3/18 and 3/19 The dash to the finish.

With the dedication now less than a week away, we had to ralley around our volunteers to get our shelter looking more like a house. So we had work days both on Friday and Saturday and had plenty of volunteers on both days. I was a bit worried since the Northrop Grumman web-based volunteer tool that we used to handle all our events went down. But with a little elbow grease we kept everyone informed and managed to get volunteers out both days. Our thanks to everyone that came out since we got a tremendous amount of work done, from pouring a concrete slab for the deck stairs to hanging a bunch of closet doors, bathroom vanities, and banisters, to caulking, painting, and staining all around the house. Randy also finished his extensive work in the stair area by finishing the storage area under the stairs to be fit for a child's favorite hiding place. The deck got its final attention by completing the stairs to the grass and all top plates and railings as well. We sanded the top plates and routed them as well for a really nice finished look.

All in all almost 200 Northrop employees and their friends and family committed 2500 hours to building this house. Considering we started with a dirt floor, three brick walls and no roof, we came a long way in a short amount of time. Thank you again to everyone who supported this effort and definitely come out to the dedication ceremony Saturday at noon.



Here are some pictures from Friday:
Here Randy shows off the covering blinds of his piece d' resistance

Here Tom and Steve enjoy the nice weather on the deck while cutting some wood.



Here Dave paints one of the many places that needed a touch up:


Rob stains the top plates of the half walls on the third floor.


Here are some more pictures from Saturday's efforts:
Jean vacuums up in preparation for painting.


Mike and Rich add banisters on the first floor stairs.


Hirsh and Dave add the finishing touches to a closet.


Nina adds final touches to the second floor bathroom.


The deck in all its glory taken from the kitchen door.

3/5/2011

The dedication date is fastly approaching, and only a few more workdays are scheduled between now and the March 26th dedication date. Thankfully we had a team build event on Friday where the team installed the upper cabinets in the kitchen. On Saturday we finished the cabinet install by securing the lower cabinets and glueing down the counter top. Due to the great weather, Hirsh, Kurt, and Craig made big strides in getting the railing of the deck finished, and began adding the decorate posts between the main railing posts. A lot of progress was also made in the wood working aspect of the house by creating a bunch of decorative window sills and top caps that are placed on partial walls throughout the house near the stairs. The usual caulking and painting was also taking place, since there is always so much to do in that department. The big projects that still remain are finishing the exposed brick walls throughout the house and adding the bathroom essentials. Great job to the hard working team this week, and we hope to see you at the house soon.

Here is a view of the kitchen with the upper cabinets installed:


Here is a picture of one of the exposed brick walls at the stairway between the first and second floor that will be finished soon with polyurethane. Decorative wood work is visible on the right hand side where the stairs meet the brick.


Finally, here is a photo of the second floor front bedroom that has been painted eggshell.

2/19/2011

Houston, we have a dedication date. March 26th, 2011 we will be releasing 1118 N Fulton Ave. to Tonya and her family. As such the rush is on to get the house ready to go. Since our last post, the drywall has been added to provide that finished look. Two weeks ago, we shared the house with the drywall experts and saw how fast taping can be when you have all the right tools including stilts that attach to your shoes to reach the ceiling with ease, special spackle pumps to provide easy clean sapckle application and tapers to apply the dry wall tape. It was neat to see them work while we begin adding window sills, baseboard, and doors.

This week we continued that effort with a large group. Much of the baseboard got laid, as well as most of the doors, and even two closet doors which required laying door track and some minor framing. All in all it was a very productive day, we just need to continue to have this productivity to finish the house on time. So if you are available we would love to see you at the house.

Here Mike and I work on creating window sills out of very nice pine.


Here the closet crew work on framing out the closets for door installation.


Here Kurt, Andrew, and Steve continue working diligently on the house.


Here Randy works on utilizing the space under the first floor stairs as a storage area.

Our first work day of 2011

One of the interesting tidbits about such a long term restoration project is the change in the operating conditions as work progresses. A few of the volunteers used their memories of the hot hot hot conditions back in the summer as warming thoughts to get through the fact that the outside temperature was in the teens and the house was in the 40s at best. We had a propane tank heater to keep us all from freezing but it was a struggle to keep warm.

At least our task of installing insulation around the house required us to wear long sleeves and pants, as well as face masks and gloves to keep the fiber glass fibers from irritating our skin. Something that is easier said than done since the fibers seem to get everywhere. Still the dedicated crew made great progress. We installed R-13 insulation in all walls shared with the next door row homes. R-19, which is just a thicker roll compared to the R-13 roll, was installed in exterior walls in the front and back of the house, and R-38 was installed in the ceiling of the third floor to insulate the living space from the attick crawl space and roof.

Here Tonya the future homeowner gets ready to install another roll of insulation between the studs on the first floor.


Here Suzanne works on installing the thick ceiling insulation.


Finally here is a picture of the crew after the days work.

December 11th, 2010

Last year at this time we were in a mad dash to finish our house by the end of the year. Our house was to be dedicated on the 17th of December only to be postponed due to a two foot snowstorm that brought Baltimore to a stand still. So in respect to the weather and hustle of last year, this work day was mellow. The weather although a little cold was sunny and allowed for lots of progress on the deck that now has all its floor planks and most of its railings completed. The framing of house is nearly complete as well, where only one basement wall is missing. The HVAC work has already begun and spray insulation is just around the corner. That means that our house is nearing the finishing stage when the drywall goes up and house takes on a drastic new look. That is also the point where doors and trim get installed, painting occurs, and each room nears completion. However, that process will probably have to wait to 2011 due to the holidays and having to wait for the electricians, plumpers, and spray insulation folk to finish their work first.

Here Tonya shows off the new brick work done on the front of the house:


Here Jean and Urban finish off the deck planks:


Here is a picture of the whole team standing on the deck:

Updates since August

As you may have well realized, it has been a while since we published a post about the progress on our house. It turns out that Andrew and Kurt are great at making progress on the house but not so great at documenting it here. Since I've been away working on my own projects and travelling for work, that meant that no blog entries have occurred since late August.

No biggie though because the house continues to progress thanks the helping hands of many Northrop Grumman employees and their friends and families. We've had five regular work days at the house and 2 team build opportunities, where specific groups from NGC work on the house on an off Friday. As a result the house is looking good. The roof was finished including securing the original hand-crarved lattice vent to the new roof. All the internal framing has been completed, and work has begun on a deck to overlook the beautiful sod that was recently put in. Two tubs have been put in each of the upstairs bathrooms, and a storage area was added under a turn in the stairs to use all the available space in the house. All the fireproofing has also taken place. Soon the professionals in electrical, plumbing and HVAC will come in to the house to do their jobs. We also got the great news that spray insulation will be used. Not only does it do a great job of insulating a house, it also keeps us volunteers from having to install fiberglass sheets of insulation, which is one of our least favorite jobs. So thanks to everyone that can out and supported us so far, now we are reaching that sprint before the dedication where the framing starts to look like a house, and then at the dedication, the house turns into a home for Tonya and her family.

Check out some of the latest pics:
Check out the tub waiting for some plumbing.


Here is a great picture from the 3rd floor of the deck being constructed:


Here is a great view of the new lawn and the team from the last team build of the year:


Here is a nice view of the deck and stucco along the back wall:

8/20/2010 and 8/21/2010

On Friday August 20th and Saturday the 21rst we were able to work on our house and make a lot of progress. On Friday, a team build activity involving the Space Systems Mechanical Group at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems gave up a day off to work on the house. Organized by Paul Lisiewski, the group of eight volunteers helped install the stairs in the house, which is not an easy task but one that probably valued as much as having a roof over your head since stairs mean no more climbing up steep ladders with tools, or lumber or 50lb bags of mortar. As you can see, the stairs look great. The exposed brick along all the stairs will also be a lovely feature for this house.




The crew also worked on building the wedges for the roof which are nailed to the top of the third floor framing and give the roof a slight pitch so rain water runs off the roof. New homes today have much steeper roofs, but the row homes in Baltimore, built in the early 1900's or earlier have this slight pitch, and it works well. Roof rafters are nailed to the wedges much like the floor joists are nailed to the exterior wall framing, and then plywood is nailed across it, much like subflooring. Felt roofing paper and then tar is added on top to complete the roof. The Friday crew got a few rafters in place, and on Saturday we picked up right where they left off, with the goal of getting roof plywood over the brand new stairs to protect from the elements.

Here a crew works from the neighboring roofs to get the rafters in place. We were planning on using 2x10 wood from rafters, but decided to use the I-beam boards instead since they are just as strong and weigh a lot less. The next picture shows a second crew completing the wedges further down roofline, while the last picture shows some of the plywood in place.







All in all it was a good day and much progress was made, unfortunately though, we had our first major accident. John, a brand new volunteer was the victim of an angry nail. While we were nailing stop blocks in between the rafters, a nail from the nail gun went into the wood it was supposed to, but got deflected by a large knot in the wood. The nail traveled out of the wood and flew four feet through the air until it found John's arm. The 2 and 1/2 inch nail completely lodged itself in John's arm. It was a total freak accident, but ruins our streak of nearly six years without any incidents. John went to the hospital and x-rays showed the nail did not hit any bone, tendions, or ligaments. So we feel very lucky for that. He is in good spirits and has just a little soreness after a few days. We wish him a speedy recovery.