Dedication is approaching

Dear followers, The dedication date is just around the corner on April 20th, and the atmosphere is crackling with excitement. We hope you can come join us at noon, as we dedicate 1630 and 1632 N Gilmor along with several other houses. This Saturday was the second to last planned work day on the houses, and a lot of jobs were on the to do list. A team of experts were there to assist, and thankfully, we got a lot of work done, including lots of painting, as the dry wall crew touched up a lot of their work, causing lots of new bare spots that needed painting, cutting banisters, trimming the back doors, toe kicks for the kitchen cabinets, and so forth. But there are quite a lot of tasks to still be completed so hopefully we will get everything done by the 20th. Please come out and support the dedication and / or come volunteer on these houses one last time. Here are some snapshots of the new kitchen in 1632 and the dining room shelves too.

March 2nd, 2013

Work continues on the houses as the dedication approaches. We had some snow flakes greet us throughout the day, but also a decent amount of sunshine, so working outside wasn't too brutal as we prepped a lot of the window sills for 1632 for install. Gary and the Habitat team installed the kitchen cabinets in 1630 over the course of the week, and continue to push the houses along as well. And yet there is still much to do from caulking, and painting to staining and installing small things like shelves in the pantries, mirrors and towel racks in the bathrooms, and tending to the little details. The future homeowners from 1626 N Gilmor were in attendance and helped cut shelving for the closets in our houses. We learned that Brittany is expecting a baby as well, so the Sandtown community will be growing soon. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to snap any photos but will try to do so next week. Or you could come down and see for yourself. Just visit our signup link to join us.

Feb 16th, 2013

Saturday was an extremely productive day. Kurt wrangled up a group of about 25 from his plant in Sykesville, MD. The crew came ready to go, and quickly mastered many tasks. 1632 N Gilmor got a fresh coat of egg shell paint (Habitat's favorite color), while 1630 got touch ups where needed. All the window sills got measured and half of them cut out and ready to go. We got another round of staining in on various pieces such as stair and shelf caps, and installed several window sills that were previously stained and sealed with polyurethane. Trim to hide the sill seams was also installed on these sills. Everyone was in good spirits despite a little chill in the air, and both houses now are one step closer to being completed. The Sandtown staff told us that a home owner has been chosen for 1632 N Gilmor so we are very excited to meet them. We are now in the process of determining a new dedication date, where we can guarantee that both houses will be completely finished and ready to welcome their new homeowners and family. Thank you to all who have volunteered with us, and we hope to see you in the next few weeks as we strive to finish and, of course, at the dedication ceremony.

Dedication Approaches

It has been a while since we posted on the status of the Northrop Grumman sponsored houses with Sandtown Habitat for Humanity. for that I apologize, but work has continued steady since our last post in late October. some days have been quite nice, while others a bit cold like this past Saturday. But volunteer turnout has been steady and even growing, and for that we thank you. We recently migrated our volunteer tool to the web, namely SignUpGenius that has made managing things a little easier, and a recent ES ad campaign in the FYI has also helped to let people know we need help putting the finishing touches like spackle, caulk, and paint in the house to make the house into a finished product, a.k.a an actual home for a deserving family. Unlike many other years, this set of houses at 1630 and 1632 N Gilmor has seen turn over on who will be acquiring the houses once they are complete. Normally, the home owner is known well in advance and gets the chance to work along us. This shows them what is really behind the drywall, cabinets, sinks, etc. and also allows us volunteers to get to know the main homeowner and their family well before the dedication date. 1630 and 1632 have had a few home owners each that for one reason or another could not complete the Sandtown Habitat program and therefore be eligible to purchase the house, but as it stands right now, Danny is set to inherit 1630, but no one has been choosen to inherit 1632. As such we have been more focused in recent weeks to finish 1630 and only working on 1632 on the side. Jobs performed since late October include installing a few more doors, cutting and installing trim and baseboard, cutting custom window sills and stair caps, installing closet shelves, painting, caulking, cleaning out the basement, filling in a few holes in the basement with cement, and installing luan plywood over the subfloor in areas where linoleum will be installed. Work continues in these areas and more (bathroom vanity install, kitchen cabinet install, dining room custom shelves, etc.) in future. So please come down and help us out. Here are some photos from Jan 12th of the crew performing various tasks: Kurt posing by a door after installing it:

James posing as well:

Measuring and fixing custom window sills:

Mike and Rob take a quick breather outside.

Gary and Danny search for the right tools for us in the Habitat truck.