Special Brush with Kindness Project

Bathroom Remodel: Brush with Kindness Project

Linda lives in the neighborhood near our La Fortuna project in Renton.  Several years ago she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, which forced her into early retirement and she is now living on a fixed income.  

Bathtub after remodel

Bathtub before remodel

Linda’s bathtub was without grab bars, a bath chair, or a hose long enough for her to shower safely, but she was unable to afford the renovations necessary to ensure her safety.

Habitat for Humanity EKC partnered with the City of Renton, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the MS Foundation to fund the project. 

Volunteers from McAdam’s Remodeling and   Design along with their plumber, Chuck from Protocol Plumbing, removed the existing bathtub and walls.  In the process of doing this they discovered that much of the floor framing in the area was rotten, so they reframed part of the floor to address the concern.  They installed solid backing in the areas where the new grab bars would be placed, new drywall around the tub, the tub and enclosure itself, and the shower trim and hardware.  They also removed all the existing wainscoting and baseboards, repaired the walls in those areas, and installed new vinyl flooring and baseboards.

These partnerships significantly reduced the cost to Linda, making it affordable to do the remodel that will allow her to continue living safely in her home. 

Dedication Ceremony for Completion of Magnolia Village

Issaquah, WA. April 25, 2012– Habitat for Humanity of East King County invites the public to celebrate the completion of their 10 home Magnolia Village development in the Issaquah Highlands.

2012- Magnolia Village completed

Friday, April 27, from 2 to 3pm at 2538 NE Magnolia Street, King County Executive Dow Constantine will be recognized for King County’s Housing and Community Development Department’s role in developing this neighborhood, along with ARCH, WA St Dept of Commerce, Port Blakely and the Cities of Issaquah, Newcastle and Sammamish.

Saturday, April 28^th, from 3 to 4pm at 2538 NE Magnolia Street.  The Home Dedication ceremony and awarding of keys will celebrate the efforts of the entire Habitat team, including generous funders, community leaders and volunteers, who came together with Habitat EKC’s Board, Advisory Board, staff and Habitat homeowners to provide safe, decent, affordable housing for hard working, low-income families in the Issaquah Highlands.

2009- Land for Magnolia Village

“The Habitat neighborhood of Magnolia Village is a beautiful example of public and private partnership coming together with hardworking low-income families to build attractive affordable homes. We are very grateful for the support this project has received from the community, from start to finish.” 

Please join us for these special events, RSVP to Mary Martin at mary@habitatekc.org. Refreshments will be served.

Construction Update - February 2012



La Fortuna building 5 on February 25th



La Fortuna, Renton:

February 25^th

Nothing special happened this week... Other than we had 1 day that was good enough to paint.

LF5-

Electrical rough- in 98%, we just need to put on some mudrings, nail plates, and wire a furnace. Low voltage was started by the journeyman and 2 units are done (except for the homeruns) and a third started.

Air sealing started in earnest this week and #6 is almost done. Other draft stopping was worked on during the rainy days.

More siding is completed, now there is only the panel on 2 units and some lap siding on the porch roofs. More painting, caulking, etc. was also accomplished. One or two more nice days and we could take finish some areas up and take down the scaffolding!

LF7-

 

More subfloor is down. Now just "b" isn't sheeted, but it has stairs and is ready to go as soon as the guardrails are finished. "c" only has 1/2 a flight of stairs to go and all of the units will have stairs. We have a couple of Thrivent and Microsoft days lined up in the next month, so "a" should start catching up.

Wetlands/ site work-

We worked on mitigating storm damage and repaired the fence that had been smashed down. We also tidied up some catch basins.

PCL's Grant Moorhead, also on
Habitat's Board of Directors

Work next week will include; floor sheeting, exterior wall building, painting (hope for good weather), low voltage, air sealing, and draft stopping.

February 18^th

Today the future homeowners had a potluck lunch for us. Everyone ate too much, but it was delicious! Many families brought out their children and ate lunch with the volunteers and AmeriCorps.

LF5-

What a difference having an electrician! With 1 journeyman and a couple of volunteer trainees we roughed in 2 units completely, nearly wrapped up a third, and pulled string and measured the conduits to the meters. We should finish next week. We are working on getting volunteer electricians to do the phone and cable TV wiring.

5 of 6 decks are sided and the sixth is started. We will build more scaffolding next week and maybe finish siding! Then we just have to caulk, spackle, paint, paint a second coat, and take down the scaffolding.

We are insulating the waterlines in the garages and still boxing ductwork. We started sealing penetrations for fire code and air infiltration, probably about 2 weeks of this work.

LF7-

We sheeted another floor ("e"), started more stairs and got all of the joist up in "b", and all of the beams plus the joists started in "c".

Work next week will include; floor framing and sheeting, sealing penetrations, electrical rough- in, stairs, guardrails, siding, caulking, and hopefully more painting.

February 11^th

Another good week. The volunteer numbers were low, but the NCCC team really picked up the slack and helped us progress.

AmeriCorps Phil, NCCC Molly, and Home-owner Bashir
shown tackling the hard-to-reach siding above the porch!

LF5-

Issaquah sent down some scaffolding and we were able to build 2 more towers in the front. Siding on the decks progressed with 2 decks finished and 1 deck the slider door wall is complete. All the decks have been trimmed and flashed and are ready for siding. More panel went on the top floor at #2 and the batts were also installed. A few dry days to paint and we could take down scaffolding for the last time!

A journeyman electrician was hired to work with our volunteer trainees and will start on Tuesday. The entire building should be ready for electrical inspection within 2 weeks. We passed mechanical and gas piping inspection this week. We will try the fire sprinkler inspection again after we get the pipe tenting in the attic done and NorTech brings out the approved plans.

LF7-

Finished the joist on "e", built guardrails, and sheeted the floor in "d". Stairs were also finished in "e" and started in "d". Floor beams were started in "b". We might have a Thrivent/ Lutheran build day next week and get some more work done on "a".



The trusty Bank of America crew
got to work sheeting the floors in building 7.



Site work/ wetlands-

We planted most of the native plants the NCCC team earned. There are some downed trees in the wetlands that are laying on our plantings and we are checking to see what action is needed. Someone ran into our rail fence and broke 2 rails and a post. We will repair it next week. A paint brush washing station was built and used on Tuesday. We will need to open a manhole to dispose of the painty water soon.

Work next week will include; floor framing, wall framing (if Thrivent build day fills up), painting (if dry and not too cold), siding, scaffold building, and maybe deck railings.

February 4^th

Wow! What a difference a couple of days of sun and weather in the 50's can make. Everyone has a bounce in their step and we actually got to paint a lot.

LF 5-

We made good progress on the siding, getting the 8" plank on the second floor of 5 units, finishing the 4" on 1 unit, finishing the entire end of unit 6, repairing a siding field, and Hardi panel soffits at 4 front porch ceilings.

Painting, finally! We got a first coat on almost all of the siding on the building (except the cantilever on #1), pre- painted all of the remaining plank, primed all of the eaves that had scaffolding, and started the first color coat on the eaves. Spackling and caulking also progressed well.

All of the duct boxing/soffits are done except #6 garage.

Electrical rough in should start again soon. The plan is to hire a journeyman to work and supervise trainees and/ or John and I.



La Fortuna Building 7 February 25th



LF 7-

The floor beams and joists were installed on "d" and blocking started, beams were installed in "e", and beams were started in "b". Three stair landings were started and 2 finished. Stairs were started in "e" and are ready to install. Exterior sheeting infill continues and nears completion, Seismic hardware is going up as we finish the sheeting.

Site/ wetland-

We got a mop sink from the store and today I used the Kubota to try digging up a sewer connection to hook up the sink for washing paint brushes. At 4' deep the locator board was still going down. I dug a small test hole with a shovel and when I got to another 18" it filled in with 6" water and the pumps are at Issaquah, so it was completely filled back in. We will have to develop a good 3 bucket system for the brushes.

The NCCC team worked at a plant salvage in Redmond and earned quite a few new plants for our wetlands. We will plant them soon, so if anyone has a green thumb and could help out, it would be appreciated.

Work next week will include; floor framing, painting, stairs, siding, scaffolding moving, and maybe planting in the wetlands.

Issaquah Highlands:

February 28^th



Alvaro Cornejo, home-owner and current
new Driver for the Habitat Store, installs his own wood
floors for his future home!



It was a busy week for flooring. We started tile training on Tuesday morning. By the end of the week tile was installed, grouted and sealed in all 6 bathrooms and both laundry rooms. Laminate wood flooring was picked up early in the week and installation started on Friday. Most of the morning was another training and good progress was made. On Saturday the 4 bedrooms in 5B were complete and most of the upstairs hallway. The subfloor in 5A was cleaned and prepped for the laminate to begin next week. Window sills were installed in 5A and most of them have been cut for 5B. Two more scaffolding towers were removed from the back of the building.

Next week we will continue with laminate flooring in both units. Cabinets are scheduled for delivery on Tuesday and will be getting installed the rest of the week. Millwork installation will also continue.

February 18^th

Interior finish work has started in Issaquah. The NCCC team worked on site Tuesday-Thursday and were a huge help getting the interior walls of both units painted. The also assisted with completing some exterior painting and several more scaffold towers were removed from the back of the building. Tile work continues. Backer board is about 95% complete in both homes and tiles were cut for two bathrooms. The doors and mill work arrived and 5 doors were installed. On Saturday a good deal of base and casing was cut for 5B.



NCCC team member Jessica and the rest of the Silver 4
team helped paint the entire interior of building 5!



Several more loads of scaffolding were removed from the site and the yard was condensed.

Next week we will continue with mill work, tile and hopefully start some wood flooring.



February 11^th

Interior finish work has started! The majority of the scaffolding was removed during the early part of the week and several loads were taken to Renton. Sheet rock finish continued all week and by Friday it was primed, textured and ready for paint. On Saturday we had 11 volunteers. The majority worked on interior wall paint in 5B. In 5A the temporary stair treads were removed and the permanent treads installed- 75% complete. Tile backerboard was installed in the bathrooms and laundry and the majority was cut for the kitchen, entry and dining nook.

Next week we will have the NCCC on site to assist with the interior wall paint and continue the tile backerboard. Interior doors and mill work is schedule for delivery on Tuesday and installation will begin once the painting is complete. We are also having another blower door test to compare the results from before sheet rock and after sheet rock. Hopefully the results will be favorable and we will be able to have the attic insulated soon. Exterior work may include siding on the roof and painting.

February 4^th

Good week at the site. The furnaces are on so we now have heat. Sheet rock finishing started on Tuesday. It is going a bit slower than normal but the contractor made decent progress the last two days. They will continue next week. The sunny weather allowed us to complete a good amount of exterior painting. 75% of the building has a finish coat. We will be able to remove a good portion of the scaffolding very soon.

Next week we will be removing scaffolding, installing siding on the roof and may start retaining wall work on the north and south hillsides. If the good weather sticks around the focus will be exterior painting.



Issaquah Highlands buildng 5 exterior shown February 25th