Yesterday at 2 PM, the Harbin’s now officially have a house they can call home after the tornados of April 27th, 2011 destroyed their prior home. This marks the 38th house completed by the Athens Limestone County chapter of Habitat & the 2001 house completed in the State of Alabama.
There were about 60+ people attending the presentation which was held inside as it was a tad chilly & really windy outside. As the State Senator joked, this is probably as packed as your house will ever be unless another tornado comes through (due to the ICF structure.) Having never been to a dedication before, it was quite interesting, especially the presentations. The official pictures can be found here.
The first four presentations are “standard”- the bible, the hammer, the bread, and then the keys. There were two additional ones with the first being by AL State Rep. Mac McCutcheon with a State Flag & proclamation / recognition to the Harbin’s for all the work they did to help the community after the tornados. The second was by AL State Senator Bill Hotzclaw who presented another State Flag & proclamation to the head of the Alabama Habitat Affiliates, Art Pierce.
Friday / Punch List Time:
Friday AM
Friday, what a day – as anyone who has ever worked on a project knows, knocking out those final details to make a deadline can be chaotic. Well that was definitely the case when I pulled up on Friday morning. The family was painting while the HVAC, Plumbers & Electricians were all scrambling to get all their fixtures in & tested. Fortunately with a lot of hard work & time they managed to get everything fully finished by Saturday evening around 8:30.
Sunday @ Dedication Time
The back of the house
Wrap Up:
I got to say, it was a blast helping out & meeting the family which put a ton of time & effort into the project. The volunteers that came out (Notre Dame College – ICF raising, WKU or Western Kentucky Univ. – concrete pour, the “Regulars” & BOULD participants) were all top-notch as they all came with a desire to help & work.
Sorry, trying to find an angle & much less getting a picture… One of the bedrooms & wow, what a nice reading area by the window
The BOULD /EverBuildPro program (Description, System) is a nice concept but I feel it fell short in the communication arena. In my opinion, there needs to be more communication between the chapter & the program itself which would then be passed on via weekly or bi-weekly emails.
One of the baths
LEED, they still have some dotting of I’s & crossing of T’s but it appears that they should get platinum again.
Part of the Harbin’s Kitchen
Ahhh the poor schedule – between weather, material delays, the trades learning how to work with ICF’s & some health issues the schedule took a major hit delaying the official finish at least 3 times. Thankfully the project is fully completed & the Harbin’s couldn’t be happier.
The Harbin’s & AL State Rep. Mac McCutcheon
