Building house with Peninsula Habitat

Last Saturday a group of us got up at 6:30 am, and drove one hour to South San Francisco to participate in the housing construction project organizd by Peninsula Habitat which is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. It is a great team building experience, great exercises. Constructing a house from scratch is more time-consuming than I believe. Our contribution is only a small area. Accurate measurement and preparation of material, labor, safety are necessary to ensure that the building is constructed properly. When I am in my office cubicle, I like to stay away from the chair as much as possible. That Saturday, the reverse is true. I tried to find opportunities to sit. There was rarely any. The community service is one opportunity for us to explore out of our comfortable zone.

Habitat for Humanity attempts to assist low-income yet qualified families to own affordable housing. The non-profit organization secures loan for applicants and continue to monitor their financial status. For example, if the borrower suddenly becomes rich, they will have to pay normal mortgage rate. Whether they can remain in the building when that happens, I am not sure. Like RedCross, Habitat has brances in many local counties.

I took some liberty to "tour" around the building inside and outside to check out difference areas of that decent house. The house has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathroom, has a sprinker system installed in each floor and room, a tandem garage and very tiny backyard. Like electronic gadgets, there are many "gadgets" in the area of housing construction, which led to the successful business of Home Depot and Lowes. Blue Chalk line is one convenient tool. If one only needs to draw one long line across the side of a house, one can skip this tool. I saw about 15 long lines on the side of the house, it only took 10 seconds to create a blue long steady line on the wall.