Retirement project

veinbuster

Zombie Three, DFZ
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
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GTA or wandering aimlessly
I stopped working while I was still young enough to do things I found interesting. Some mornings my bones disagree, but I have to say it has worked out pretty well.

A couple of years after I graduated from engineering school, the owner of the company I was working for asked what I wanted to accomplish in my career. I said that I wanted to save enough to stop working for long enough to build a house.

So, when I retired I rode my bikes a couple thousand kilometers in the first three weeks, played some guitar, raised some money for cancer research and then went to do some building.
 
My first day at Habitat for Humanity, there was a big hole in the ground. Concrete got poured and then we started putting down joists for the main floor.
CK_Habitat1PineryBuilding2.JPG

Summer came and walls went up.
CK_Habitat2SecondFloorBegins.JPG

Before too long, we got above the neighbouring houses. That goop is to keep the subfloor from squeaking.
CK_Habitat3StartingFloorTwo.JPG
 
While it seemed to go pretty fast, we got windows in just before winter. Notice the hint of snow on the ground.
CK_Habitat4WindowsIn.JPG

This building was designed to have 15 homes in it. 5 single level on the ground floor and 10 two story homes half the depth of the building above.
There were a couple of big multi generation families, so we split the 3 homes on one end to make a pair of large 3 story homes. This required a bit of surgery to get the proper separation on the ground floor.
CK_Habitat5HouseSplit.JPG


hmm..server error for the first time in ages.
 
While we were finishing that building, a bigger building was being prepped. Being short of real estate, it would have an underground garage. If you look close, you can see all of the services being routed between layers of concrete. This took about 4 months.
CK_Habitat6ConcretePrep.JPG

While waiting to build on the new building, we did some landscaping.
CK_Habitat7GradingYard.JPG

Then started raising walls on the concrete deck. Some of this was done with a nail gun triggered with explosives - like a childhood cap gun gone wild pushing 3 1/2" nails through concrete.
CK_Habitat8_1stFloorFraming.JPG

Not without the occasional mishap.
CK_Habitat9Fire.JPG
 
In bad weather, we used the garage to build walls in.
CK_Habitat10Walls.JPG

We gave a good view of the complexity of the services: sewer, water, electricity, glycol (for outside stairs and the garage ramp), phone and cable.
CK_Habitat11WiringPlumbing.JPG

With the main floor well above ground, it got high quickly so we maintained barriers around the edges while working. This is our second floor.
CK_Habitat12SecondFloor.JPG

The concrete block wall gives a fire barrier between the two halves of this 20 home building. We were pushing another winter getting the roof over one half of the building.
CK_Habitat13RoofTrusses.JPG
 
With the roof up, we worked to finish the inside. We left openings between houses as long as we could to make it easier to move between them.
CK_Habitat14InteriorFraming.JPG

Made to measure stairs were built off site and loaded through the patio doors for us to install.
CK_Habitat15HalfRoofLoadingStairs.JPG

Clad the outside with some nice shiny insulation.
CK_Habitat16AllClad.JPG

And then get the bricklayers in. These guys are incredibly efficient.
CK_Habitat17BrickLaying.JPG

While they were doing that, we were working on the interior. This is the inside of the last home. We laid up the header and foot of walls in place, then put the studs in all of them for the house and set them back in place.
CK_Habitat18LastFloorLayout.JPG
 
Families moved into the first half of the building while we finished up the other end.
CK_Habitat19Completions.JPG

and yesterday we prepped homes for pre delivery inspection, a couple of which were completed before we left for the day. The homes include appliances, air conditioning, and on demand water heaters.

CK_Habitat20Kitchen.JPG

The last homes will be occupied over the next couple of week. The 3 buildings have 49 homes.
CK_Habitat21AllThree.JPG

And the kids have a safe place for their bikes.
CK_Habitat22KidsBikes.JPG
 
Gotta respect a man who knows how to construct and use tools well.
Lots of tools, and lots of people. I have been at this site for a bit over 2 1/2 years and easily worked with over a thousand volunteers. Some arrive not knowing how to use a hammer. Some have built houses on their own.
 
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