I should have posted about this yesterday, but I was just too tired and sore. I did, however, use the time I would have spent blogging to hang out with my neighbours, drink beer, and share ‘construction’ stories.

They’re just thrilled I’ve found a new respect for framers, construction workers, and trades people. Sure, I always had a healthy respect for them because my dad and father-in-law had trades, but after spending a day at that back-breaking work, I can state unequivocally that there is a lot of skill and hard work that goes into everything they do.

As for my day on the construction site, I lucked out and didn’t have to crawl around on the second floor (with no framing). There were three tri-plexes on site and two were completely framed. The third was the one I was too much of a chicken to work on.

Granted, being afraid of heights didn’t get me out of any hard work. There was still a lot to do inside the two framed houses. Instead of walking around on an open second story, I was half hanging off of a set of stairs nailing blocking between the frame struts. Of course, I’m not half as handy as my co-worker David, so it took me a while to master ‘toe-nailing’.

Who am I kidding? I mastered nothing – but I can figure out the business end of a hammer and nail. I’m looking forward to volunteering for a few more days on the site when I’ve earned some vacation time. I’m most interested in getting a few days in when they’re finishing the house. The purpose of the Women Build sites is to teach us useful skills around out own home – so I want to be there when the tiling, laying of flooring, etc. all takes place.

Technorati Tags: Habitat for Humanity, Women Build

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.