Habitat for Humanity East Bay

Week 1

Sat, July 18, 2009

WOW! Today was the first work day at the Bonifacio St. rehab in Concord, and it was amazing to see what 20 eager and energetic folks can get done in one day! Hans Reuvekamp, Habitat East Bay's VP of Construction, told us a little history about the house and explained the extensive inspection and review process Habitat is going through to determine everything that needs to be done. He also posted the Project Scope (a huge "To Do" list), showing all the known tasks to be performed over the next several months. The first day's tasks were then detailed, and sixteen Women's Crew members and two long-time volunteers of the male persuasion split into five crews to begin. Hans and Mike Colen, Site Supervisor, were our go-to guys all day, but with so many experienced volunteers, we didn't need much supervision! By the end of the day we had filled a large dumpster to the top with demolition and yard debris... and still didn't get everything in!

About the house: The 1068 square foot house was built in 1941 as part of military housing, and has 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a small quaint kitchen, and a dining/living room combination. Somewhere in its history the 1-car garage was converted to a family room with a raised insulated floor and a separate small utility/laundry room at the back, but we'll turn it all back into a garage. The house has a large back yard with a big shade tree, a few other trees, many overgrown shrubs, a small shed, and a large deck. The front and back lawns are dead, but the weeds aren't! The home was generously bequeathed to Habitat East Bay by Clarice Garrison when she passed away several months ago, and the plan is to fix it up and sell it to a low-income Habitat family. Besides sponsoring the rehab, the Women's Crew plans to provide significant hours of volunteer labor for the work itself. But don't hold back... ALL volunteers are welcome!

Today's Progress: We worked hard from the cool morning through the hot afternoon... and here are the details:

Kitchen Crew (Marlyn, and Donna): These ladies took down the full wall between the kitchen and the dining/living room, took out the built-in shelving nooks and upper cabinets, took the flooring out down to the sub-floor, and left the sink, counter, and related lower cabinets for professional lead abatement/removal later. (The tile counter has lead in it, so we can't remove it or adjacent structures ourselves.)

Bathroom Crew (Jack N. and Julita): Jack installed a shutoff valve and took out the old sink and toilet, and Julita pulled up the vinyl flooring later in the afternoon.

Carpet and Doors Crew (Monica, Lisa B., Lisa G., and Wendy): These gals pulled up the carpet and padding in the living room and hallway to reveal hardwood floors in fair condition, taking out all the tack strips and staples from the floor. (Bedroom hardwood floors had no carpeting and are in fair condition.) They also took down all the interior doors, removed the hinges and hardware, and set all aside to be cleaned up and/or sanded and painted another day. In addition, they helped the Kitchen Crew with the wall and floor demo.

The Garage Crew (Joyce, Julita, Jenny, Autumn, Kathy, and Mike B.): These folks took down the wall and door between the converted family room and the utility/laundry room; removed the drywall and insulation from the ceiling and walls in the back half the garage; removed the ceiling joists in that half of the room; removed the entire raised floor, all insulation and floor joists; and removed old tiles glued to part of the cement floor. The wall demolition in the front half of the garage will be done later by professional lead abatement contractors, after which we'll take down the rest of the ceiling drywall, insulation and joists. (Lead was found in the paneling, which was only in the front half of the room, so we were able to demolish only the back half of the walls and ceiling today.)

Yard Crew (Diane, Cel, Sue Q., Sue H. and Amy C.): These ladies worked outside in the sun and heat, clearing out brush and trimming trees and shrubs all over the large back yard and side walkway, pulling the eye-high weeds, and hauling it all to the dumpster in the driveway. By mid-morning they'd created a nice area under the shade tree to put two Habitat picnic tables for workers to use for the duration of the project for lunches and breaks. Work continued all day in the back, and began in the front yard after lunch. As trimming work continues in both yards next week, I'm sure the neighbors will be especially pleased with the very visible progress this crew makes!

Check out photos of the first day's work in progress (and some "before" shots) here. Great job, everyone!

Next Week's Plans: The site will be open Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25, from 8:30 am - 4:00 pm. Sign up online at www.habitateb.org. On the schedule will be more trimming and clearing in the yards, putting concrete anchors in the garage, clearing out the small shed, and "other duties as assigned!" Come join the fun!

Overall Plans: Lead was found in the windows, too, so their removal will be done by the lead abatement contractors. All the windows in the house will be replaced with double-pane vinyl windows for energy efficiency, the front door and kitchen door to the garage will be replaced, and a new garage door installed. We'll put insulation under the floor in the crawl space, and install new gutters. We'll build a half wall between the kitchen and the dining/living room to replace the full wall we took down. The hardwood floors will need some level of rejuvenation, the kitchen and bathroom will get new flooring. A new toilet and sink is due for the bathroom, and new cabinets, counters, and appliances for the kitchen. All lighting fixtures will be replaced, and concrete repairs made where needed. We'll be painting indoors and out, and more yard work is in our future, too. Still to be determined is the level of electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work needed. The roof and water heater are fairly new and in good shape, so they will stay.

That's all for now... check back next week for another report. And join us at the site!