Cementing a Reputation.

The new house is being built beside and abandoned one.

New Orleans, LA – As we raised pillars of cinder blocks – which came to be named ‘Cindy’ by many of our crew – the bubble in the level danced animatedly.

All the while, the incessant, high-pitched beep of the laser level chided us for having too much or too little mortar in our stacks of five blocks. After the first, third, fourth and fifth, we would beckon the measuring team – “Major Laser!” – who would carefully scrutinize our ability to spackle mortar between the heavy blocks.

Add or subtract, mix mortar and repeat. This house must be level.

After several days of heavy lifting and the repetitive motion of hammering, today was an exercise in precision for many. For others, there was still the thankless, but necessary, task of digging out the wooden framework that had been used to form the foundation.

While Habitat for Humanity has not traditionally built foundations themselves in this area – opting instead to hire contractors – they have begun to do so to save costs for homeowners and themselves. This, in turn, allows them to build yet more homes. At the end of the day, that is, of course, the whole point.

Despite having had a short day that ended at 2:30 p.m., we became the first group this chapter of Habitat has had complete all of the house’s pillars – which will hopefully minimize damage in the event of another flood – in one day.

Our reputation with the Habitat team was solid before, but really cemented with our effort today. *Groan*. (Yes, it has been a week of construction-related puns and jokes.)