Doors closing flush at the Women Build site hinges on my ability to screw in hinges correctly.
Ha. I thought that was funny.
On my third Saturday of work out at the Habitat for Humanity Women Build, I was a jack of all trades.
I began the morning sanding down door molding so other women could come behind me and touch up paint. The job was done quickly and then I was looking for something else to do.
Reggie, the assistant to the top guy on site, then assigned me and another woman to door hinges in a back room of the house. We were to use a tapered tool and scrape down the inset area on the face of the door where a hinge sits. The hinge won't screw in flush and a door won't close flush if dried paint is caked in the inset. Essentially, our job was to off scrape dried paint. When that was done, we screwed on the hinges.
A little bit of trivia for you - door hinges are identified as male and female for the number of door pin holes they have. Male hinges have two; female hinges have three.
The other woman I was working with, Susan, and I agreed it had to have been a male inventor or contractor who thought up the male/female thing.
Male hinges are screwed in to doors while female hinges are screwed in to door moldings.
So, I tackled the paint scraping job and spent the majority of my day doing that. This detail had never occurred to me. But once I began the work, it made perfect sense. Without removing the dried paint from the hinge insets, the actual hinge sat at an awkward angle or did not fit inside the inset at all.
It's the little details that pay off. I understand that now.
By lunchtime, all hinge insets had been scraped so Reggie and I moved on to installing a metal rack in the laundry room. The factory rack had to be cut down so he and I measured it and marked where I would cut ... with a hacksaw. That's right, a hacksaw. With all the wonderful construction technology these days, I wondered why there wasn't a saw that could cut through the rack in a matter of seconds. Maybe there is and it just wasn't available Saturday.
Whatever the case, I spent a good 10 minutes laboring over the hacksaw as it painstakingly made progress through the solid metal rungs. My right arm will no doubt be sore tomorrow.
It was finally cut to size and Reggie and I measured and marked the wall for where the rack's supports would go. And that's when the highlight of my day came - I got to use the power drill. It was awesome. I drilled holes through the sheet rock then pushed in plastic supports the rack would snap into.
The power drill is the tool to have. I would buy one tomorrow except it would sit somewhere collecting dust ... other than the times I would turn it on just so I could.
March 15 is my last work day at the Women Build house and I'm told March 30 is the dedication. Keep checking the Aiken Standard for updates.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Second Saturday of Work - 2/16
"Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door." - Coco Chanel
When I arrived at the Women Build site Saturday, the outside of the house had not changed much since I left it last in January. The inside had. When I left on my first Saturday of real work on the house, all that was on the walls was sheet rock. Now there was mudding and interior paint. Everything is really starting to come together.
The flooring has not been laid yet and cabinets have not been installed, but it is easy to imagine those things there.
There were less people on the site than the last time I had been there and I preferred it. We weren't bumping and running into each other so much and there were no good-natured squabbles over who got to use tools.
I was put to work painting doors with another volunteer, Kim. We were lucky. We got a mini paint roller. Another woman painting doors in a back room only had a brush. Other women were painting window and door trim.
We used the brush to paint the door's inset panels and used the roller on the rest. Kim and I soon fell into a natural rhythm which worked out very well for us the whole day. By the time she had finished using the brush, I would need it. By the time she had finished with the roller and was starting on another door, I would need the roller.
We were instructed to spread the paint thin and to avoid drips and runs at all cost. We did an excellent job if I do say so myself.
So, I spread the paint thin and was worried when the door looked blotchy. That was when I discovered I am a perfectionist when it comes to painting. I pressed down on that roller and spread that paint until the whole door was an even shade of white. It had to be even. I couldn't have it looking blotchy. Who knew if workers on another weekend would come behind us and put a second coat of paint on everything?
I think it was after the third or fourth door when we learned they would be. So those concerns were laid to rest. And we learned after lunch that when the paint dries, the color evens out.
(Speaking of lunch, I must digress here to note that I know everyone appreciates the various church groups and clubs that take turns providing lunch to the site every Friday and Saturday. This Saturday was the Ladies Club of Cedar Creek, I believe. I thank them. The food was great and they were so kind and courteous even when I inadvertently knocked over an entire platter of homemade brownies into the dirt. We were able to salvage some and they were still delicious.)
By the time the day's work came to an end, Kim and I had painted seven doors between the two of us. That's not counting the number of doors the other volunteer painted in another room
Work progressed smoothly and quite uneventfully.
Keeping looking in the Aiken Standard for new posts to my Women Build blog.
When I arrived at the Women Build site Saturday, the outside of the house had not changed much since I left it last in January. The inside had. When I left on my first Saturday of real work on the house, all that was on the walls was sheet rock. Now there was mudding and interior paint. Everything is really starting to come together.
The flooring has not been laid yet and cabinets have not been installed, but it is easy to imagine those things there.
There were less people on the site than the last time I had been there and I preferred it. We weren't bumping and running into each other so much and there were no good-natured squabbles over who got to use tools.
I was put to work painting doors with another volunteer, Kim. We were lucky. We got a mini paint roller. Another woman painting doors in a back room only had a brush. Other women were painting window and door trim.
We used the brush to paint the door's inset panels and used the roller on the rest. Kim and I soon fell into a natural rhythm which worked out very well for us the whole day. By the time she had finished using the brush, I would need it. By the time she had finished with the roller and was starting on another door, I would need the roller.
We were instructed to spread the paint thin and to avoid drips and runs at all cost. We did an excellent job if I do say so myself.
So, I spread the paint thin and was worried when the door looked blotchy. That was when I discovered I am a perfectionist when it comes to painting. I pressed down on that roller and spread that paint until the whole door was an even shade of white. It had to be even. I couldn't have it looking blotchy. Who knew if workers on another weekend would come behind us and put a second coat of paint on everything?
I think it was after the third or fourth door when we learned they would be. So those concerns were laid to rest. And we learned after lunch that when the paint dries, the color evens out.
(Speaking of lunch, I must digress here to note that I know everyone appreciates the various church groups and clubs that take turns providing lunch to the site every Friday and Saturday. This Saturday was the Ladies Club of Cedar Creek, I believe. I thank them. The food was great and they were so kind and courteous even when I inadvertently knocked over an entire platter of homemade brownies into the dirt. We were able to salvage some and they were still delicious.)
By the time the day's work came to an end, Kim and I had painted seven doors between the two of us. That's not counting the number of doors the other volunteer painted in another room
Work progressed smoothly and quite uneventfully.
Keeping looking in the Aiken Standard for new posts to my Women Build blog.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First Saturday of Actual Work - 1/12
Phrases heard Saturday:
"This had to have been invented by a woman."
"We're at the 'whatever' point."
"I can't find a stud to save my life."
"Who knew they had that?" (a foot controlled lever-type apparatus that lifts sheet rock off the floor to make room for molding)
My shoulder muscles are hurting now even as I type this and it hasn't even been 12 hours since I left the Women Build site on Florence Avenue.
Much has happened at the house since I last posted a blog back in November 2007. When I last saw it at the groundbreaking ceremony, it was a muddy plot of land. When I drove up this morning, an actual house stood there. A house complete with doors, windows, a front porch and sectioned rooms.
Work started where the last crew had left off — sheet rock. Some had already been nailed up, featuring nice, straight pencil lines marking where studs are. Remember, you always want to nail sheet rock into a stead. Always. Otherwise, the sheet rock could buckle and collapse over time.
I don't know why we didn't draw those same nice, straight lines on our sheet rock in line with studs. I guess it just never occured to us. So, for the first 4 hours of the work day, the women and I were doing our best to line up nails up and down the sheet rock by sight only — gauging where they would need to go by what other nails were in place. We would hit a stud, I would say, 80% of the time. The other 20% was extremely frustrating and finding the stud after the failed attempt was that much harder.
When a wall was completed, nail heads more resembled the erratic pattern of smashed bugs on a windshield than anything else. (Sheet rock nails are supposed to go in 16 inches apart. Guess how often that precise measurement was taken? Right. Never. Our hammers were about one foot so we judged measurements by them.)
I hammered with two other women while two others measured and cut sheet rock. I hammered alllll day .... Not only are my shoulders sore, but my knees are scraped raw from kneeling on the subflooring to nail even though I was wearing pants and my right thumb is developing a blister even though I was wearing gloves.
I soon learned that I couldn't pick up sheet rock nails with a gloved hand so I tucked the left one away and kept my right on. The fingernails on my left hand suffered. They were the grimiest, most chipped nails I've probably had in my entire life. I loved it. I was getting down and dirty.
I have to admit I was anxious the morning of, afraid I had completely forgotten what I learned in the Lowe's training classes. But then it all came back to me, thankfully.
Hammering I had experience with. Using a motorized "saw" to cut through sheet rock I did not. But I learned how to use that bad boy Saturday ... and got a mouthful of sheet rock dust for my efforts.
Keeping looking in the Aiken Standard for new posts to my Women Build blog.
"This had to have been invented by a woman."
"We're at the 'whatever' point."
"I can't find a stud to save my life."
"Who knew they had that?" (a foot controlled lever-type apparatus that lifts sheet rock off the floor to make room for molding)
My shoulder muscles are hurting now even as I type this and it hasn't even been 12 hours since I left the Women Build site on Florence Avenue.
Much has happened at the house since I last posted a blog back in November 2007. When I last saw it at the groundbreaking ceremony, it was a muddy plot of land. When I drove up this morning, an actual house stood there. A house complete with doors, windows, a front porch and sectioned rooms.
Work started where the last crew had left off — sheet rock. Some had already been nailed up, featuring nice, straight pencil lines marking where studs are. Remember, you always want to nail sheet rock into a stead. Always. Otherwise, the sheet rock could buckle and collapse over time.
I don't know why we didn't draw those same nice, straight lines on our sheet rock in line with studs. I guess it just never occured to us. So, for the first 4 hours of the work day, the women and I were doing our best to line up nails up and down the sheet rock by sight only — gauging where they would need to go by what other nails were in place. We would hit a stud, I would say, 80% of the time. The other 20% was extremely frustrating and finding the stud after the failed attempt was that much harder.
When a wall was completed, nail heads more resembled the erratic pattern of smashed bugs on a windshield than anything else. (Sheet rock nails are supposed to go in 16 inches apart. Guess how often that precise measurement was taken? Right. Never. Our hammers were about one foot so we judged measurements by them.)
I hammered with two other women while two others measured and cut sheet rock. I hammered alllll day .... Not only are my shoulders sore, but my knees are scraped raw from kneeling on the subflooring to nail even though I was wearing pants and my right thumb is developing a blister even though I was wearing gloves.
I soon learned that I couldn't pick up sheet rock nails with a gloved hand so I tucked the left one away and kept my right on. The fingernails on my left hand suffered. They were the grimiest, most chipped nails I've probably had in my entire life. I loved it. I was getting down and dirty.
I have to admit I was anxious the morning of, afraid I had completely forgotten what I learned in the Lowe's training classes. But then it all came back to me, thankfully.
Hammering I had experience with. Using a motorized "saw" to cut through sheet rock I did not. But I learned how to use that bad boy Saturday ... and got a mouthful of sheet rock dust for my efforts.
Keeping looking in the Aiken Standard for new posts to my Women Build blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)