Blitz Build

Here’s a fun idea for building a house: finish it in ten days. That’s the idea behind the volunteer blitz build on Edward Parker’s house, designed by the Studio’s very own Kristen Zeiber. The schedule:

Day 1: Framing (walls framed and sheathed, roof framed and sheathed)

Day 2: Building wrap, begin siding, install windows and doors, electrical and plumbing, roofing

Day 3: Sheetrock taping and mudding, siding and trimming

Day 4: Texturize sheetrock, finish siding, begin handicap ramp

Day 5 (today): Paint inside, exterior trim, finish handicap ramp

The house looks nearly finished on the outside. The inside still needs trim, cabinetry, light fixtures, flooring, and so on. This method, while it can’t be done with every house because of the amount of coordination involved, produces results – fast but with good quality. Helping out are Habitat, Hopeforce, Hands On, the Design Studio, and probably others.

It’s also a great way to learn how to build a house. I’ve been able to go down and help out one full day and two half-days, building walls, raising beams, helping install rafters, wrapping Tyvek, installing windows, nailing down roofing, digging holes, carrying heavy things around, bending steel girders with my bare hands. Sometimes I’m so manly it frightens me.

Never bothered to take pictures, but I’ll try to steal some from somebody and post them.

Link o’ t’day: Some perspective on the hysteria surrounding Ahmadinejad’s visit to the States.

Watching Bush and Ahmadinejad spar over the past few years has been disconcertingly like watching the two kids who nobody likes show-fighting with each other on the playground. Sadly, every juvenile barb fuels the other’s more fanatical supporters at home. Further reading: a transcript of a recent CBS interview with Ahmadinejad.