*Rochester – There Be Wood!*
A new foundation is a thing to behold. Two are even better.
And beginning the first-floor framing tops them all!
Saturday, June 4, saw the start of laying out double sill plates and
fabricating the main carrier beam for the street-side house at 9 Silver St.
After waiting for the floor plans to come together, it was a great feeling
to get started.
An eager bunch of volunteers, with some new arrivals, were on hand to greet
building coordinator *Keith Faris* and Habitat President *Tom Boisvert*, who
had been in Farmington to oversee start-up.
Under a warm sun, blue skies, and near-perfect temperatures for building,
longtime Habitat volunteers *Paul Lagarde* and *Bill Douglas* were joined by
*Bill Totherow*, *Christopher Goehringer*, *Tia Sukin*, and *Mike Fechter*.
As folks planned out the sills, drilled holes to accept the bolts embedded
in the foundation, and tightened them down, Habitat volunteer *Rick Stoklosa
*, Keith, and Tom huddled over the house plans to make minor field
adjustments and discuss preferable approaches.
One of the day’s highlights was assembling, lifting, and securing the
38-foot long, 1,300-pound main carrier beam in the street-side house. Not a
task for the weak-kneed or faint of heart. The beam is comprised of three
courses of what are called Laminated Veneer Lumber, or LVLs. Each course is
made up of two pieces of LVL of varying lengths, and is nailed to the
adjoining course. The entire beam is lifted into place as one piece.
Also stopping by to take measurements were folks from SEAREI, or Seacoast
Area Renewable Energy Initiative. But this deserves its own write-up for
later this week.
*Farmington – It Looked Like Snow*
It may not bowl you over or sound very exciting, but folks accomplished a
lot of messy, dirty, fussy, and necessary work on Saturday. At times, it
seemed like snow was coming through open windows and doors as sheetrock dust
was swept and wiped from ceilings, walls, and floors, and scooped up. What
a difference now that the rear unit also has been taped/mudded/sanded –
helps to make it look more like a finished house inside.
Many of those who turned out Saturday were among the original volunteer crew
that started April 9. One member, *Amanda Hardman* of Portsmouth, may have
taken it to extremes when she arrived at 8 to help with set-up, and joined
in the cleaning until she had to leave late morning to make it in time for
the first pitch at the re-scheduled Red Sox game.
But Amanda is not alone. Folks on the cleaning crew like *Danielle
Provencal*, *John Anderson*, and *Petr Brym* make it a point of coming out
nearly every week since the Farmington re-start. Happily, they were joined
this week by family partners *Jessica Tufts* and *George Whitehead*, along
with *Nate Berry* and *Leslie Modica*. Leslie heads up Habitat’s public
relations activities and serves on the Board. They all did a great job with
oversight and assistance provided by *Bob McCoy*. Folks also masked doors
and windows for priming. It was slow, tedious work, but it is all requisite
to being able to take the next step – a good, quality paint job, which will
start this Saturday.
Outside, *Ken Flesher* headed up the crew of *Lee Prescott*, *Rob Loker*,
and *Norb Lecompte*, which continued fabricating, plumbing, and installing
posts and rail systems for the two decks.
Folks also cleaned out the tool locker to allow better access and prevent
damage to bathroom fixtures being stored there.
All in all, a great day of progress at both build sites that was
accomplished only because of healthy turnout and commitment of dedicated
volunteers. Thank you all.
Jonathan Miller
Volunteer coordinator
PS – To those with the urge to do some deconstructing while the Kingston
project is on hiatus, building coordinator Keith Faris is putting out the
call for a few souls to help him with a DeCon beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday,
June 7, ay 11 Bay Point in Ossipee. You can reach him at 603-651-8089 to
make arrangements.
This is a separate DeCon from the one Tom B. has organized to start
Wednesday, so folks already committed to Tom’s project should stick with
him.
