Dan Coleman

Mariano Colombo, the HPHA foreman who supervised our work, prepared a list of our construction accomplishments. It was written in Spanish and I have tried to translate it as well as I could given my lack of knowledge of building terms. But first let me explain a little about our different tasks on the sites.

We actually worked on three housing units. The first was the Ramirez house which was at least 90% completed when we arrived, and our job was to do finishing work. The second was the Moreira house which we started from scratch and saw it built up to the walls. The third was what Mariano called the “Colman” house and I don’t know if that is the name of the new owner or what. We only laid out its foot print. The latter two were at a site about two blocks away from the Ramirez house. Further, I would like to remind everyone that all these tasks were carried out manually; there was no motor operated equipment for our use. So, here goes:

1. Leveled and spruced up the Ramirez family’s entire yard.
2. Dug 46 post holes 2 ft deep.
3. Placed 46 wooden posts in the holes and secured them firmly.
4. Nailed 590 ft of wire fencing to the posts, then placed 1,200 feet of high strength supporting wire along the top and the bottom of the wire fence. The purpose of this fence was to enclose and secure the area that would hold eventually 10 new Habitat homes.
5. Painted with 2 coats of paint five metal windows and one metal door of the Ramirez house.
6. Painted the entire exterior of the Ramirez house.
7. Moved 600 bricks two blocks from the Ramirez yard where they had been stored to the site of the Moreira house some two blocks away. Used wheel barrows to do this.
8. Relocated 65 concrete panels (weighing some 13,300 pounds in all) from the exterior of the fence where the vendor had left them to the enclosed interior next to the Moreira house.
9. Each day we had to transfer our tools to and from the site.
10. Removed about 2 inches of cover grass and soil to prepare the 430 sq. ft. foundation for the Moreira house.
11. Did the same as above for the “Colman” house. This is all the work we did on this 3rd house site.
12. Shoveled 565 cubic feet of dirt on to the Moreira house site to make a compacted dirt base about 8 inches high.
13. Assisted in the contruction of the Moreira house walls by putting in place the posts and the panels and attaching them together.
14. In the Ramirez house, we filled the seams between the concrete panels (already in place) to the tune of 180 linear feet of grout filler.

Mariano also informed us that the temperature had, at times, reached 95 degrees, and it was humid. Accordingly, we:
Drank more than 54 gallons of water;
Consumed more than 160 pounds of fresh fruit (oranges, apples, bananas, etc.);
Ate 175 box lunches on the site.

He did not calculate how much suntan lotion we put on.
But Mariano knows his statistics.
Thanks, Mariano