Thrivent Builds

End of Day 2

Pastor Mike working on his favorite - stairs - NOT!

Americorps Member Rich roofing

Interior pre-insulation and drywall

At the end of Tuesday, the third day of the build, sheeting was all up on the roof and tar paper was on so the house should have stayed dry. However, windy conditions blew some of the tar paper loose so we had to re-secure that and push hard now to get the roof shingled before rains set in later this week. Some overnight rains did come through but it was not bad. More blue board was put up and some windows are now in. All interior partitions are in and basement stairs are nearly 100% complete. With the exception of the roof not being done yet, we are on schedule in every way.

Thanks to Linda C. from University Lutheran Chapel/St. Luke Lutheran Church for providing lunch on Monday. The crew was big and hungry and grateful.

And Thanks to Trinity Lutheran in Ann Arbor for nourishment and blessings on Tuesday. Another large and hungry crew was most grateful!

Pastor Doris Sparks, Andy Lakatos (houseleader) & others the morning of our kick-off

Front gable up morning of June 13

What a great day June 13 was for all involved. Pastor Doris Sparks from Zion Lutheran Church in Chelsea offered a blessing over the project that morning, hard hats were issued, safety – safety – safety was emphasized, Thrivent was acknowledged and everyone set to work. We had almost 30 people on-site throughout the day and attached are pictures of the progress. Back wall went up first with gable end and ladder pre-built and on, then the front wall then both side walls. Long-time houseleader Andy worked everyone hard, 8am-8pm with 3 meals prepared and delivered by Trinity Lutheran in Ann Arbor. We had hoped to get the trusses up on Saturday also, but we will work on that Monday. Next week is our “blitz week” where we will work Monday-Saturday with the goal being to have the house 100% closed in and “dry.” (Hint… we made it, read more throughout the week)

Sealant on and backfill done.

June 1: Forgot to mention that we had the plumber scheduled to hook up the sewer drain and it happened on time and we passed that inspection June 2. This allowed screed board & vapor barrier installed so the inspection would pass in time to pour the concrete floor on Thursday, June 4. It happened! We did not, however, get the backfill done prior to June 6 deck build. That’s OK. As long as we get it done before June 13 kick-off (if at all possible.)

Update June 9: Superior Walls passed inspection so backfill got done prior to Saturday, June 13 as we hoped.

Saturday, June 6 was a great day! Folks from King of Kings Ann Arbor and other local congregations along with our visiting “caravanners” built the floor deck and got other important work done prior to delivery of our pre-built prison walls. We ordered the pre-built walls for this home weeks ago through HFH Michigan and the Michigan Prison building trades program. We have had good success in the past and the walls are available again for little or no cost to HFH affiliates so no-brainer. Well, all was good until Monday of the week they were to be delivered on Wednesday when we learned there was a mix-up in the ordering and no walls were coming. So we must now build the walls ourselves. This is not a problem for us, we’ve built all the walls for the Thrivent homes for the last few years anyway, but it was not factored into the schedule and would really set us back so we called on our visiting “caravanners” to stop demo work on rehabs and instead, head to Watling for the rest of the week to build interior wall partitions and at least layout all the exterior walls. Amazing work was accomplished and all got done in time to kick off on Saturday June 13 leaving only the 4 exterior walls to actually be built on-site. They were laid out and ready to go when volunteers arrived that morning. Thank you Caravanners!

Welcome to our 2009 Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley home of the Burrell family. This is a picture of the lot located at 956 Watling in Ypsilanti before we demolished the abandoned block structure and dug the hole for the basement of the new home.