Edit [12/26/08]: See these photos and more at my Flickr page.
The main (only?) advantage of unemployment being the ability to do whatever you like, I spent last week building at The Trace. I worked on a 3-bedroom house called the Cypress. Thanks to the leadership of construction supervisors Bryce and Austin, an enthusiastic college group from Ohio, and a mix of other volunteers, we started from a slab and raised the walls, built the porch, and set about half of the roof trusses within the week. Here’s the Ohio group:
The project is moving quickly. In the past 4-6 weeks, Habitat for Humanity has started all of the 17 houses that it plans to finish before Christmas (out of 28 total). Some are already dried in and getting cabinets and floors, while others are still being framed. And, once this neighborhood is completed, Habitat and Thrivent have already agreed to build another 28-house development in Gulfport, part of 314 new houses around the country in the coming year. (See the Dec. 5 press release here).
Click below for more photos, or see the photo set on Flickr.
Several houses are dried-in; this is the ‘Myrtle’:
This is a side view of the ‘Persimmon’:
This is the ‘Chestnut’:
This is the ‘Cedar’:
This is another ‘Cedar’ in an earlier stage, without siding:
This is the ‘Elm’, a smaller two-bedroom house:
This is the ‘Chestnut’, elevated on piles:
This is the ‘Cypress’, with its full side porch:
NTC Pile Driving Services prepares the foundation for another house:
A view from the cul-de-sac at the end of the street, looking back towards the developing neighborhood:
Graded lots next to the creek that runs through the site:
Large culverts allow the creek to pass under the road:
The creek enters the site:
Kristen’s street elevation on display at a Thrivent block party:
