Rub A Dub Dub, a heavy cast iron tub.

Pay Dirt

Round two of gutting the house was this weekend. After the awesome showing the previous week and only one confirmation with the weekend approaching, I wasn't sure we'd finish. But my friends pulled it out again. There were five of us this weekend, but we had John Roos. And for those of you who don't know him, he is the equivalent of 3 or 4 men, that is when he is trying to walk off a broken leg.

"Stop shoveling, I see money on the floor!!!!"

Things get intense in the house. Shovels are flying, wheelbarrows are rolling and the dust is so thick it's very hard to see a couple feet. Somewhere in the confusion Jessica was able to spot some green on the floor. It was $95 that someone had slipped inside the wall. The earliest bill was dated 1934....amidst the depression. I ran an inflation calculator on it to find that the equivilant today would be around $1400. I'm glad Jessica found it for she was out both weeks and came back even knowing how dirty of a job it was.

Also during the day someone shoveled up a battery powered smoke detector. It ended up in the dumpster and every time we'd dump another dusty load in it would go off. It was pretty funny.

Thanks to everyone who came out both weekends: Andreas, Bob, Dan, Jessica, Joe, JohnR, JohnT, Don, Larry, Scot, and Scott. Now for the fun part: to reconstruct.

Also I have to give some respect to my soft-spoken friend Syl. Over the last two weeks he helped me fell a very branchy 40' crab apple tree in the backyard. It had several limbs over the house power lines and he is the only man I trust to figure out how to get them down. The man can cut a hinge into a branch to make it land on a dime.

Over the years at habitat we've taken dozens of large trees down together, one we estimated at 95'. He is a great man and I'm honored to work beside him and be his friend. Thanks Syl!

Genuine Friendship

There is a little bit of screwyness going on with the legal side of the house, but i'll catch you up on that later.

Corktown was primarily built and inhabited by the Irish, but at the turn of the century a handful of Maltese men moved into the neighborhood. In the following years and many of their fellow countrymen joined. There is a saying about a house like mine where every piece of trim, door or window has been painted over time and time again. It's locally known as a "Maltese Makeover". Well, we fixed that.

Demolition has started on the house. Last week I spent about 10 hours over two days tearing down the second floor. I was amazed at the mess it made and was intimidated on how long it might take to remove it.

The walls are made out of all kinds of things. A majority of the house is plaster and wood lathe. Some is drywall over lathe, some is a later plaster over wire mesh, and a couple places are painted luan. I thought there might be some smart way to go about removing it, but it turns out that a sledge hammer or maxdox and a lot of brute force is the best way.

So I sent out a simple email asking if anybody could help me unload it. The response was overwhelming. I quickly got 8 definite yeses and quite a few regrets with the promise of future help.

Let me explain, these aren't ordinary people.

The 8 were from a group known as the "Detroit Habituals". It's a group of regular volunteers at the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. It's a group of about 70 people who give thousands of hours of their time every year. They are master carpenters and craftsman who can build entire houses without consulting a book or blueprint. They have the strength and stamina to work a long hard day on the most remedial task without the incentive of pay. And these traits pale only in comparison to the size of their gigantic hearts and belief that every one of God's people deserves a decent, safe and affordable place to live.

When it comes down to the wire and your back is against the wall, the Detroit Habituals are the kind of people you want to have in your corner.

The crew didn't work themselves out of energy, rather they worked themselves out of a dumpster. All 30 yards were filled in a matter of hours. The second floor was sqeaky clean down to the framing that probably hadn't seen daylight in 100 years. The first floor is waist high in debris just waiting for another dumpster.

Thanks again guys.