Chicago Women Build Houses {Day 2} #CHIWomenBuiild

 

It’s a Monday, and I promised this series of posts would be done last week. Let’s you know that I shouldn’t make promises in the least. It’s not that I’m not excited about telling you all the happenings of Chicago Women Build, but I’ve actually been ON SITE for a bit, and well, that’s tiring. You can read about Day 1 before reading this if you really need to. 

On this day, Mr. Houseful was able to join the ranks as he had taken off the last 6 Thursdays so we could plow through our sweat equity (remember, we have to do 500 hours) and we happened to fall right smack dab in the middle of Women Build for the Chicago affiliate. That didn’t stop Mr. Houseful though as he was on hand to do the bidding of 40+ women and look super cute while doing so. We started the morning with the Robinson house almost fully framed, and ready for floor trusses to be set. The ladies from day two were all set to get it done, and what a dynamic group of women they were! 

 

Here we are, building another wall for the frame. It’s kind of awesome to know how to construct wall frames now. I went into Habitat for Humanity not knowing how to use any types of saws, but I could hammer! Now that farmhouse table from Ana White doesn’t seem so hard! An amazing amount of trust needs to go into a group when hammers are being swung towards nails and boards that others may be holding steady for you. I just need for you all to realize that. 

 

 

 
Fitting the new wall frame that we helped build, and now the framing of the house is complete and we can move on to putting the floor trusses on and completing the basement level! Let’s make no mistake about it, getting those trusses lined up and set was quite the job! We got about a third of the way done before it was quitting time. 

 

After each lunch break we were able to sign the studs of Ms. Robinson’s home. I found myself going around and around reading all of the blessings for her, her daughter and her grandchildren. It makes it a little better knowing that house blessings are written right into the very frame of your home. It also makes these long weeks of building and nonstop (it seems) sweat equity go by a bit faster. I’ll have an update on where we are out of 500 hours soon! 

By the end of day two’s work day, we had completed a little over half of the floor trusses. You see a huge gap in the foreground because stairs to the basement will be going in that spot, and you just don’t want to have to cut trusses out. Just believe me on this! 

 

 

 

The requisite group photo shoot and we’re out for another day. Just know that at the end of this day, I thought that I wouldn’t be coming back, but Mr. Houseful decided to get sick – THANKS MIKE – and he sent me out of the house to earn more sweat equity on Friday. It was a great plan because it helped us get closer to our goal, but MAN building in the sun gives me so much respect for carpenters, and construction workers doing this job 40+ hours a week. I learn fast, but I’m not built (at the moment) for a physically demanding job anymore. Let me run a few laps for a few weeks, and I’ll be good. However, I am still looking for more pink items to include in my tool belt.