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Layout on the Saturday before the first day of volunteer build.

Caution, take with a grain of salt.  This is from the experience of one volunteer, certainly not an expert and I will make errors.  Keep in mind also that other Habitat leaders may do things entirely different.    If you are looking for slide shows for the 2008 build, start with Dinner on the Slab.

Preparation for build could go all the way back to when Cobb Habitat began site selection through when the concrete or foundations are poured, street and utility construction and other site preparation.   I'm not going that far!  I have also left off details of squaring the slab which involves a careful analysis of the slab dimensions vs the house dimensions and then snapping lines that are perfectly perpendicular in all directions, matching the slab to the plans as best as possible. If the slab is perfectly rectangular and sized correctly, this is a no-brainer. 

Often the slab is not poured perfectly and there are edges that are bowed, edges that dip or turn out, and corners that are not square.  In addition, the middle of the slab can be bowed up (the usual case) or bowed down with resulting puddles after a rain to deal with.    All of these things must be dealt with by adjustments to the layout to accomodate the anomalies - the concrete is poured and hard, the plumbing is where it is, and the volunteers will show up next week, and nothing is going to be ripped up and repoured.  

This tutorial is, instead, a brief summary of the steps that the Site Property Manager (SPM) goes through with a few other volunteers to get the site ready for the volunteers first day of build.  I am also omitting the extra work necessary to build a floor deck in the situation of a house with a crawl space.  This year we are building on a slab withouth a crawl space, so that is all you get.

The previous Saturday several members of our group (The SPM, crew leaders and other invitees) met at the site and measured, "squared", and "laid out: the site, meaning they checked the foundation and defined the outline of the home and all the interior walls.  This involves laying out every window, door and wall section and outlining them with chalk lines.  Corrections are made with different colored chalk and the final layout receives a clear waterproof spray in case of rain.

There were several problems to be overcome caused by the plumbers miscalculations that put the bathroom 2 feet into the living room and the utility plumbing outside the designated walls in several areas.   Our future homeowner, Nicole was on site and agreed to a bigger closet and a smaller living room and all the adjustments were made to her satisfaction. 

Unfortunately it rained in the middle of the layout, washing much of the markings away.  Since the team ran out of chalk colors (red blue and green) the final outline was done mostly in pencil.   That works too, if you have enough pencils as they wear quickly on concrete.

2x4 pressure treated boards are cut for each wall section to exactly fit the walls (ignoring door openings) and matching "white wood" (untreated) 2x4 boards are made for each one and tacked together in pairs.  The pressure treated boards go on the concrete and the white boards will go on the top of the walls.   Each board is numbered at each end and matching numbers are placed on the concrete between the drawn lines.   There are drawings below to illustrate all this.

The location of all wall studs are outlined on the edges of the two boards and "X" marks placed in the outlines.  The location of Jack studs (shorter studs inside of door and window frames) are marked with "J". Doors, Windows and T's and Ladder headers are also marked.   T's are located at points where walls intersect.  Door types (left hand, right hand, width) and Window sizes are marked on the wall plates. 

The two boards representing a wall (or section of a longer wall) are then placed back into the outline and everything checked again against the print.  Each board has all the markings necessary for a group of volunteers to build that wall in a matter of a couple of minutes without any concern for where that wall will end up.  If they follow the markings the wall will have studs, the proper size door and/or window and all connecting T's for any intersecting walls.  Any allowances for plumbing (such as slots or notches for pipes) will also be marked. 

In addition, the team builds all the "T's, door frames, window frames and corners and stack them in a pile.

Here is a fictitious example of a set of plates that have been tacked together and marked.   Normally there is also a wall number on each end.  I've omitted that.   The pressure treated board goes next to the concrete on top of a foam strip ("Sill Seal") that helps seal out moisture and air.   Door openings are cut away later.  X is marked for studs, J for Jacks, T's are marked (see markings near right end above) and have an arrow on the plate to show which way it is to be oriented.  The size of the door or window is marked on the plates as well.

These are a few of the components usually prepared before the volunteers show up.  They are build by volunteers during the layout day if they have time, and often finished by the "Grey Ghosts" if they don't.  Sometimes a team of volunteers build them on the first day of build.  We like to have them ready beforehand if possible to speed things up.

Corners and T's are built exactly the same except for the orientation of the boards between them.  Corners have the boards wide side to wide side between two studs.  T's have them positioned narrow side to wide side as shown in the middle illustration.  Plumbing T's need to be wider so the boards are turned lengthwise (7'' long) and doubled up to give them more spacing.   The purpose of the T's is to give intersecting walls a place to be nailed to. Plumbing T's need extra space for vents and piping.

The T's are inserted in a wall and then an intersecting wall fits against the wide part of the spacers and nailed from the back side.   Corner posts and T's that are in outside walls are insulated.  There is an illustartion near the bottom of an assembled wall with a T.

These are two types of door headers, interior and exterior.  The widths of the interior doors vary greatly.   The headers for 3' exterior doors are 1/2 inch longer than for 3' interior doors.    The jacks are often left out of the sets made beforehand.  The doors are set in place in the walls, the walls nailed to the concrete and the opening cut with a Skill saw (carefully set to not ruin the blade) or a "saws-all".   Leaving the jacks out allow a Skill saw to make the cut using the 1.5 inch guide on the saw.  If the jacks are in place, the saws-all does a good job of making the cut.   Ladder doors get their name from the series of "cripples" that form a ladder like shape.  Exterior doors are always 2 each 2x10 boards with a 1/2 inch plywood spacer between them.  The cripples are often inserted after the walls go up so that they can be matched to the nearest stud placement and to fit drywall or exterior sheathing.

This is a typical window header, often prepared ahead of time whenever possible.  The cripples are usually left off, measured and added after the walls are up and located such that they fall on 16" centers to match the drywall or exterior sheathing after the wall goes in.  There are usually 3 or 4 sizes of windows in a typical Habitat house.  There is usually a "picture window" size, a shorter kitchen window for over the sink, and then the bedroom and side windows.  sometimes there may be another size for some special purpose, perhaps for a bathroom or next to a deck.

Here is an assembled "fictitious wall" showing a match up of the plates and the assembled wall section.  Wall sections are butted together for longer walls and the top plates joined by an overlaping cap plate.  The end of an intersecting wall buts up to the near side of a T (in this case the side showing) and the nails are hammered in from the open back side.  Cap plates run from the intersecting wall and cross over to the continuing wall so that they are locked together.  Volunteers can assemble this wall in 2 or 3 minutes or someone that has never held a hammer may delay it for 4 or 5 minutes.  We wait for him/her and give much encouragement and help.  The idea is to have fun.  We are not on a real schedule.

When the volunteers show up, they are instructed to grab the tacked-together plates, separate them and start inserting studs, T's, window and door units.  It takes all of 2 minutes for the whole slab to be covered with walls under construction.  Volunteers help each other with the more experienced crew leaders make final judgements.  The SPM usually resolves major problems quickly - such as a wall that intersects a door or a window where a door belongs, or a room with no door.  It happens.  The worst case is for windows and doors that arrive that are the wrong size for the frames that were built to the plan.  Tear out and redo is often the solution.

Completed walls are stacked outside on the dirt until they are all finished.  Then the walls for the exterior start to go up.  The first wall stops everything as everybody gathers for the photo-op.   Nicole was photographed driving in the final nail and helping position the wall.    Then the other walls were carried onto the site in an order designed to get them all into place without having to shove any over the top of a wall.   One was anyway.

Our volunteers started active work about 8:30 AM after prayers and safety instructions.  By 11:30 all the walls were up and lunch was served (hamburgers and hotdogs grilled on-site). 

By 3 PM all the walls had been sheaths and the frame squared and prepared for the A frames and roof, including the porch beams.

I'll show pictures of all the various parts going into place in my next article - first day of build.

Next:  Build Day 1 - Walls go UP!

The next article will have pictures and slide show for the first day of build - the day the walls go up.  Watch for it here.

Oldtimer 

Fortunately, the only damage done was a downed tree that split in two and fell harmlessly in the back yard. No fences destroyed, no roof demolished. The electrical service was ripped from the house. They were far luckier than many of their neighbors.

You can see a map of the neighborhood here. On my quick drive into and out of the area, it seemed to me that closer you were to 22nd Street, the worse shape you were likely to be in.

In the residential area, it seemed much of the damage was due to the tornado pulling down trees. Many don't believe the tornado actually touched down until it was somewhere east of the neighborhood, when it destroyed many homes and businesses.

The clean up continues today. My sister tells me that their church (First Baptist, which lost its steeple) has formed a qroup of volunteers to help others clear the damage. There's still lots of work to do.

More

Photos on Flickr here.

Associated Press: Twister left 'weirdest' damage in Stuttgart

KTHV: Clean up begins (includes video)

Go on over and check it out (bottom of page). And to summarize, the trip to Las Vegas was quick and not so restful. I will expand on that during tomorrow's Weekly Weigh-In.

See you then!

Mark Schweiker, our President & CEO, promoted the Chamber-sponsored PhillyMagnet Career Fair live at Fox29's “Good Day Philadelphia" anchor desk with co-anchors Sheinelle Jones and John Anderson.

It was a good gig, nice people and nice management at the venue. Thank you all for making this a good gig.

Mattias had the opportunity to use a signature series guitar from 'Dregen' in Backyard Babies

Tip Of The Day : Steven Seagal emotion chart - A funny picture of Steven

1. Live in Bellingham (sorry, kweb, maybe in month...)
2. Go to the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.
3. Keep your eyes open for a tall woman with long red hair, a camera, and a friendly smile.
4. Have unusual interesting hair, facial hair, body piercings, or tattoos.
5. Blog about it. She'll track you down. She's wily that way.

Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).

At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.

President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.

The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.

If you have photos of the damage in China, you can upload them here at the China Earthquake Victims 08 Photo database.

To sign pictures of victims, or to post pictures of lost loved ones: [click here]

Related Stories

• Earthquake damage footage
• Earthquake support project [China support 08]
• Latest reports on China
• Interview with China 08 supporters

I want to keep her behind the curtain from now on so you get the full impact of everything at the end. I can tell you she is making amazing progress, getting fitter, losing weight and looking great.

Today I'm just going to give you a little bit of a teaser.

I get a lot of questions about the IPL treatment and what you look like afterwards so I'm going to show you a series of pictures of Catherine that will help answer the questions.

Above is Catherine's cheek before the IPL. Lots of redness and brown spots of sun damage, right?

The second image shows her cheek immediately after the IPL. On my monitor, the redness in her skin is reduced. The little broken capillary on the edge of her nostril is standing out a little more because the background is paler but some of the branches of the capillary are shut down. The capillaries on her cheek (in the midst of that brown pigment) are shut down also.

The pigment hasn't started to darken yet. This process can take 24 hours after the IPL.

The third image was taken a week after the IPL. If you look at the patch of brown pigment in her cheek, you'll see flecks of dark brown. This is the darkening of the pigment that I have mentioned previously. The flecks would have been larger a few days previously and are getting smaller day by day to finally disappear at the 10 - 14 day mark.

Her face is at a slightly different angle here but you can also see that the broken capillary on the edge of her nostril has shut down further.

One IPL doesn't get rid of all of the sun spots or brown pigment. The pigment is located at various depths in the skin. The flash of intense pulsed light will travel down through the depths of the skin until it hits pigment and gets absorbed so the more superficial pigment gets treated first.

With each subsequent IPL treatment, we work down through the skin to get pigment located at deeper and deeper layers. It usually takes 5 - 8 IPLs to get rid of visible brown pigment.

(If you just want to see the pictures, click any picture for a slide show and link to pictures you can copy.)

First let me explain what this is all about.  This blog is pretty much dedicated to the homeless, particularly homeless veterans and youth.  But not completely, as each year I take some time off to work on a Habitat for Humanity home and post a progress report with slideshows, tutorial and pictures of the events.   I'll continue to add articles on homeless as I go along.   You can access the articles by category, using the links in the header or the tags and categories to find the topics you are interested in.  In general, you can find all Habitat for Humanity Articles here, all Homeless Veterans Articles here, All PSTD articles here, and all Homeless Youth Article here.  The links above and to the right allow you to also find my most popular articles.   When this is all done, you can find the 2008 Habitat Build here, or look at it on a running basis throughout the build.

This one is the first of a series of about a dozen articles on our current build.  It will carry you from the day before we start to build (todays article) all the way through the dedication ceremony and house warming.  If I do everything as planned, you will also get a "how to build a Habitat House Tutorial".   To be taken with a grain of salt as I am certainly not an expert, but reporting what I experience and the various jobs I take on during the build.

Background

Here is a little background.  I am a member of Macland Prebyterian Church which is in return a member of the Presbyterian Coalition, Cobb Habitat for Humanity and I am their representative, a member of the board.    The Coalition is composed of  Presbyterian Churches in Cobb County, Georgia that raise money to sponsor one or two houses in our county each year.  We raise the money, about $55,000 to pay for the lot and any undonated materials.  We also build the house(s) and fund a number of houses in Kenya each year.    After Hurricane Dennis we also helped Cobb Disaster Recovery in rebuilding damaged homes in Cobb.

This year we will build one house in Cobb County, Georgia (our 22d house in Cobb so far) and seven in Kenya (total 32 in Kenya)!

Nicole Combs, Future Homeowner stands on the site of her new home

(Click on any picture to start slide show)

This wonderful smiling face belongs to Elijah, Nicole's son.  Some of the framing can be seen behind him

The future homeowner, Nicole Combs has a son Elijah, 7.  She will work on the house with our volunteers to get the house built.   Homeowners come up with a down payment, are required to work on other houses as well as  their own for some 200 hours of "sweat equity".   For us, it is mission work, Christ's command: help the needy!

The homeowner will actually sign a contract to buy the house at a greatly reduced price (compared to the appraised value)  and then make interest-free monthly payments until it is paid for.  Cobb Habitat for Humanity takes care of selecting the homeowners, purchasing the land and preparing the streets and lots prior to the volunteers (that's us) coming in.  That includes getting either the concrete poured if it is to be built on a concrete floor,  or building a  block foundation if not.  In the latter case, a few people, men and women from our group go out and frame and deck the floor prior to the volunteers arriving.  

Schedule:  The build dates are Saturdays May 10, 17, 31 and June 14.   Then we go into blitz week where volunteers work all week to finish the house and landscaping June 16 through 21.  (We have skipped an extra weekend this year due to Memorial Day weekend.)

Location:  The site is located in the same subdivision as last year, but in the second phase of the development.  Mableton, Hillcrest Subdivision.  Take Barrett/East West Connector to Floyd Road, turn right, follow and continue as it changes to Mableton Parkway, turn right on South Gordon Road, then left on Hillcrest.  Look for a new subdivision on the left.about 8/10 mile from South Gordon Road.   About a 20 minute drive from our church.

Youth Take Notice:: The minimum age for the first four days is 16, 14 after that. (blitz week)   All young folks, guys and gals are all welcome if you meet the age requirements.   Drag your parents along!

 Dinner on the Slab

Click on any picture or HERE for Slide Show

Dinner on the slab means bring a covered dish, utinsels to serve the dish and your own chair.  Anyone that wants to come are welcome.   We invite the future homeowner and their family and friends. 

Cobb Habitat has already poured the concrete and it is hardened and ready to build, so all we have to do is clear out an area big enough to set up tables and chairs.   There was chicken, bar-b-que, various salads and deserts, water, tea and soft drinks.  Also a few well chosen wines (OK by Presbyterian standards).

For most of us, this is our first opportunity to meet the new homeowner and family.   Nicole is going to be a joy to work with.  Elijah is very bright, energetic, and inquiring, wants to know everything that is going on.  

Copies of Pictures

To get copies of any picture, click on the slide show and look above the slide show and you wiil find a link to the group of pictues ("back to Habitat 2008 set").    Or click on any picture during the slide show and it will stop and allow you to select that picture (View Main Page).   When you see a picture you like and you have it in your sights, look for a link above for a button that says all sizes.  From there you can choose vearious sizes including a very large one.   When you have the size you want, you can click download for a free copy.  Copy as many as you want.    Or here is a  direct link to the set.  Click on any picture for a larger view and copy insturctions.  Enjoy

Oldtimer

Anyway, here are some of the latest addition photos and some great shots of Chris and my dad in action on the shed...

Based on an old song called "Tulips from Amsterdam", you may be forgiven for thinking that that is where tulips come from. You would, of course, be wrong, the tulip fields are found a little bit further west of Amsterdam in the strip of land between the towns of Leiden and Haarlem. If you time it just right you can see fields filled with stripes of colour, it was too late for me as the flowers have been harvested, but not too late to see the Jewel in the flower-growers' crown, Keukenhof.

Said to be the largest flower gardens in the world, Keukenhof is where each of the companies in the region get to show off their beautiful flowers to the general public. The growers seem to specialise in spring flowers and Keukenhof is only open for two months each year (mid-March to mid-May).

I lost count of the different varieties of tulips that were on show, the colours beautiful and brilliant, when I had my fill of the national flower there was a huge dispay area filled with lilies and when I thought I'd seen it all I discovered a building filled with orchids!

The place is just heaven for a photographer, the colour, the variety, after 4 hours and 500 photos, I was suffering from sensory overload, it's probably the best flower gardens I've been to.

Based on an old song called "Tulips from Amsterdam", you may be forgiven for thinking that that is where tulips come from. You would, of course, be wrong, the tulip fields are found a little bit further west of Amsterdam in the strip of land between the towns of Leiden and Haarlem. If you time it just right you can see fields filled with stripes of colour, it was too late for me as the flowers have been harvested, but not too late to see the Jewel in the flower-growers' crown, Keukenhof.

Said to be the largest flower gardens in the world, Keukenhof is where each of the companies in the region get to show off their beautiful flowers to the general public. The growers seem to specialise in spring flowers and Keukenhof is only open for two months each year (mid-March to mid-May).

I lost count of the different varieties of tulips that were on show, the colours beautiful and brilliant, when I had my fill of the national flower there was a huge dispay area filled with lilies and when I thought I'd seen it all I discovered a building filled with orchids!

The place is just heaven for a photographer, the colour, the variety, after 4 hours and 500 photos, I was suffering from sensory overload, it's probably the best flower gardens I've been to.