Habitat Build Day June 14, 2007 – Blitz Week

Today we had hoped to finish the house so that we could take Friday off and be really prepared for Saturday – landscaping day.  Didn’t quite happen.  A lot was accomplished though.

Picture is of our ever-smiling homeowner – Joi.

Work continued on installing “F” strip in preparation for soffit and the soffit work itself was started and one side and the back  were completed, and part of the front.

Painting continued inside and out.  I did trim work on the front porch – columns, door frame, corner trim, and other items on the porch.   Since some of it was up against the brick work, my arsenal of tools included a 1/4″ artist brush, a 1/2″ artist brush and a 3″ paint brush.   I spent a some time on my knees and side on the ground to get to the bottom of posts.   The result was red clay all over.    Others continued the painting of the outside walls, 2d coat and finished that up.  

 Jeff installed the locks and interior door hardware.  As Site Project Manager (SPM), Jeff is not normally allowed to “work”.  SPMs are supposed to manage and oversee all the volunteers, but since we have become such experts and don’t need much management, Jeff decided to do a little “work” today – please don’t tell anyone or he might have to turn in his name tag for breaking the rules or even be forced to do “work” on other sites.

The driveway and walkway forms were in place when I arrived (late).   Unfortunately, just as the concrete truck showed up, so did the power company mini-backhoe.   The concrete truck went to the house across the street that was also awaiting concrete work and the driveway workers pulled up the forms and allowed the power company contractor to trench from the power box to the house.    This also required our painters to remove their ladders and tote them out of the way of the digging equipment.  The power guy was supposed to be here last week, but at least he showed in time to slip in at the last possible moment.

When that was completed, the concrete truck had left after pouring about 8 feet of sidewalk – either out of concrete or too close to lunch.   When the truck finally returned it sat on the street “so the driver could take his break.”   It was about 1:00 pm.   Some of us watched in amusement as the driver operated the controls with one hand while continuously talking on his cell phone while looking the other way and merely listening to the crew shout orders in Spanish to open or close the gate for the concrete chute.

Left for us to do is the rest of the soffit and then the aluminum fascia and some outside painting and inside touchup.   Probably other stuff as well, but mostly minor.  We will finish tomorrow except for landscaping.  

Soffit Installation 

The soffit is a wide perforated vinyl panel that runs completely around the house under the eaves.   See picture of soffit, F strip and bird box with soffit already covering bottom.   The first step is to make sure that the walls have their two coats of paint in the area where it will be installed so that no fresh paint creeps onto it.   Then a chalk line is stretched along the wall matching the wood fascia below the drip line of the roof.   Then an “F” strip (shaped like the letter F is nailed to the wall with the F turned upside down.  The space between the arms of the F hold the soffit on the house side. 

The soffit is measured and cut to length running in narrow strips across from the F strip to the wood fascia and nailed into the wood fascia.  The other end is held by the F strip alone.  The strips lock together along the edges where they overlap.    An aluminum sheet (fascia) formed into an L shape (not shown) is later attached over the wood fascia so that the bottom of the L laps over the nails in the soffit and covers them.   The result is a completely water tight protective covering of the wood surfaces along the roof edge and a completly enclosed eave that can ventilate the house.

Since I was not involved in this activity this year, I can’t tell you much more, but the soffit greatly improves the look of the house and at the same time performs a couple of vital services for the home.   It allows cool air to enter the attic area and carry hot air out of the roof through the roof vent.   It also keeps out most bugs and all larger critters and allows the attic to breathe when pressure changes.

One thing of note (and you will find a better picture in the slideshow) is the corners have “bird boxes” that serve a couple of purposes:  bird boxes simply make the house look better and also often provide a place to put service outlets for lights.  It also provides a way to transition from a peaked roof to a horizontal run on the corners.   Bird boxes have a layer of vinyl soffit across the bottom and a layer of aluminum fascia wrapped around the edges (see earlier picture for soffit already installed).

Pictures and Slide Shows

All the pictures taken to date can be found by clicking on this link to the slide show and then above the slide show clicking on the link to my picture gallery.   There are 288 pictures in 7 sets on the site, 45 taken today.      Here is a link that bypasses the slide show and gives you a look at the 7 Habitat sets (link) to choose  from.  All pictures can be copied free in any size from tiny to huge.  What the site calls “original” is not quite.  These are 1 megapixel when stored, but the original original is 6 megapixel.   Enjoy!

You might also want to visit our Presbyterian Coalition – Cobb Habitat for Humanity link (on the right).

Habitat Build Day June 13, 2007 and Slide Show

We have been blessed with good weather throughout all of this build.  This is our Presbyterian Coalitions 22d or 23d home in Cobb County.  We have sponsored even more homes in Kenya, including 6 this year alone.  

Today we finished the 2d coat of wall paint inside and the inside trim.   We also finished the 2d coat on most of the outside.  I was an outside painter all day.  It was hot enough that the paint dried virtually on contact.   Any drip had to be removed within 5 or 10 seconds or it had to be scraped.    The quarter round for the kitchen cabinets was finished and the front bricked porch walls were finished (fake brick but very realistic looking).   The pull down attic stairs were installed.

The plumbing contractor hooked up the sinks, toilets, hot water heater and turned on the water.  Everything works except the dishwasher is sitting in the floor of an unlocked house, still in the box.    

We had to take down the table saw and cutting board setups yet again because the driveway and sidewalk will be formed and poured in the morning.    Our volunteer work continues in the morning as well.

Painting Hardi-Plank

Hardi-Plank (cement fiber board) has to be painted, two coats.  You also have to caulk the joints and any nail heads that show (face nailing) before you paint.   However it is easy to paint and the paint reportedly lasts 15 years, the Hardi-Plank itself 50 years.   

There are not as many joints to paint as you would think.   Usually 1 joint per run on each side below  and above the windows, but usually none between windows or on a wall with doors unless the wall is particularly long.   Maybe 12 joints on some walls, up to 20 on walls with peaked roofs.  

As for nails, most of our boards are “blind nailed” - that is nailed only along the top edge of each run and then covered by the next run.   We face nailed below windows and anywhere a noticeable bulge showed or any looseness was noticed.  Each face nail has to be caulked and painted over.   The nails become virtually invisible.    Blind nailing is recommened only where studs are on 18 inch centers or less.

Click on any picture for today’s slide show.    Enjoy!

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Habitat Build Day Saturday June 9, 2007

Today was a good day despite the heat.  At least there was a breeze and there had been a light shower the night before to knock down the dust.   Today was paint day and siding day.   Some volunteers painted the interior with the first coat and others began putting on the siding. 

This is a picture of Joi, our future homeowner.

Always smiling.

 Click here for the slideshow of 44 pictures from today’s build, or click on Joi’s picture.

 This picture was taken during a break.  The background is the supply trailer.

In the slideshow there is a picture of a house being roofed.  That is not this house, but since I was not able to be on site when the roofing was going on, I thought I would put that in from a nearby house (taken this morning) to show what it looks like when volunteers are on the roof.  It is fun if done early enough in the morning, pure torture if done too late.

There is another picture of a house across the street, almost finished.  The rest are from this house and the industrious volunteers.    You can click at the link above the slideshow and view the individual pictures.   If you click on one you can select various sizes and download anything you want.   Enjoy!

When we arrived, the drywall was already in, ready for painting.   The electrical and the air conditioning is roughed in, but the only power on the site is from the temporary power pole, so there are power cords running everywhere and constantly being expanded on and moved around, shared even.

This is the first year that our volunteers have been allowed to use nail guns on the roofing and the first year we have used nail guns on the hardi-plank siding.  I’ve included pictures of some of the tools we have used this year, including the shears used to cut the hardi-plank and the lesser desired saw blade made for cutting the masonry boards.  The skill saw blade is noisy and a lot of silica dust is generated, calling for face masks and ear plugs.   The shears make almost no noise and create almost no dust.  It is very efficient even for difficult cuts around windows and doors, for example.   Here is a link to the manufacturer of the shears and a demo video.    Cost is about $220 for the 404.

Hardi-plank is a concrete base siding where multiple layers of fabric are embedded in concrete to make a durable “50 year” non flammable, tough, weather resistant siding made out of a concrete product.  It is flexible and fairly heavy, but easy to use. 

 If you have the shears, cutting is quick, simple and safe and there is almost no dust.   Another method is the score and snap method where you simply score a line on the siding with a box knife and then break it along the line by bending over an edge.  It can also be cut with a special skill saw blade with very few teeth (reduces the dust a little) and can be cut with a saber saw.   Some of the crew used the shears and some the skill saw and saber saw.   Long cuts and cross cuts with the skill saw.  Short cuts for electrical boxes and corner cuts around boxes are best left to the saber saw to clean out the corners.

We had been using vinyl siding all these years but so many local city and county governments have raised the bar on construction techniques that zoning in many areas have prohibited vinyl.  Beginning a couple of years ago, all Habitat houses in this area have gone to the cement fiber board – Hardi-plank.  It is a good change.   Vinyl can be cracked and a brush fire can melt or burn it.  We had one home where a tenat put a barbeque grill on a porch too close and the heat melted a wide area – it drooped and ran.

The only drawback is the Hardi-plank siding has to be caulked and painted, whereas the vinyl did not require those steps.  The paint is supposedly good for 15 years and the siding for 50.

It was a good day and the interior received its first coat of paint and we sided about 30 percent of the outside.   The nail gun was a great help.   One change from last year was the use of wood trim boards whereas we had used the masonry trim boards in the past.  Masonry trim boards are very dense, very thick, very heavy, and require pre drilling the material before putting it up.  Wood boards are much easier to work with.  Good choice.

Monday through Saturday of next week is blitz week for the Presbyterian Coalition volunteers.  6 straight days of home building.   More painting, more siding, interior door installation, trim work (baseboards for example).  Fascia installation and shingles above the front porch.  Little stuff mostly.

See you there?    Look for the Presbyterian Coalition link on the right for directions.   Work starts at 8 AM and finishes whenever it gets too hot or we reach a stopping place.  Today we knocked off at 3:30 and began cleaning up and putting away.

Note: There are links in previous posts to the Habitat “Dinner on the Slab” and to the first day of build, both slideshows and narrative description.   If you click on the link to the right “All Habitat for Humanity Articles.”   Or just look around.  You might find things that will suprise you.

Oldtimer