Week 2 - Hattiesburg, MS

At the end of week 1 in Hattiesburg, MS, Tim and Ellie left to head to Moore, Oklahoma to open the Disaster Recovery Project there.  They were replaced in Hattiesburg by Bobby Price (seated next to Jodi) and his wife Donna (far left in back).  Believe it or not, there appears to be no familial relationship to Jodi.

Bobby and Donna joined Stel & Jodi and Marsha at Sharon's house to paint the master bedroom,

clean and paint the kitchen

and cabinets.

The homeowner, Sharon, enjoying the warm spring sun.

We also installed new smoke detectors.

This is the finished product in the kitchen

and this is the presentation of the Bible signed by all the NOMADS who worked on the home.

Avis and Gary moved on to the home of Florence who had extensive roof damage which during the heavy rains with the tornado, caused damage to interior sheet rock, ceiling tiles and floors in a number of areas in the home.

After they patched the ceiling sheet rock in this bedroom, Avis is removing old wallpaper border to prepare for painting.

Gary is mudding the patches and filling in other bad areas.

The next day, Jodi and Marsha helped with painting the repaired room

while Avis painted stained ceiling tiles that had been reattached in the kitchen. (the light fixture had been removed for the repairs so she is working from a spotlight.)

Back at the mobile home, Paula and Don are helping remove rotten facia boards and replace with newly painted material and to patch the edge of the roof  with the help of Calvin.

After finishing Sharon's house, Stel, Bobby and Donna joined the team at the trailer to build frames for the windows to better support the air conditioners and to seal out rain water.  This is one of 4 and we are learning as we go.

Stel & Donna seeing if the AC unit will fit the new construction and...

Bobby is cutting the remaining supports.

We were able to finish the roof and soffit  but will have more work on the window air conditioners next week.

Week 1, Hattiesburg, MS

The NOMADS team assembled in Hattiesburg, Ms for disaster recovery.  All the team has been here for a while except us.  From the left are:  Calvin & Marsha Harms, Stel & Jodi, Gary Norton (back), Paula & Don Patrick, Tim & Ellie Brubaker (back) and Avis Norton in front.

4 of us, Avis & Gary, Jodi & Stel,  went to work on this house which was hit by a tree during the tornado, and a lot of water got in.  The roof has been repaired previously.

but the interior is heavily water stained, rotted or warped.

In 4 locations, the texture finish has fallen off.

and in one bedroom, the sheetrock has warped and collapsed completely.

Here we removed old caulk and filled the cracks that opened around the crown moulding.

and we had to wash everything to prepare it for primer & paint.

We also prepped all the texture damaged areas before repair.

In one bedroom, we removed all the crown moulding,

and all the damaged sheetrock.

Then we replaced the ceiling sheetrock...

Calvin & Marsha came to help us raise the sheetrock on the 10 foot ceilings

Novice attempt at patching the texture

Gary taped & "mudded" the ceiling 

Cauling around the newly installed ceiling fan before final coat of paint.

Avis painting  in the hallway and Stel recaulking around the tub.

Everyone "cutting" doorways, ceilings & corners.

The small bedroom, hallway, bath and living room are almost done.  Next week, some of us will return to  repair, prep & paint the kitchen and main bedroom, install new smoke detectors and possibly replace the bathroom floor.
 This week, the rest of the team worked at a mobile home that was purchased used to replace the home that was completely destroyed by the tornado.  Some unscrupulous person had sold this family a mobile home but switched it when delivered with one that was almost unlivable.  The seller cannot be found.  The family had spent all their FEMA money on this mobile home so a church is sponsoring the repairs which include replacing all the subflooring, installing laminate flooring, repairs to roof, soffit and air conditioner supports.  NOMADS are blessed to supply the labor

Third Week - Bastrop, Tx

This week, Ruth and David Roberson (5th & 6th from the right) joined the team and went right to work helping us put final touches on Archie's house.

David gathering baseboard to finish off the living room.

Ruth preparing to apply final bead of caulk around shower.

All the rest worked on final touches like touch up painting (Lerene) and installing transitions ( Dan & Stel)

Sara cleaning construction debris from the grounds...

Jodi tearing down the temporary stairs and Linda final painting the front door.

 And here is the final product...

pantry area

 lliving room

Archie's office

front of residence

Archie & Dan surveying final touches.

So we dedicated the new home for the owners, Archie & Val on the lelft

and we all enjoyed a barbeque lunch prepared by Archie & Val

And then we moved on to the next project.  John's new house needs a deck and 2 ramps for 95 year old relative.

so we began with the deck

Inside, grab bars needed to be installed

although some had more fun...

than others.

while Jodi and Cliff went to another house to install vent covers.

The team will have one more week to finish the  work on this house,

but Stel & Jodi moved on to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for another disaster project.  More about that next week.