No Man's Woman

I don't wanna be no man's woman
It don't make me happy this mantrolling
Thing that you got for me so I become
No man's woman
I don't wanna be no man's woman
I've other work I want to get done
I haven't traveled this far to become
No man's woman
No Man's woman
Cuz I'm tired of it
And I'm not scared of it
That I'll never trust again
Cuz a man could fake you
Take your soul and make you
Miserable in so much pain
My friends think I'm alone but I've got secrets
I don't tell everything about the love I get
I got a lovin man but he's a spirit
He never does me harm never treats me bad
He never takes away all the love he has
And I forgive him a million times
I'm never tired of it
And I'm not scared of it
Cuz it doesn't cause me pain
Like a man could fake you
Take your soul and make you
Never be yourself again
I never wanna be no man's woman
I only wanna be my own woman
I haven't traveled this far to become
No man's woman

Habitat gift wrap

This was a big week for Habitaters; because on Thurday a true all-star team came in, including Darcy Tucker and Wendel Clarke. This was to be my last Friday on-site before moving to Saturdays. The day started out by a group cleaning of the back of the houses, including a magnet sweep. I kept my area clean by going through and cleaning once in the morning, and then later in the afternoon, and one of the guys from the ACC seems obsessed with leaving the plane clearn for us. He did such a good job I should have hired him solely for clean up!

On to the day, today consisted of prepping the window frames along the back for a process called blue skinning, and then skinning them. Blue skinning is a roll of rubber that has an incredibly sticky tar-like surface on the one side. Blue skinning is used to provide a watertight seal around the window, to prevent water from getting in through the window as it runs down the house. There can be no water that penetrates through to the wood, as the wood will then begin to rot.

Today I split up the eight people in my group to work on different goals: the first group was responsible for measuring all the windows, and cutting Blue skinning strips to the proper dimensions. Once they got a system going, they were able to carry through the entire day, from the first to the second floor. The second group consisted of 2 pairs of two blue skinners each, and they worked on putting up all the tape, bottom up. The third group went across first to make sure all the shims were properly nailed in, and broken down flush with the window edge. They then continued throughout the day to do smaller jobs, but if was very good that they did them without complaining, and seeing as Tom is a professional contractor, without even asking questions. Tom also did the side window with Hung, his group member for the day, and single handedly repaired some Tyvek that had ripped free with the air, and was threatening to take more of the Tyvek with it. This involved going up onto an extension ladder much more precarious than I ever would have, but his work had him up on ladders like this quite frequently.

In the afternoon, we had to do the second floor windows, which meant that the teams split up further into one person doing the ladder and the skinning, and the other person holding it steady on the ground. By this date, they had cleared out the ground for the second lot of homes, and they piled all the dust and dirt beside the first block of homes. Add a little wind, and this meant that we had the opportunity to eat that sand all afternoon. It got in everything – it was like being in a sandstorm almost, but my team were real troopers, and continued to work despite the sand getting everywhere. That was even more fun up on the ladder. I swear I got a temporary sand tan that day it was so bad!

Sisters in Strength

Any opportunity I have for contact with C+ I take, especially the ones that she initiates. I don’t know, but for all I say I am a very physical person; I seem to feel incredibly uncomfortable with contact.

Some people I feel comfortable with contact, and sometimes these people show up in strange places. Claudia is a given, as she is Colombian and friend of the family for years. She is very affectionate and very confident in being physical and affectionate. She is a very open and loving person, and that is part of what makes you feel like someone is wrapping you up in a warm security blanket when Claudia gives you a hug.

Sometimes, I want to make contact with the person, but it just feels uncomfortable. Sometimes, even with the same person, contact just happens, maybe even by mistake, but it still just feels natural.

That happened for a while with C+, but then we kind of drifted for a while, and now, for the most part, contact is uncomfortable. For example in March we would interact as if we were one mind in two bodies. THAT was comfortable. She would pass something for me to hold, I would take it without missing a beat and vise versa. We worked together in very close quarters putting up and foaming SIPs one day, and were both so natural about it; it was like working with Bernadette (my sister) on something.
I miss that feeling, and I know that we both operate based on a very concrete kind of trust, so without that interaction almost seems a bit like something has been lost in translation. However, she still will ask me to do things for her, and I will never say no.

When I set my heart to achieving a friendship, it seems to happen, and I am honoured that this friendship seems to be working, as I hold C+ in very high regard. She feels to me like a little sister, (Bernadette technically being my ‘big’ sister!), like a kid who has so much pure energy and enthusiasm, and honours me by taking the time to share her stories with me. Being the audience to one of C+’s conversations is a wonderful and energizing feeling. I could say this in so many ways, and it would never quite fully express or captivate the feeling I feel inside. The song ‘the whole of the moon’ helps describe it, though!

I would like to think of our interactions as a friendship, however, with my tendency to analyze I am sometimes very worried that she does not return that friendship. C+ is a very wonderful person. I have whole-heartedly adopted her into my ‘family circle’, which, given my real family circle, isn’t very big. It is reserved for a chosen few … you can call them best friends, or you can call them cousins. This circle includes Bernadette, Tina, Serafima, AT, Mom, C+, Claudia, Mrs. Hannon, and a few others I hold dear to my heart. These are the people who I would love to – and feel COMFORTABLE with – sharing my most pure and childlike joyful moments in my life.

drywall mudding, day3

This was an absolutely amazing day! DST took the opportunity to celebrate a client appreciation day by taking their clients to Habiat. That is, as far as I can tell, one of the best ways to appreciate your clients; give them a feeling that they are giving back to the world, and can be given a feeling that nothing else in the world can provide.

My crew today was drywall taping up in the trusses. This meant that about half my crew was in harness wondering up in the rafters. You know how much I would have LOVED to have participated in that event? I have never even been in harness, so I was grateful that the two Andrews on my team knew how to harness up.

But I had to stay at ground level and supervise my crew. I had between 10-12 people strong. There was a Mother-Daughter-Son team within this group; one of the A’s being the son who works in construction, currently working on the plumbing on a new wing for SunnyBrook hospital. The other Andrew I dubbed “Little John” at the beginning of the day and the name stuck so strongly that I just called him John for the whole day, and he was fine with it. I think he was flattered by the joviality, I enjoyed the lightheartedness as well; that was a GREAT crew! They were all amazing.

There was also one gentleman on my crew who I showed how to make a drywall taping rig, and after he knew how to do it, he went off and made four! His initiative was very impressive, and I appreciated it very much.

We were required to tape every seam in the front five units where the firewall touched firewall, and where firewall touched wood. The team used scrap sheets of OSB along the bottom of the trusses to create a platform to walk across, putting in a couple of nails for stability.

Andrew and Spiro seemed to work very well together, and Andrew had a nickname for Spiro; Sparrow. Such a day for nicknames! So I just started calling him by that name. That’s the kind of camaraderie I live for onsite; being able to witness, and be part of a team, in all its forms and levels. It’s refreshing and inspires confidence.

The heat that day was brutal, and Andrew and Sparrow were absolutely drenched in sweat by the afternoon, as they weren’t using an OSB platform, but just hooking up to any perpendicular beams and climbing through the trusses like a jungle gym. They were by far my superstar team that day, which is not something I make a big deal out of; to me a superstar team means that you teach them well, and leave them to do the work on their own for the rest of the day, confident that they can do the job put to them while you ensure the rest of the process runs smoothly, and those who need more help, get it. Andrew’s Mom and Sister were unwilling to go up into the rafters, so they were the tape ladies for that day, and by then I had the drywall tape mudding process down to an art, so their job was very smooth. We ended up going through 3 boxes of CGC that day; it was a VERY productive day.

Speaking of someone who needed a bit more help at the beginning, there was a woman there by the name of Maria, who switched out of her initial crew to learn how to drywall up in the rafters. She is a very good student and learns very quickly, so she only needed about 10-15 minutes of help and she was also fine. If need be she would ask me questions, but she also came up with solutions. She has since worked on my crew, and continued to uphold her high standards. She would learn as she needed to know things, and use her creativity to fill in the missing holes.

Little John, Andrew, and someone else became sub-crew leaders that day, so that they were the only ones talking to me. This was good seeing as I had so many people on my crew. At one point Little John had a question for me, and in my answer I included the fact that what we were doing was in fact just a re-do, based on very bad taping done previously. *sigh, such is Habitat.

This was also the last day for Ross, Mo, and the rest of Mike’s kids. They did a little photo, and Steph was there to congratulate them officially and see them off. It didn’t hit me until that day that I wish I could have gotten to know those kids better; a lot of them were very amazing kids, and I think I wouldn’t mind working with them again in the future. I will (and have) missed their presence around the site. I also miss Sean; I hope he comes back maybe in the fall to keep working on the next block of houses. I worked with him several times, and I enjoyed his energy and sense of humour.

window installation

Crewleader training, and window installation this week. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to C+ during the Crew Leader training, and especially the window installation; I always do. I enjoy her stories, and the energy she brings to any project she embarks on. She was talking to me today about her career dreams. This was a very wonderful conversation, I am glad we had it, and I would like to have it again in further depth.
The following notes are extensive instructions on window installation. The only thing missing from the experience is having actually HAD the experience!
Without further ado; window installation:

You will need
• Level
• Screw gun (Dewalt drill)
• Robertson bit
• Drill bits – 3/16”, 3/8”
• Measuring tape and pencil
• Shims (2+ dozen per window)
• Exterior Foam
• Exterior caulking
• Interior (latex) caulking
• 2 1/2” screws
• Cat’s paw

The Process
1. Before the window even goes in, you will need to measure 4 1/2” from the front edge of the frame to mark out the front edge of the window. For 2 x 6 sill frame and brick exterior, you need 1 ½” of the window on the outside of the frame. If a 2 x 6 is 5 ½”, then you set window 4” back from interior edge of sill. You can use a 2x4 4” block to ensure that the window is set back from the edge in a uniform manner (rather than measuring out along the edge).
* To prevent the window from falling out, you will need to have people on ladders holding the window in place before you can fasten it properly, or a 2x4 held in place on either side of the window using screws.
2. Holes need to be drilled 6” from the top and bottom of the window, and 6” from the sides. After that, there needs to be a hole every 2’ along the width. First mark out the holes on the window casement. Then drill with a 1/16” drill bit, going all the way through. The second hole will be drilled using a 3/8” bit, and will only go about a ½” through the casement.
3. Now it’s time to set the window in place, making sure that the inside of the window is flush with the marks on the 2x6.
4. Once the window is in place, you can drive in a couple of screws to hold the window in temporarily, to prevent it from moving forward while you drill the holes in the casement.
5. The next step is to shim up the bottom of the window, making sure that it is 3/8 from the frame, and then checking that it is still level across the length, adjusting the shims until the distance is correct, and the window is level. You will need a cat’s claw (flat end) to lift the end of the window, or the claw of your hammer will suffice. Note: The windows we will be installing are actually two windows set side by side in one piece of casement, so each side of the window needs two shims, making four all together across the bottom.
6. The next and most important step is to make sure that the window is level and square within the frame. This is where the biggest mistakes are made, so double check before drilling in your screws. To check if the window is level place your level vertically along the surface of the glass, so your shoulder has to be touching the window to read the level. If the window is not level, just adjust the window by pulling it forward or pushing it backwards a little. To check if the window is square, you need to measure across the diagonal, from one corner to the other. If the measurements are the same, the window is square. If not …
7. Now that the window is level and square, the screws can be drilled through the window casement and into the wood.
* Take a break to check that the window is in the right way up, and opens properly. Don’t laugh. It could happen. This is Habitat.
8. The sides and top of the window can now be shimmed, and once this process is complete, double check that the window is square, and adjust shims if necessary. On the sides, the shims are put in place just above the screws.
* Only shim ends (of top) if necessary – but not over centre of header – just foam that gap.
9. When putting the centre screw in the bottom, you need to first coat the lower half with exterior caulking. This is important because the windows will let some rain water in from the outer screen, and they have a system built into the window itself to drain out the water. If the screw in the centre at the bottom is NOT sealed properly, water will seep out of the hole and into the wood, where mold and mildew will begin, and could lead to later water damage.
10. Once the shims are firmly in place, and the window is level and square, use the foam to fill the gaps around the window, stopping wherever there is a shim. The foam needs to be heavy enough that it is opaque. You will notice as you are going along that there are still areas you can see light through; there is not enough foam there yet.
11. The last step, not shown in the diagram, would be to cut off the ends of the shims, and cover them over with a LATEX caulking (as opposed to exterior caulking, which will eat through the foam) touching the foam on either side, to create a good seal.
12. Ta-da! You are done! Congrats, now go and get some water.

Tidbit Break
Going home w C+ until Pape we talked about ounces (weight) of hammers, and the type of hammer heads there are. Lighter the hammer, the “weaker” it will be. Framing hammers with their waffle effect even grip the nail! To continue this tidbit, At Canadian Tire I have had the chance to wield a few hammers as we are putting them up on the shelves, and I am finding that the heavier ones really do have a noticeably smoother swing, and pack more of a punch then their lighter counterparts. I have recently been able to get a feel for the swing of a hammer and their different weights from merchandising them at CTR (Lakeshore and Leslie) where I work.