Construction Overview | rachael

Although we are busy in schools, our main focus of the past week has been construction. Here’s the backstory: Magaly (who we wrote about earlier, who just celebrated her 30^th anniversary of working for the Christian Reformed Church). She has served consistently without asking for things. Two years ago Max, our Dutch Ontario Dominican host, said he would love to bless her with a house. I was quickly on board, however, at that point I sensed I would likely not have an iBlock team the next year. AND we would need $10,000 USD to complete the project. We sat on it for a bit. 

In the absence of an iBlock team that year, a short-term March break team was formed. We came with some money and a willingness to work. While we were there we were able to tell Magaly that we had money to buy a plot of land and build a house: her reaction was beyond exciting. She was pumped – she even joined us in digging and preparing the foundation.

This year our job is to finish this house, which is quite the task. Last week we arrived to 6 courses of block laid on the foundation that we had dug and poured last year; that’s a good start!

Last Thursday Jonathan, Olivia, Megan, Christine and Jesse were the first of our group to hit up the construction site; they needed to move 550 blocks from the road up into the house. The next day I was there with Brian, Tim, Nadine, Danielle, Laura, Maddy, Chelsea, Jessica and Laura. We worked on forming rebar columns, mixing cement with ChiChi (a local who is a tank) and making sure the block layers had what they needed. Our goal was to make the block layers’ work as efficient as possible. Danielle, Maddy. Chelsea and Jessica became especially good at anticipating what the block layer would need.

We got back to work in construction on Monday. There has been very little teaching for us this week – we’ve gone full-on in house-building mode. A couple of days this week we’ve had 4-6 students teach but for two days we have had the whole team of 23 at the construction site and the other 3 days we’ve had the majority of the team there. The students might not know this yet but this is their intense construction week. There will not be as much construction as there has been this week.

By last Monday all the block for all the walls were laid. This meant we could focus on laying the columns and lentils. At each intersecting corner we needed a rebar tower of appropriate lengths installed (four pieces of rebar with rings every 8-10 inches and each ring is tied to each of the four corners of the tower). Then we have to form around each rebar column; we need to get pieces of wood around the edge of the tower and attach it to the existing block wall. This sounds simple and, in theory, it is, but it is time consuming. Very time consuming. There were at least 15 or so columns to make, form and pour. 

In addition to vertical columns we also need to have enough rebar towers for the top of each existing wall; the perimeter and the main inside dividing wall as this will support the peak of the roof. The entire perimeter of the house is only 20 x 30 but, again, forming all the beams for this is a lot of finicky, time-consuming work.

It took 4.5 days to complete this all - on three of the days 8-10 students and Brian, Jesse and I were there but on Wednesday and Thursday we had the entire crew of 23 diligently working on this house (plus Conroy - one of Max’ friends from Stratford, a former contractor and roofer and his wife, Kim). Many students spent many hours forming columns and beams, making a plethora of rebar towers, hauling water, mixing concrete, setting and cleaning up and, pouring columns and what seemed to be the most fun: bucket lines. You see, ChiChi would mix the concrete. One or two students would be assigned to help shovel and fill up the buckets and most of the rest of the students would be in the bucket line - they would pass the buckets with concrete to the people pouring the beams/columns and pass the empty buckets back. Kyanna, Chelsea, Juliana and Danielle always made this a good time. The chaps and I are continually amazed at how many lyrics they know! Lots of singing is always done in the bucket lines and it is just plain hard to not smile as they make their work fun. And, for those who are curious, most of the time this singing fun did not detract from productivity! Juliana started a ‘thing’ where any time an empty bucket was coming she’d sing (in a tune she made up herself), “Oh, throw it back!” as a warning to the folks that an empty bucket was incoming. You know it is catchy and works when that line is sung even in her absence!

While the concrete is being passed, there were students forming the columns/beams. Their job was to hoist buckets up to the columns and pour the concrete in, get rid of any really big rocks and use rebar to force the concrete down the columns/beams were as solid as possible and use a trowel (or, as many students refer to it, the ‘pie scoop thing’) to smooth out the top. They then need to put smaller rebar pieces in the top so we can affix lumber for the roof or further block on it. 

The overall philosophy behind our construction project is a balance between learning and productivity. The students were told back in Canada already that my goal is to get as many students to learn as many construction skills as possible, but, at times, that is sacrificed for productivity. My terms are that I have “democracy” mode where we have time to learn and experience and “dictator” mode where I’ll pull people off jobs and put others on for the sake of productivity. 

Overall most students hauled buckets, learned how to tie rebar and form and remove columns. Most students have now used a hammer drill, a regular drill, a skill saw and a hacksaw. Many students have worked on levelling the floor, hauled water and been sent on trips to the hardware store to use their minimal Spanish to communicate and get various supplies (rebar, nails, rebar ties, wall sockets so we could try to fix our extension cord). All students have experienced multiple new things over the past week. It almost seems trite to summarize our week in such few tasks, however, that is just how it is. It is hard to describe the time involved in getting the house ready for its roof but, as mentioned previously, this took many student-hours. On Thursday Max, Conroy and Kim all went to Guaymate for the day so it was just our entire group at the construction site. The chaps and I ran a good show that day. I had already decided the night before that Thursday was going to be a long day: the kids needed to be pushed a bit and we had to have the forms all poured by Saturday so block could be laid so we could put the roof up on Monday. Anyhow, we worked with rebar, buckets, concrete, forms, tools and pouring from 8:30 - 6:30 on Thursday and again until 6 on Friday. We have put in long days to get this house to where it needs to be and, so far, it has paid off!

Here are specific observations for each student from our construction week:

Kyanna: diligently used mortar to patch holes in the block and beam work, diligently worked on rebar

Christine: on the day she spent moving block she carried one in each hand all day! Overall, a willing workhorse!

Danielle: a great water hauler, but, somehow, she always found a way to cool her legs down :D. A diligent worker on rebar and pushed herself to use electrical tools for forms.

Jessica: a fantastic shoveler - she has the technique down! She also learned how to anticipate what the block layers needed and did a fine job helping them be efficient.

Maddy: continually pushed herself to carry and do more - on Saturday, even though it was exhausting, she challenged herself to keep carrying two block at a time

Juliana: the rebar maestra (boss/expert) - she oversaw the creation of rebar towers. She made the measurements on the house and ensured each tower of appropriate length was being made. She learned how to anticipate and prioritize so the columns were created in an efficient order.

Nadine: a fabulous pick-axer as she worked on levelling the floor, a great hauler and shoveler and worked well with Johnny to build forms

Olivia: wanted to try to do everything! She became comfortable with power tools, especially when removing forms, poured a beam and was diligent in all other tasks

Lauren: a great pick-axer as she levelled the floor, worked well on forming, consistently helped on rebar and is great at shovelling

Chelsea: also wanted to try everything but she stands out as cutting a lot of rebar with a hacksaw (not an easy task), and boldly communicating at the hardware store

Megan: worked on everything: forming, removing forms, hauling, rebar. I think this is a good thing that she doesn’t stand out on one thing as she consistently worked hard at, almost, everything

Laura: diligently worked on making good forms, cutting rebar, made bucket lines fun, helped block layers, shovelled...similar to Megan. Worked well at a plethora of tasks.

Harry: spent a lot of time making and pouring some forms but was also willing to do anything else required

Brad: also spent a great deal of time making forms. There was a corner form that he worked on with Laura which was a tricky task but they persevered and #figureditout

Jon: worked very well with a local as they oversaw the levelling of the floor in a couple of the rooms! (this included tamping the room by hand with a block)

Tim: consistent worker, especially as he worked on making forms. He also spent most of one day shadowing ChiChi (hauling cement and mixing both mortar and concrete)

Eric: can’t beat around the bush on this one: he quickly became the form master. He learned how they worked and showed an incredible ability to problem solve to create forms efficiently. 

Sarah, Ashley, Britt: capably ran various aspects of the job: they worked on seeing bottlenecks and fixing them as necessary so overall productivity could continue. They did a great job of overseeing the forming of rebar columns and the bucket lines.

Jesse and Brian: they have been integral and pivotal. They have done an excellent job of teaching the students how to use power tools, make forms, pour columns and how to think. They rarely give answers, rather, they encourage students to problem solve but they have developed a beautiful sense on when students are beyond this and just need to be told what to do next. Brian and Jesse have led by example without taking over. But, when push comes to shove and we just needed something done, they’ve jumped right in. 

Regarding all 5 chaperones: it is plain and simple, they are incredible construction chaperones. They understand the philosophy of this trip. They are not crutches on which the students rely, rather, they are shovels that push students to learn and experience. Through this, our group is well on our way to building a house. Great job!

I’m going to post a plethora of pictures of various students working on various things. Enjoy!

A typical construction lunch setup

Pouring a form

Pouring a form