2013-2014 House-Build Team Completes House

  Congratulations and thank you for a job well done house build team. The Churchill Way house #2 is complete. Since our last post we have completed a lot of work. The student's school year ended in May. At that time we were putting the finishing touches on the exterior siding and digging utility trenches. The students had the rare hot sunny days to dig in the rocky ground. Tough work but they were most certainly up to the task after a year of construction in the southeast Alaska environment. The students really put in the elbow grease there at the end and gave a strong finish to their year with the house. We all were able to enjoy some sizzling barbecue at the shop thanks to Andy Bullick. He whipped up some mighty fine hamburgers and bratwurst. Sorry we didn't leave any left overs Andy. 
   A local work program allowed one student, Sam Bibb, to remain with us for the month of June to help out with the site work and some interior finish work. Construction debris, trash, and large rocks were removed from the site. Cut and fill work was completed, adjusting the topography for proper drainage. 6 foot cedar panel fences were erected on the property along the property line and around the respective yard of house #1. Approximately 6 tons of D-1 crushed stone were spread on the parking and walks areas of the site and 3 cubic yards of top soil were spread around both house sites. Juneau saw record rainfall amounts in June but the work continued on. There is a term in Juneau for the rain, liquid sunshine. Its a rainy place to work to say the least. The house-build team was made for it though, southeast Alaska residents are born with neoprene in their skin. Sam, Justin, and Jess installed cabinets, flooring and trim throughout the house as the rain continued outside. Sam has big plans for his short summer before he starts his senior year at JDHS in the fall. Thank you Sam for your hard work and also for being best DJ the house build project may ever see.
   Sam worked through June with us and now it is down to two people on the job. Justin Fantasia and Jess May. We're here to put the finishing touches on the house, installing door and bathroom hardware and also to build the bamboo plywood bookshelf and staircase. The bookshelf and staircase are an integrated piece of built-in furniture for the house, its an eye catcher when people see it. The master craftsman Justin Fantasia takes special care in the integrated staircase, it is built to exacting standards of quality. Stairs generally require a fair amount of head scratching to build them correctly but integrate a book shelf underneath the stairs to match the treads and risers and certain people may start to go bald. Mr. Fantasia is no stranger to challenging task that require lots of critical thought though. As they say in the South, it ain't his first rodeo.  The staircase is great center piece for the house, even the untrained eye can see the care and time that went into building it.
  As a final note I'd like to say good bye to the house build project and the hardy team of builders I was privileged to work with . I'm Jess May the Americorps service member that has been with the project since September 2013. Its hard to say what this adventure will mean to me as I gain perspective on it but now I am simply happy and proud to say I had the opportunity to work in beautiful,wild southeast Alaska. Tough work in the rain and snow does the soul a great service. Thank you to all the people in and around the orbit of the house build project that make it possible. We inhabited a small but busy world in Lemon Creek building the house and your help made it happen. A big thank you to Justin Fantasia and Andy Bullick for being the stalwarts of progress and leadership for the project and the student builders. Sam, Adriana, Mike, Kyle, Drecar, Calvin, Derik, and Thomas, I've enjoyed working with each of you, remember the hard work that you put into this house and take that along with you on your paths in life. Enough looking in the rearview for now, keep the eyes on the road, the next house is waiting to be built.