Travels, Settle in Albany, 2009

Click on any of the little pictures to see it at normal size. Click on the '=0=' after the picture to see it in giant size (about 2 minutes to download on dialup connection and larger than screen size). This could be useful if you wanted to really look at one part of the picture or to make a print.

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On Wednesday, I was able to help out at the Stephen Street build. The web site listed a start time of 9AM, but I heard that the Tuesday / Wednesday crowd was very experienced. When I arrived at 9AM most of the crew were already at work. They seem to arrive at 8AM. Oh well, I will know for the future. This build was in SE Albany which is a pretty rough section. Up the street are three other houses built by Habitat for Humanity (shown here) in contrast to the older homes across the street from them (below). If you note, the completed Habitat for Humanity homes have a standard pitched roof, but with a facade on the front that has caused the owners some drainage problems. Across the street from the current home is another Habitat for Humanity home with a roof that drains to the back and works great. The home we were working on has a roof that drains to the center and has a drain through the center of the house. People wonder how well that will work in heavy rains or if the drain clogs, but the architects are sure that won't be a problem. Only time will tell.	=0=
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When I arrived they were positioning the roof trusses (positioning them so the eight foot plywood sections would exactly break on a truss) and nailing them in place. Then we added diagonal cross beams to hold them in place (the plans called for lots of diagonals) as shown above. Here is Frank, the site manager checking the plans on the first floor. The crew knew each other pretty well, but I didn't pick up everyone's name. Below is Barbara (easy to remember as she was the only woman), not it blue. Also below is Al, who was one of the senior guys.	=0=
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I decided to try another Emanuel picture of myself the house in the background, shown here. I think in the future I will take several and just the keep the best (after all it is a digital camera). We finished putting up the plywood on the roof, but they haven't put in the drain yet. I fear what will happen with a hard rain before they get a drain in. Albany HfH builds five days a week, but has a couple or three houses that they are working on. They keep their tools in a truck which they move from site to site as needed (shown below).	=0=
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