Riverbend officially starts on Friday, June 6. Although that is when the festivities begin, activity has been going on all week long. This has been especially true for Habitat as we undertake our second Riverbend blitz build. Building a house from start to finish in 9 days is no easy feat.
Our preparations began early Monday morning as the steel I-beams were brought in for the house to be temporarily built on. Necessities – such as a pod for supplies and materials and a port-a-potty were trucked in as well. The floor joists and lumber were delivered on Tuesday and Wednesday morning we hit the ground running with two groups of volunteers coming in to set the joists, shore up the foundation (which hangs over the sides of the I-beams) and make sure everything was perfectly (and we do mean perfectly) square and level.
Six of our regular volunteers from Rivermont Presbyterian Church – Charlie Belcher, Jim Ford, Ken Haralson, Bob Reid, Sterling Creamer and Rick Phillips – were on hand as well as two framers – Daryl Spaulding and William Buckhart – from Scenic City Builders donating their time.
By 4 in the afternoon all the joists were placed across the beams, reinforcements set, shoring up done and the OSB board laid across it to actually become the floor of the home.
Thursday brought another flurry of activity as the wall-kit was brought in and the roof trusses delivered. Volunteers again worked to make sure all was ready for our first day – Don and Diane Barnes, long term, 40-hours a week volunteers I might add – were on hand along with Steve Amos another of our “steady eddies” to place the walls up on the decking and prep them for putting up on Friday. William Buckhart from Scenic City joined us again and his capable hands helped with the hauling, moving and placing of materials.
So, after 4 days in 90+ degree heat, having consumed gallons and gallons of water and sports drink and munching countless granola bars (thank you, McKee Foods Corporation) we are ready for Riverbend to B-E-G-I-N!
