Habitat Build

Today Linda and I volunteered for a build that is taking place in Teton Village, just a short distance from Jackson. Since being on the road, we’ve wanted to be part of a build but have never been in the right place at the right time. It worked out great this time so we got there for the start of work at 9. A group of young people, from an organization called Bike and Build, was also part of today’s build. Most were from Virginia but some from other parts of the Northeast. Neat bunch of young people. They left Virginia Beach end of May and have biked across the country, stopping to participate in builds along the way. They will reach their destination in Oregon in August. Depending on the terrain they are covering, they ride anywhere from 78 to 100+ miles a day. Several of the girls we spoke with had never done much biking prior to this trip. They have a super busy schedule, between riding and building…they’ve only had 3 days off since leaving at the end of May. Tomorrow they are going over Teton Pass to Idaho Falls…wow ! They are a super bunch of kids and we had such a great time working with them.

This is the house we worked on today. It’s a duplex and once the framing is done, it will look like this.

 

 

 

 

The things that Linda and I worked on were putting the water barrier on the foundation and then nailing the metal lathe above it that will hold the stucco type material in place. We  also built devices for radon abatement. Linda is holding one of them while the other girl wraps tape around the screen to hold it in place. Three of the legs (like they are taping up) are put into a three way “T” and two of the legs are buried and one is sticking out of the ground….like this although I think this one missed getting screen put on it. This device is supposed to pull any radon out of the air and put it back into the ground. The crawl space is also covered in plastic to seal the whole area tight to keep any radon from entering the house.

The setting for the four houses that are being built here is so beautiful. It’s at the base of the ski slope and all day long we watched parasails come off the mountain. The new homeowners will have some beautiful scenery, looking out the windows, for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the kids arms, we could see various injuries from their ride so far. They have to clip their feet onto their pedals and sometimes that has dumped them when they come to a stop (they forget they are locked in). One of the guys got hit by a car, as he rode into Jackson. A car was making a right hand turn and clipped him and never stopped. He fell off the bike and hit his head and broke his tailbone. One of the kids had a helmet camera and they are hoping they have clear footage of the accident so they can turn it into authorities. How crappy is that that the driver of that car never stopped ?

It was a lot of fun to help out today. It was also very hot….we kept drinking lots of water all day to stay hydrated and put on lots of sunscreen. One of the homeowners was there today. She (Lisa) needs to put in 500 hours of labor towards the build as her part of home ownership. She will certainly have a beautiful, well built house when it’s completed. We’re anxious to join in on a build in Florida, during December, when we take the month off. For more info on how you can be a part of something like this, go to http://www.habitat.org/ They are trying to build 600 homes this summer for families across the country. Give them a hand !