Arrival in Falfurrias, Texas

NOMADS RETURN TO FALFURRIAS, TEXAS

We arrived at the First UMC and were greeted by this warm welcome at our campsite in the rear parking lot of the church. 

On Monday, we headed off to work at two projects, this house being one.  There is a lot of work here but our job is to replace damaged glass panes in windows, replace one window completely and remove the old siding on two sides, insulate the house and replace the siding.

The back siding is to be replaced.

The old steps will be removed/replaced, a new storm door added so that the owner has more than one means of entrance and egress.

When we arrived, this door was boarded shut.

There was no step from this front porch so we are using left over materials from previous years to build a new entrance. Here, Dave has been at work setting these posts.

And Roger and Dave are quickly completing this task.

Dave and Roger are working on removing the old siding while other members of the crew are priming and painting the new siding that will replace the old.

While they are waiting for Stel to bring the finish paint, the crew adds insulation.  We have (from the left) Bev, Rita, Diane, Dave, Roger and John.

Safety is a concern always so ladders need to be supported.

At a second house, this back door frame is totally rotted from water splashing off the concrete during rainstorms.  We will replace this door and add rain gutter over the doorway to keep water from splashing on the new door.

This is a 3 bedroom house with a bath, living room and large kitchen.  The linoleum is to be removed and the entire house (except the bath) will have new vinyl tile.

The hall between the kitchen and the bedrooms will also be tiled

as will all 3 bedrooms.

There is a gap at the bottom of the front door that allows all sorts of critters to enter so Max is adding a new sweep to "close the gap".

The kitchen faucet was leaking badly and we were asked to repair it. The solution is to replace the whole unit and John is hard at work to accomplish that.  He will also repair the bottom of this cabinet damaged by the water leak.

We had to remove old tile (and glue) in one of the bedrooms and Anne and Diane are working on removing the glue.

John is cutting the bottom of door trim and jambs to allow the new vinyl to go under the trim.

Diane is patching holes in the concrete slab which we believe were from carpet strips at one time.

Max and John removed the baseboards and now Max is cleaning them to allow for repainting.

Jodi has been prepping the baseboards and other trim and painting them for replacement.

While John continues to cut off door trim, Max and Anne are measuring and planning to begin the tile installation.

Anne, Stel and Max have made a good start with the click vinyl floor covering .

While Anne and Stel installed tile, John and Max are replacing the back door.  Above you see the gutter that Max installed.

Not a bad start to the project.  We were able to get all jobs done on this house except the floor which will take most of the next 2 weeks especially since all the furniture has to be moved back and forth.  The owners are living here and Mrs. owner is under home health care in a hospital bed in the living room.  We were able to get 1 bedroom totally tiled and another almost finished.  At the other house, that got all the siding (28 4x8 sheets primed and painted and about 5 sheets installed on the rear.  We look forward to accomplishing much more next week.

Week 9, Final week in Baton Rouge

Saturday, those who were around went to the Farmers Market in downtown Baton Rouge

Where there were beautiful vegetables

and strawberries so we all bought some of everything.

Now that this week's crew has arrived, we paused for a photo with our fur babies.  From the left are Dave, Carole, Jodi with Imoto, Susan, Stel, Paul, Mark with Annie the dog in front of him, Lisa with puppy Dallas and Anne and Max.

On Monday, we prepared to lay the vinyl floor but before we start, everyone wrote a message to bless the house.

Then Lisa and Stel started laying floor while Dave takes in a photo op

Anne and Max (behind the camera) also lend a hand while

Dave cuts pieces as needed.

Paul and Susan prep and paint in the kitchen

while Mark paints bedroom 2.

Bedroom 1 and it's closet are finished but we have a problem in the attached bath.

The floor under the toilet flange in the original building is rotten

so Max cut out the old stuff and put in new subfloor before continuing with the tile.

Anne and Max finish flooring bath 1

Then Susan and Dave add baseboard trim.

After bedroom 2 is painted, Dave, Carole, Mark and Paul install luan subfloor

and Lisa and Stel install vinyl in bedroom, bath and closet.

In the afternoon, the whole crew worked on the floor in the living room and dining area

except for Paul and Mark who attached trim to windows

and repaired some wiring issues then explained all to Dave.

Next day, Anne, Lisa and Carole moved into the kitchen with the vinyl

while Susan, Stel and Max began installing doors

and later were joined by Mark and Paul.

Jodi also make a brief appearance on this official final day of this project and she does some touch-up painting.

On this final day, the NOMADS crew donated food and Richard & his family prepared it as we dedicated the house to the family. (In the center are Richard, his daughter and his wife, Sandy)

 Friday, most of the team worked an extra day to try to complete floors and doors.  The result.....

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

and we say farewell to Richard... for now.