GSBers Build a Home in Chicago's South Side
Using Math, Muscles and Power-Tools to Change theWorld
Tanya Loh, '09
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: GSB Life
"Who's good at math?" house construction guru Bob asked, gesturing Towards a measuring tape and wide sheets of thick aluminum that we would soon learn were called fasciae. "If there is one thing this crew knows how to do, it is math," Ryan Smolek jokingly responded, while Marguarette Dau, our fearless leader, promptly answered the call to arithmetic duties. With a twelve pack of Dunkin Donuts and multiple cups of its signature coffee behind us, Giving Something Back members Tyler Batchelor, Alexandra Iarova, Hamida Lalani, Amir Mansour, James Sung and I listened attentively while shyly eyeing the power tools. And thus began our hardy and industrious Saturday with Habitat for Humanity, in the sleepy City of Harvey, on a tree-lined street called Normal, around a freshly constructed three bedroom home, frame in place with puffs of yellow insulation showing.
Putting aside our laptops, textbooks and those damnable Blackberries, we briefly left the wired, sheltered world of business school to foray into the novel, hands-on domain of house building. The day's activities included a variety of tasks ranging from measuring, cutting and affixing corner pieces, F-channels, soffits and siding, to running wires, securing outlets and more. Amir and James both proved to have a knack for wiring and served as excellent apprentices to the master electrician, while Alexandra demonstrated keen talent at custom-cutting siding pieces so that they aligned flush with the frames of the windows. Ryan quickly gained expertise in attaching soffits and sawing away pesky overextended rafters before he, Tyler and Marguarette used their respective height advantages and physical prowess to ensure an entire wall of vinyl siding was up in just under an hour. The consummate recycler, Hamida stripped scrap pieces of copper wire like a madwoman among many other tasks, such as making critical food runs so that the crew was amply fueled by delicacies like glazed donuts and Popeye's Fried Chicken. And me? Well, let's just say I got to happily operate all kinds of power tools. 'Nuff said.
We learned new skills, augmented our vocabulary and spent the day in the crisp outdoors in a neighborhood far far away from home. We put our backs into it and ultimately came away with a good feeling, having done our small part in creating a home for a family in need. We also gained newfound appreciation for the hard work, special skills and attention to detail required to building a Habitat home, not to mention the extraordinary commitment and kindness of the staff who work for the organization.
"There are two seasons here in Chicago: winter and construction." so wisely stated Henry, the other Habitat for Humanity supervisor and veteran homebuilder. Having survived the winter, the GSB crew got to experience the other season and liked it so much that we'll soon be enjoying it again.
Come join us next time!
About Habitat for Humanity:
Habitat For Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFHI seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter, a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.
Habitat has built more than 250,000 houses around the world, providing more than one million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. HFHI was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller along with his wife, Linda.
Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.
Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor - sweat equity - into building their Habitat houses and the houses of others.
For more information, please see www.habitat.org.
New Vocabulary Learnt:
F-chan•nel, (plural: F-chan•nels)
Function: noun
A vinyl siding accessory trim with a channel for receiving siding or soffit panels. The cross section of an F-channel has a shape like the alphabetical "F." The perpendicular leg of the "F" has a nailing hem. Also called "J-trim".
fas•cia, (plural:fas•ci•ae)
Function: noun
1. A flat usu. horizontal member of a building having the form of a flat band or broad fillet: as a: a flat piece used as a molding
2. A horizontal piece (as a board) covering the joint between the top of a wall and the projecting eaves
J-trim, (plural J-trims)
Function: noun
Also known as: "J-channel" A vinyl siding accessory trim with a channel for receiving siding or soffit panels. The cross section of a J-trim has a shape like the alphabetical "J." The flat leg of the Jtrim has a nailing hem. J-trim is used to cover the edges of panels and hold them in place.
Sof•fit, (plural sof•fits)
The underside of a part or member of a building (as of an overhang or staircase); especially: the intrados of an arch.
Putting aside our laptops, textbooks and those damnable Blackberries, we briefly left the wired, sheltered world of business school to foray into the novel, hands-on domain of house building. The day's activities included a variety of tasks ranging from measuring, cutting and affixing corner pieces, F-channels, soffits and siding, to running wires, securing outlets and more. Amir and James both proved to have a knack for wiring and served as excellent apprentices to the master electrician, while Alexandra demonstrated keen talent at custom-cutting siding pieces so that they aligned flush with the frames of the windows. Ryan quickly gained expertise in attaching soffits and sawing away pesky overextended rafters before he, Tyler and Marguarette used their respective height advantages and physical prowess to ensure an entire wall of vinyl siding was up in just under an hour. The consummate recycler, Hamida stripped scrap pieces of copper wire like a madwoman among many other tasks, such as making critical food runs so that the crew was amply fueled by delicacies like glazed donuts and Popeye's Fried Chicken. And me? Well, let's just say I got to happily operate all kinds of power tools. 'Nuff said.
We learned new skills, augmented our vocabulary and spent the day in the crisp outdoors in a neighborhood far far away from home. We put our backs into it and ultimately came away with a good feeling, having done our small part in creating a home for a family in need. We also gained newfound appreciation for the hard work, special skills and attention to detail required to building a Habitat home, not to mention the extraordinary commitment and kindness of the staff who work for the organization.
"There are two seasons here in Chicago: winter and construction." so wisely stated Henry, the other Habitat for Humanity supervisor and veteran homebuilder. Having survived the winter, the GSB crew got to experience the other season and liked it so much that we'll soon be enjoying it again.
Come join us next time!
About Habitat for Humanity:
Habitat For Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFHI seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter, a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.
Habitat has built more than 250,000 houses around the world, providing more than one million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. HFHI was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller along with his wife, Linda.
Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.
Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor - sweat equity - into building their Habitat houses and the houses of others.
For more information, please see www.habitat.org.
New Vocabulary Learnt:
F-chan•nel, (plural: F-chan•nels)
Function: noun
A vinyl siding accessory trim with a channel for receiving siding or soffit panels. The cross section of an F-channel has a shape like the alphabetical "F." The perpendicular leg of the "F" has a nailing hem. Also called "J-trim".
fas•cia, (plural:fas•ci•ae)
Function: noun
1. A flat usu. horizontal member of a building having the form of a flat band or broad fillet: as a: a flat piece used as a molding
2. A horizontal piece (as a board) covering the joint between the top of a wall and the projecting eaves
J-trim, (plural J-trims)
Function: noun
Also known as: "J-channel" A vinyl siding accessory trim with a channel for receiving siding or soffit panels. The cross section of a J-trim has a shape like the alphabetical "J." The flat leg of the Jtrim has a nailing hem. J-trim is used to cover the edges of panels and hold them in place.
Sof•fit, (plural sof•fits)
The underside of a part or member of a building (as of an overhang or staircase); especially: the intrados of an arch.
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