Week 1, Rio Grande City, TX

We arrived in Rio Grande City, TX on Saturday, January 23, 2021.  Our campground is at the rear of the campus of St. Johns's UMC, our host church.

 

On Monday, our team of nine was split into two groups.  One group stayed at the church and did some work for their buildings and campus.  Our group went to the Romero residence.  The ramp in front is too steep for use of a wheelchair, the front steps are in bad shape and have the wrong risers for comfortable use, and the front door needs a water deflector and replacement of the trim around the door.

We begin by tearing apart the old deck with the hopes that we can salvage some material for the new ramp.

The steps will have to be removed and rebuilt.

We extended the ramp length by 12 feet to get a better slope but we were able to use the old frame.

We built new stringers and thus added 1 step to reduce the height of the rises.

We used the old deck boards to build the runners on the steps.

We also use the old 2 x 4s to make a new railing for the steps.

We added 4x4 posts

added new deck boards on the lower 2/3 of the ramp

and added curbs for the wheelchair

on both sides.

At the end of the week we are almost finished with the ramp.

We also began removing the rotted door trim

and fixed some electric wires that were attached to the trim.  We'll try to finish it all next week.

When we got back to the church, we were able to see one of the projects the other team was working on.  They had been asked to add handrails on the steps on both sides of the altar.  They had built and stained the railings and now they are installing them so they can be used on Sunday, if needed.

Final touches are almost complete.  This group will move to another project next week.