Sweat Equity

As part of my preparation for Bike and Build, I must complete 10 hours of sweat equity work with a local affordable housing group. I have worked with Habitat for Humanity a lot in the past, from traveling to El Salvador with a team to participating in builds through AmeriCorps. However, I haven't built recently, so yesterday I joined a build in Columbus. Dave, our supervisor, was tons of fun and we had a great day. I worked on preparing the front of the house to put up the trusses for the porch roof. 

It was very important that the 2X4 supports we were putting up where exactly level. After doing it incorrectly the first time, Dave showed us a great way to ensure they were level. The problem was that the boards were very warped. I marked a straight line across the wall and then as we nailed it in, we pulled down the board on the other side to hold it in line.

This is Jay, the father of the family who is receiving this house. He has two young boys and three older girls (maybe 9, 12, and 14 years old). Jay told us that he loves the process of construction. I think Habitat is so wonderful, because the families are a part of the building process.

The whole team!

For my final couple of hours, I want to continue building on the same site.