Our work with Habitat for Humanity

Our work with Habitat for Humanity

10/202011 VIDEO UPDATE!!

 by Scott Grafer on 10/02/11

Hey gang, I put together my first video update for you to enjoy!  Click on the video box here on the right and then right click pick "Zoom" and "Full Page" to watch it.  Don't know why it doesn't come up in it's own window yet, still working on that.  Anyway, we have insulation and are starting to work on drywall.  If you haven't hung drywall we will make you a pro in no time.  We work on Friday's and Saturdays.

If you know anyone that knows how to finish concrete flatwork we WILL need help with the concrete driveway on or about Friday the 14th of October.   This week the drive will get dug out, then we prep it Oct 7, inspection on Oct 11, pour on the 14th.  Bring them with.  Take care, Scott 

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8/13/11 What are we doing next?

 by Scott Grafer on 08/13/11

In a word, Siding, vinyl siding to be specific.  The team finished the garage side wall and started on the back.  It looks terrific.  Don't be concerned if you have never hung vinyl siding before, we will teach you all you need to know.  It's fun and rewarding to see the house take shape so come out and join us for a day.  Today we had a new Habitat Volunteer, and sure enough after the day was over he said he wanted to come back and do it again.  We get that all the time. 

See you next Friday 8/19 and Saturday 8/20 for more fun with vinyl.

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God Bless Alex and Auggie

 by Scott Grafer on 08/03/11

Well we finally got our roof on, but not without a lot of frustration.  You see, we were supposed to get a "Free Roof" from a major shingle manufacturer and their hand picked, top of the line, super qualified installer company.  We called and emailed them for four weeks and got no response to set up the installation, nothing, not even a call back to say "Hey, we are super busy right now and can't fit you in".  I would have respected that, I'm in the trades, and sometimes you just can't be everywhere for everybody.  But to not even return an email or one of the twenty phone calls is just plain rude.  So we decided that we couldn't wait any longer and had to start the roofing ourselves.  Naturally it was 96 degrees on Friday and Saturday and progress was slooooowwww.  Then the Lord saw our struggles and our determination and he sent Alex and Auggie.  Two of the nicest guys that live in the neighborhood and just happen to be awesome roofers.   They asked if they could help, we shouted YES!!!, and in three hours we were done on Sunday.  So God Bless Auggie and Alex, you get big Heaven Points for that one.

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06/26/2011 We Rocked!

 by Scott Grafer on 06/26/11

These past two days were awesome!  Our hearty volunteer force finished the plywood wall sheathing, foam insulation, house wrap and installed and weatherproofed all the windows.  Then we demo'd the remaining old roof, built and sheathed a 40 foot gable wall and installed the gable ladders on the rear elevation.  Here's what's next.

July 1 & 2, everybody needs a break, so no work, enjoy the holiday!

July 8 & 9, Trim out garage door opening, install garage door, install two exterior doors to secure the house, finish roof sheathing and gable trim, straighten sub facia in two spots, flash wall to roof intersections, install drip edge and rubber membrane on roof, LOTS OF PLUMBING, NEED PLUMBERS AND PLUMBERS HELPERS, set electrical service (me) and start electric rough in (you and me).  See you then!

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06/23/2011 The Schedule

 by Scott Grafer on 06/23/11

Check out the photos, we built the front porch roof and finished about 90% of the roof sheathing.  Thanks to all that participated this past weekend. 

Everybody has been asking for a schedule so here goes:

June 24/25:  Build rear gable wall, finish roof sheathing, install windows.

July 1/2:  No build, enjoy the holiday.

July 8/9:  PLUMBERS, If you are a plumber this is when WE NEED YOU for above grade plumbing.  Includes installing tub and shower.  We will need laborers to assist the plumbers with schlepping and mixing concrete/mortar.

July 15/16:  HVAC, If you are an HVAC person this is when WE NEED YOU to rough in the duct work.  We will need laborers to assist the HVAC people.

That's all for now, the schedule is fluid so I will try to update as best as I can.

Scott

 

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06/14/2011 The house takes shape

 by Scott Grafer on 06/14/11

Well the rain has been horrible.  We lost another weekend in June due to rain, however, this past weekend was good and we made great progress.  We managed to install 95% of our roof rafters, all of our ceiling joists, completed the knee wall, installed the collar ties, sub facia on one side, built and sheathed three gable walls on the front of the house, removed the remaining rotted sheathing on the old trusses, installed our support beam for the front porch and started installing our roof sheathing.  We even turned one of our volunteers (Art the Plumber) into a carpenter for the day and he did great. 

So what's next?? Build the front porch roof, install the sub facia on the other side, finish the gable ladders front and back, stud out and sheath the rear gable, install 50+ sheets of roof sheathing, install insulating rigid foam on the gables.  See you next Friday and Saturday.   

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5/29/2011 Working on the Roof Framing

 by Scott Grafer on 05/29/11

We finally had a great weekend after being rained out again last weekend yet again.  Our great group of volunteers removed 1/2 of the old roof sheathing that was rotted and way below code compliant.  We then started framing our new roof line.  Everything is working out just as planned and I am thrilled with the progress.  We set the ridge beam, installed all the new ceiling joists, straightened and strengthened the existing ceiling joists and set over half our our roof rafters.  Every rafter is slightly different because the old portion of the house is out of square, but our new roof will be straight and true.  

Next week Fri/Sat 6/3 and 6/4 we will finish the roof framing build our knee walls and start sheating the roof.  See you then if you can make it.  Scott 

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5/7/11 Progress is a beautiful thing

 by Scott Grafer on 05/08/11

The weather cooperated this weekend for two whole days and we took advantage of it.  The teams managed to demo the old front of the house, cut back the first four feet of roof trusses and sheathing, frame the Master Bath, Closet, Linnen, Bedroom wall, and entrance closet.  Additionally, the new front walls got built and placed in position.   It's starting to look like we envisioned, see the photos below.

Next week Fri/Sat 5/13 and 5/14 we will apply rigid foam to the exterior, finish framing the interior walls for the front bedroom, closets, full bath and kitchen half wall.  We have some truss bracing to do as well, along with some more roof sheathing demo.  The following weekend we start roof framing. 

I'm really excited, the level of dedication and commitment to quality by our volunteers is really inspiring.  Everyone is doing a first rate job and surely can be proud of their contributions.  We had some newbies that were swinging hammers like old pros by the end of the day.  See you this weekend.

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4/30/11 Starting to look like something.

 by Scott Grafer on 05/01/11

We actually got two days in a row with good weather, so on Friday and Saturday we managed to build the front and back garage walls, the interior load bearing wall that takes the truss load and we built the walls for the Utility/Laundry room.  Overall a great couple of days.  Pictures posted below.

Next week 5/6 and 5/7 we are going to build the walls in the Master Bath/closet and start demo of the front four roof trusses so we can define our new roof line and prepare the porch area.  I think the next two weekends will be dedicated to wall framing if the weather cooperates. 

We had a couple of new faces participating and I am hoping for more.  See you next Friday/Saturday. 

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4/12/11 We are back to work!!

 by Scott Grafer on 04/13/11

Hello folks, well we were rained out on Friday, but blessed with a beautiful day on Saturday and managed to start building new exterior walls.  I have posted a few photos from the day right here.  This Friday and Saturday 4/15 & 4/16 we will continue building exterior and interior walls in preparation of starting the roof in two weeks.  We will not be building on Good Friday or Holy Saturday.  Don't forget to sign up if you would like to join the work crew right here http://www.volunteerup.com/Login.asp?w=i&o=175  

That's all for now, it's nice to be back to work on Cherokee, see you Friday/Saturday if the weather permits.

Scott

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Here's what we started with, doesn't look to bad, right?Probably not a good idea to put the Electric Service panel over the Kitchen sink. That's got to go.Hmmm, corosion and water pipes by the electric, sounds like a bad idea.That window appears alittle leaky. Thats not wall sheathing, it's loose leaf notebook paper now after all the rot.Somebody actually thought this was a good idea. That beam will hold up the roof, no problem.The demo team has been here, can you tell? We're going for that open bath feel.Some of the hooligans from he demo team. Yea team!Our first new wall, should last a life time.Look, it's straight, strong and well insulated.Getting ready to cut the concrete floor for our underslab plumbing. Cut here...Nothin screams fun like jackhammers and concrete. Jim and Gerry are on hammers, Don and Brian man the wire cutters, notice the conspicuous product placement for Makitat.Jerry and Pete are hand digging our new front foundation wall for the porch. 42" down by 16" wide x 20' long. Thats alot of dirt.Bill and Marco catching a break, well almost, there's still more dirt to move.So that's me taking the jackhammer back, from this angle it looks like I really need another donut. Gotta start that diet. Trenches are done and we are ready for the plumbers.This shot shows the concrete floor removed and our underslab plumbing installed on 10/2/10. We're ready for inspection. That's one clean job site.10/8/10 We filled the plumbing trenches with pea gravel, visqueen, rebar, wire mesh and concrete. Bill trowels a nice finish while Marco takes a break from schlepping the heavy stuff.Our new front wall for the porch used about 3 1/2 yards of concrete for this area. The pour went well. Our intrepid volunteer crew from Saturday 4/9/11. L to R, Me, Don, Gerry, Mark, Tom, Brian and Deb. We just had lunch, that's why we look so happy!Oooooh, aaagh, we built some walls. The long garage wall and Master Bedroom wall.Rear Master Bedroom wall, even taped the seams, very impressive.Here you can see the front garage wall. Looks good.This is the load bearing truss wall. Our old trusses rest on this wall and transfer all of their load right down to the concrete footings. We had to lift the truss ends, build and level our wall and set the trusses back down. Piece of cake, did it with dedicated volunteers.Here is what the finished house will look like. My computer program would not let me put a shed roof over the porch, so you have to use your imagination there.Here is the new plan for the house. My thanks to John Silva for helping develop a great small house plan that was easy to build. More volunteer effort from great people. 5/7/11 We finished a lot this weekend. Knocked the old front wall down and the new facade is taking shape. It's starting to look like the rendering.5/7/11 our new front door from the interior.We also finished framing the Master bath, linnen, closet and bedroom walls along with the entrance closet.Marco and Bill getting ready to set the ridge. We put plywood on the ceiling joists to have a safe work platform.Extending the rafters with half of the new ridge set. Brian is repositioning for the next rafter.Thats a nice looking roof frame. It's starting to look like the rendering.Did you say 21' or 22' on that birds mouth cut?? I guess it was supposed to be 22'. Bill, Brenda and Peter take a break while we have a good laugh at my mistake. Tom is the smart guy that drew the question mark. By Saturday 06/11/11 we had managed to get all three gables framed on the front of the house and started sheathing the roof. We got drizzled on Friday afternoon.06/11/11 Collar ties are installed, knee wall is done, rafters and ceiling joists mostly done. We have to frame the rear gable wall.06/24/2011 This view shows the complete porch roof. We also extended the gable eaves to 18" because 12" looked too small.06/23/2011 Roof sheathing nearly done. We have the rear gable wall to build and we can close up the roof. ComEd is coming to drop our electric service so we can finish destruction/construction on the back.06/25/2011 Great day, house wrapped and windows installed. 06/25/2011 Taught a bunch of folks how to build a gable wall today. A few more pieces of rigid foam, house wrap, roof sheathing and framing will be done.8/3/11 Our beautiful roof, thanks Alex and Auggie. Time to trim the bushes again.8/3/11 Soffit and facia still has some work to go yet.That's Wayne and Peter starting our siding install.One side is finished, Jerry and Brian start on the back. We added a detail called a water table at the bottom of the wall and started our siding above that. It was a convenient way to even out our siding starting elevation, looks nice too.
This Blog is dedicated to our volunteer involvement with Habitat for Humanity Northern Fox Valley and specifically the New Hope Partnership, of which my church is a member.  This is the forth Habitat home we have had the good fortune to Project Manage.  It gives us the chance to enhance the community, meet lot's of other dedicated volunteers and provide outstanding housing for families in desparate need of quality shelter.

This home is locate at 1935 Cherokee Lane in Carpentersville, Illinois
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