September 20, 2021 – Insulation complete

We’re back for Team 2!   We are joined by 4 new Care-A-Vanners, along with the three couples that were here from the beginning.   We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and were assigned a new location at the ‘campground’.   Since we are the only people without a car, Bob gives us a spot where we can easily pull our motorhome out as needed.    After hooking up electric, water and grey water hoses, we were ready!   ‘Happy Hour’ had already been going on at the pavilion behind the church, so we joined in and got to meet the new team members.

Some of us decided to head over to the local VFW for some dinner.    The people there are super friendly, and by now, they recognize us as regulars 😉   It was nice to have a break for a week, but we’re ready to get back to work.

We were quickly able to get back into our routine, being ready to leave promptly at 7:45AM.

Going into the house this morning was amazing.   It is still hard to believe what we were able to accomplish in 2 weeks.   During the break week, the electrical and plumbing were roughed in, the bathtub was mounted, and the concrete front and back pads were poured.

    

As is typical, we started our day with a devotion from a local church.   The prayer that she shared was very appropriate, and touching.    She graciously agreed to send us a copy (which is included at the bottom of this post).    Bob then handed out our ‘to do’ sheets.   Our goal today was to have the house completely insulated, and all the drywall moved into the house.    Everyone on the team dove right in to the list of tasks.  Here’s the list for the insulation crew (that we were on):     Hang insulation on all exterior walls, insulate all exterior window/door headers with 3.5″ insulation, Insulate around all windows, Insulate around Front and Back Doors, Insulation Top Plates to Duravents creating a dam, Verify all Stud Guards in Place at piping/wiring runs, Fill in all Piping & wiring top/bottom plate holes with foam, Mark Floors with Stud Locations, Mark Top Plate with Truss Locations, Vacuum and clean out entire house of everything to make room for drywall.    Whew …. what a list!

But – we got it all done by about 1:30.    Joe and I started by insulating windows/doors and piping/wiring holes with expanding insulating foam …. using around 8 cans!

We then moved to insulating the non-standard exterior wall openings.   We used N95 masks to protect us from the insulation.

After the insulation was complete, it was time to move in 90 sheets of drywall into the house.     Joe (and the strong men) had a coordinated system for moving them into the right rooms.    I was on the ‘drywall stocking supervisory team’ …. which basically meant that I stayed out of the way ;-).

It was definitely a very successful day today …. topped off by another relaxing happy hour in the pavilion.  

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Here’s the Home Building Prayer, that I mentioned earlier:

For the blessings of this dwelling, O Lord:
• for the fast foundation,
• for the roof stretched overhead as a sheltering canopy,
• for the luxury & security of windows and doors,
• for these strong walls staying wind & weather,
• for comforts of floor and furniture, of heating and cooling, of fresh running water and electrical wiring, and for all fixtures, appliances, and conveniences that make our lives here less toilsome, we give you thanks, O Lord, acknowledging that all provision is your provision.

This place is a gift.
The sharing of life within these walls is a gift.

And so, the necessary investment of time and resources toward building & maintaining this dwelling need not be regarded as a burden, but as a good stewardship and a glad opportunity.

Give grace therefore that we might now perform the task before us,
not in grudging irritation,
but in gentleness and generosity of spirit,
as a caretaker of your blessings,
and as an act of loving service
to all family, friends, or strangers who will shelter here or enjoy
fellowship beneath this roof.

In the midst of these labors, grant us
• practical wisdom to perceive problems,
• Imagination to consider their solutions,
• and skill to remedy them.
Give us also humility and discernment,
that we might know when a task is beyond our ability and ask for help.

Guide our hands in these endeavors, O Lord,
and yet even more, we pray that you would shape our hearts in the doing of them, that as we labor to build this dwelling, you would be ever at work within us, your Spirit revealing and repairing our own places of
• brokenness,
• ungratefulness,
• shame, and pride,
and so, making us an ever more fit habitation for the indwelling Christ,
and a truer citizen of the coming kingdom.

Amen