Spring Break 2013: I Got Hammered

This past week I had the privilege to do community service work in Statesville, North Carolina.  I had applied in the fall semester to do an alternative break through the University of Florida.  During my undergraduate years, I had never heard of such a thing.  Breaks consisted of going to Key West, Panama City,  Cancun, or some other tropical place where college students party hard every night.   I heard about these alternative breaks upon returning for my graduate degree.  I thought what better way could I spend my time.  Not only would I be contributing to the community and helping people in need, but I'd also gain hands-on experience in the field I had gone back to school to earn a master's degree in. A newsletter is sent weekly to students, and, finally, the application was advertised.  I applied early and was accepted to work with the University of Florida's Habitat for HumanityCollegiate Challenge program.  Sunday morning, the car arrived at an ungodly hour.  We drove the 9 hours up and made it before dinner.  The other school, Muhlenberg College, had already arrived and settled in. So we unpacked and became acquainted with what was to be our new home for the week.

The next morning we arrived at our site with little knowledge of how to hammer, saw, or use tools.  The foundation and a few of the piers had been built, but the rest was now up to us.  The first day consisted of hundreds of expletives and frustrated faces, hundreds of swings of the hammer, hundreds of bent nails, and a lot of hurt fingers! The morning was spent filling in dirt around the foundation wall and piers. Once the dirt had been filled, we were instructed to knock off any extra mortar that bulged out of the CMU blocks.  This is when the sustainability factor came into play.  A special insulation is applied to the slab to create a higher energy efficiency.  Its application must be made on a smooth surface, otherwise the insulation won't work properly. As we continued working through the week, I asked our general contractor, Billy, how Habitat forHumanity proceeds to build energy efficient homes.

Many steps are taken to reduce energy needs.  Some measures include sealing every crack in the home with caulking, using windows covered in a specialized film, and insulation below and above the living areas (ie crawl space and attic).  What I found to be the most interesting measure, though, is that the plumbing can only span a specific distance from the water heater.  By doing this, the water travels smaller distances and there is less loss of heat.  As the wall framing came up, we could see the layout of the house.  No surprise, the two bathrooms and kitchen are all within the same region of the house.  Sustainable homes require a lot forethought to the design.

By spending such a short time on this project, I was able to gain a better perspective of what goes into the design and building of an energy efficient home.  It was the best experience and I highly recommend everyone try it at some point.