Disaster Recovery Project, Lumberton, NC

We arrived in Lumberton, NC on Friday, Oct. 25 and entered the campground at the edge of town set up for NOMADS by the North Carolina Conference and which serves as the based for the UMCOR staff and equipment.

Jeff and Ann Wade are the coordinators for the Disaster Recovery Effort and they live in the 5th wheel to the left for the past 3 years of this recovery effort.  The Conference equipment is also stored here when not in use.

Behind all the equipment are 6 RV hook up sites for the NOMADS teams

on both sides of the drive.  This used to be a mobile home community and has been converted for the recovery effort.

The Host church for the Conference Disaster project is this church @ 2 miles from the campground.  UMCOR has office space in the church and NOMADS meet there for morning devotions and business meetings.

During the First 2 weeks, we worked on a number of houses but the group we are with worked on three so that's what the pictures are about.  The first house is Ms. Charlene's house which sustained hurricane damage.  Other volunteers including former NOMADS teams have worked on this house and we want to get it finished for her.  She is the light of Christ in this neighborhood so we want to help her shine.

The roof had been replaced previously but subsequent storms damaged a section of the roof and it has been covered with a tarp.  Stel removed the tarp and discovered that a square of shingles had pulled loose from the nails from the wind.  She replace that square and the ridge and 

This is the finished product.

Part of the cause of the problem with the roof is that the shingles lapped too far over the edge of the roof so Stel is cutting them back and making sure they are sealed so the wind cannot get under it.

Next the Gable end of the house needs to be painted but the old paint is peeling so Bob and Stel are tying to scrape it.

They soon give up and get out the grinders

and it goes much more smoothly.

After scraping, there is painting

and this is the final product.

The window in the bathroom is broken so Bob is working on replacing the glass.

Judy is finishing the vinyl tile installation in the kitchen and closet.

Bob replaces light fixtures in the hallway

and in the kitchen.

Dennis, Nancy, Jodi and Judy install carpet in the living room.

Bob and Judy install a new door in the utility closet off the kitchen

and then they help with the seams in the living room carpet.

This is the living room before

and after.

Now that the floors are all covered, Nancy,

Judy  and

Jodi, measure, cut and fit new baseboards.

Stel attempts to assess a leak in the kitchen drain.

Judy and Jodi paint the interrior and exterrior doors.

Stel replaces a switch while Bob finishes the light installation.

Charlene wants these new curtains hung

and we all bring their living room furniture 

back from storage.

Finished with Charlene's house, we move to Juanita's house.  Her house was surrounded by severl feet of water but the main damage was from wind driven rain through the roof which damaged her living room ceiling.  He HVAC system was affected but the Disaster Coordinators are getting a plumber to handle that.

The team tries  a visual inspection of the roof before starting on the inside.

Ms Juanita has tons of pretty things in the living room, especiallly on the walls.  We need to reattach several sections of the ceiling panels and paint the ceiling to cover water stains.  We set out to cover the walls and furnishings first.

Plastic to cover the wall hangings

all the way around the room.

Hopefully, a few screws will pull the sagging ceiling panels into place so we don't have to replace the entire ceiling.

While Stel repairs the front ceiling, Bob and Judy begin to paint.  After two days of painting (3 coats) we finished our assignment at Juanita's.

We move on to Cynthia's house.  She has significant siding damage in front and rear from the hurricanes and the porch has been demo-ed so we can build a new screen enclosure.

Dennis, Dave and Stel assess the work assignment.

The rear needs soffit painting and replacement of some sections of siding.

Nancy works on the side painting

and Judy and Jodi paint in the rear.

Then the threesome works on replacing 

those missing sections of siding.

Meanwhile, Stel and Dave begin framing for the screened porch.

and concentrate on getting the front finished so we are out of the way for the gable end siding repairs.

Almost ready for screen installation

Since this is a screened porch, we really don't need the glass in this full view storm door (but that's what we have) so we try to figure out how to remove the glass and install the screen panel.

That is done so be fit the door into place.

when the screen is all installed and battens installed, Judy caulks the seams in the trim.

While we were building the screen frame, Dennis worked on removing the damaged siding and soffit

and installing new channels for the siding

with ground support from Nancy.

with the screened area mostly complete, Stel helps Dennis install new siding

and soffit.

Last piece of siding is installed

and the last piece of soffit.

The final product.  What a difference.

After the weekend, Stel and Jodi return to install the screen protector on the storm door

  

and repairing a broken section of wall around the crawl space with bricks, blocks and mortar.

Not an easy job with the limited work area and the overhand of the siding over the blocks.

Not pretty but varmits can't get in.

  

With work at Cynthia's house complete, we move on to Carolyn's house.  Her house had the HVAC system in the crawl space under the house and the entire system had to be replaced due to the flooding.  The real damage occurred when the HVAC system was moved to the attic which caused new openings in the building which we had to repair or seal.

The HVAC people cut a hole in the hall ceiling to install the new system and covered the opening with cardboard.

Stel removes the cardboard to determine what is needed to frame in a new, more appropriate entry hatch.

Reid works on building an entry door for the crawl space outside.

He cut the brick and framed it to accommodate the new door.

The floor registers have been replaced with ceiling vents but the openings in the floor have to be closed off to eliminate drafts and varmits.  Bob and Paige work on filling and sealing those openings.

The cold air return was moved from this wall in the hallway and installed in the ceiling so Reed is closing off the ductwork  

and then cover the opening with drywall

and several coats of mud.  He uses quick dry mud and Nancy has the heat gun ready to speed the drying process.

Stel frames the new attic entrance to accomodate the plywood door which Jodi is busy painting.

Dennis "stirs" the paint for Jodi.

Stel caulks the trim

Dennis installs the finished panel

and Stel paints the trim and gives one more coat of paint to the door panel.

While Reed and Nancy are finishing with the mudding and painting in the hallway, Stel cuts a new piece of baseboard for the end of the hall.

With our work finished at Cynthia's, we are sent to the Disaster warehouse to build HVAC Platforms.

Paige  and Bob got there yesterday and have finished work on one but they want more

and are cutting more materials.

It's like building a miniature deck out of 2 x 6's and 4x4 posts.

Paige tightens carriage bolts,

Stel installs the bolts,

and Bob drills the holes.  What an assembly line.

Stabilizing boards are installed on the legs and that finishes this platform.  We made 4 total in 2 days. One was delivered to the job sight while we were building the others.

Most of the HVAC systems were in the crawl spaces underneath the houses so the flood waters damaged many systems.  Building these platforms will hopefully keep future units above any potential flood waters and now 4 more homes can receive the new systems.