NOLA 2011 - Day 3 Update

It's been a whirlwind of a couple of days. Work progresses on prepping the pantry for painting, and in fact we've secured a couple of paint sprayers for Thursday which should make the work go a lot quicker than rolling. It's been a lot of work, a lot of monotonous power tool use, but our crew is fantastic, and they've gotten things done quickly and well.

Under the house things are going well too. We added four floor joists to the first of two rooms, and a new central post to help support the weight of all that canned food on pallets above. The floor now feels like a solid floor, not a wooden trampoline.

We're moving to the second of the two rooms we plan on tackling, and...well, in addition to adding four new floor joists, we also have to replace to joists entirely. The two joists are rotten. I mean, I could literally have punched my fist through one of these joists. Someone after the storms had tried to help by adding a sister...a couple of 2x6's bolted to the rotting joists...and not attached to anything else. 2x6s are not structural elements for a floor. We quarantined that room until Kevin and Nii could add a brand new joist (see pictures below). So 5 more joists in that room, and a new central support pillar are on the list for tomorrow.

We are working hard, and getting a lot done, and we couldn't be happier. Bishop Ella and Henry are over the moon with the work that we're getting done, so thanks once again to everyone who made it possible.

Washing the remnants of all the sanding off...

Everything is going great under the floors...

And everyone wants to join in the fun...

Powder-actuated nailing...FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!
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The new support pillar...solid!

Do not trust this joist...