw extensively, I am finally losing my fear and apprehension of using one.

Thursday was a busy day at the Women Build house. A large number of volunteers arrived and work immediately began on finishing the window boxes, cutting and installing the trim and baseboard, installing the rest of the doors, and caulking the windows and doors. It was fascinating to see how people gravitated to various tasks and started getting the work done. By late afternoon almost all of the trim and baseboard was installed and caulked on the first floor. While a team installed cement backerboard for tile in the kitchen, I ran a caulk gun. The work was tedious but gratifying, and it was a good way to make a contribution while staying out of the way. After hours I went to the house where the Americorps volunteers are living and installed their blinds.

We spent Friday at the 37th Terrace house. My construction vocabulary grew quite a bit that day. I installed a sill plate all on my own. (A sill plate is the first component of the framing, bolted to the foundation walls, supports the building while anchoring it to the foundation.)


While I was working on my sill plate, another team was attaching the rim joists and then installing the floor joists.



Near the end of the day some of the subfloor was nailed down. I spent a lot of time helping lift floor joists, fetching tools, holding things in place, and watching one volunteer fearlessly walk on the sill plates and foundation while helping to nail down the floor joists. His balance was amazing. We were lucky to have him helping because most of us agreed that we neither had the courage nor the sense of balance he had.

One of the things that strikes me about volunteering for Habitat is that people step up with the right skill or courage to learn and typically take on a task with fervor. I have enjoyed being a part of that process.