Fall 2015 - Arkansas, Week1

Here wer are, back in Arkansas with a totally different crew than last winter/spring

From the left seatedwe have Ginny, Bob, Sue, John & Jodi and in the back from the left are Jim, Shirley, Sarah, Larry and Stel.  (As an aside, Dottie was not present as she returned to PA for a family emergency.) 

Here is our campground at the rear of the Wesley United Methodist Church parking lot.

Again, we are sharing the campground and facilities with the Christian Aid Ministries of the Mennonite Church.

This house was worked on last winter/spring but has some problems and was never finished.  Our job is to fix all the problems and finish the inside so that the family that will own this home can move in.  They have been homeless for 18 months since the tornado and they had lost 2 previous mobile homes to tornados.

The kitchen was nearly completed, needing countertops and baseboards and some of the cabinets needed repairs.  We started working on these items but the disaster coordinator asked us what we thought about the cabinets.  We told him we did not like them because the quality was very poor and he said I don't either.  Tear them out and I'll get new ones.

Some folks (Jodi and Jim) were way too happy to accomodate the tearout.

Here Bob, Jim and John continue the tearout.

The new cabinets are on the right and the old cabinets are being loaded in the trailer for return to the warehouse.

After the cabinets were removed, the process of repairing the walls began.

Actually all the walls had to be repaird.  Unfortunately, some previous volunteers put texture material and paint on the walls thinking that would cover the tape and seams without recoating the seams.  WRONG!  So seems and joints and screw holes have to be repatched all over the house.  Ginny patching around outlets.

More patching by Sue.

And Shirley gets into the act.

Do you get an idea that there is a lot of patching?  Her Sue continues the efforts.

Patching, patching patching. 

John and Bob prepare to hang a bedroom door.

Bob measuring for the process.

Bob and John are making a door for the furnace room.

and now they are installing it.

The laminate floor was coming apart in this room so Stel and Sue tore out the baseboard and several rows of laminate and are in the process of reinstalling it.

Jim is adding quarter round because the baseboard did not quite cover the edges of the floor.

Stel is removing baseboard because the wall is bowed for some reason and the baseboard does not line up.  After cutting a small opening, she was able to push the drywall tight against the studs, refasten it and after remudding the screws and the patch, She reinstalled the baseboard and lined it up so that it fit

Many of the closets and bathrooms were missing baseboard and Stel was charged with fixing all those areas

Sarah is a life saver for everyone.  She has the caulk gun and is fixing a world of "oops'" and that was a sample of our first week.  The bathroom in the hall was also a "fixer" because the door opened into the hallway.  Not the way we would want it but there is no more money for a new door that swings the correct way.  Sooooo, we took the door off, moved the hinges and door latch, patching the old hinge areas and now it is ready to sand & paint.  No pictures to show for it, you'll have to take our word for it.

Next week, we continue the repairs and reinstalling of cabinets.  See you then.