Build day in Youngstown, OH

Today we had our first build day since Providence. We shuttled over in the van to a street with four beautiful Habitat for Humanity houses - three finished and one unfinished. The unfinished one, which we were scheduled to work on, was the closest to completion I've ever seen; in fact, we were the last volunteer group scheduled to work on the house! All that was left when we were done were finishing touches like blinds and carpet.

I worked with Anthony, Mary, and Gabe, putting up soffit and fascia. Soffit is the underside of the roof overhang and fascia is the trim on the edge of the roof. Mary and I mostly measured and cut while Anthony nailed the stuff up and Gabe contributed his technical expertise. At one point I volunteered to go on the roof to hold up the long pieces of fascia, which was exciting. The four of us had a great time singing songs, from slow jams to Disney tunes, and generally laughing like crazy. I'm proud of the work we did - we were as precise as possible (measure twice, cut once!) and the finished product looked very professional.

Others in the group worked on moulding, painting, caulking, doorknobs, and other details. Monica, the executive director of the local Habitat chapter, was extremely helpful and friendly and had even done a cross-country bike trip several years ago, so it was fun talking to her. It was really satisfying knowing that, when we finished, the house was basically complete except for carpet and landscaping. I wish we could have met the homeowner - apparently she really wanted to be there, but since it was Monday, she had to work. All in all a successful day, despite the brief downpour in which our sneakers (and just about everything else) became caked with mud.

Here are some pictures from the day! Though I managed not to be in any of them...

 Anthony nails up soffit in the rain.

 With the sun out again, Anthony puts the final touches on soffit while Mary holds the ladder.

Justine cuts a piece of moulding.

 

Theise and Noam install a doorknob.

Roof edge before...

...and roof edge after. Look, the sky is even bluer now that we're done!