The Moss Point Work Site

This picture shows the house in Moss Point, MS, more or less as we first saw it, except for some building materials stacked against the front wall and our chop saw station in the driveway. Six weeks earlier (almost two years after Katrina) it had had a blue tarp on a caved-in roof, severe water damage throughout, and no assistance from anyone. In the weeks before our arrival, other crews had re-leveled the house (sitting on cinder blocks), replaced the roof, repaired leaks, installed a new (small) kitchen, repaired floors in the living room and dining room, installed walls and wiring for the two bedrooms in the back, and got the bathroom more or less in working order. As we found it, Aloise and Luke, a couple in their 80's who have lived in this house for 50 years, were sleeping in the dining room and had much of their furniture in the PODS unit in the driveway.

Sarah chatting with Aloise and Luke

Our work order was described as a "potpourri" of jobs that still needed to be done: install a proper sink in the bathroom, lay subfloors in the two bedrooms, cover the subfloors with linoleum tiles, install baseboard with quarter round trim in each of these rooms, paint doors to the bedrooms and bathroom and their frames, and install lights and fans in both bedrooms and the dining room. We found other things that needed doing as well, including painting the bathroom and finishing the floor job between the living and dining rooms. Apart from painting, we had no expertise on the team for any of these jobs.

The following pictures illustrate our work on these various projects.

Painting doors and frames

Note: Maureen and Eleanor were with us for half a day before being drafted to work on the ramp at the Ocean Springs site.

Bathroom

The first task was to remove an inappropriate sink and transfer hardware to a new sink.

Then install the new sink -- a lot harder than it looks!

Kelly painted the whole bathroom, and the finishing touches included installing fixtures and a mirrored cabinet. Note the pride of workmanship in a job well done.

Bedroom floors

The challenge here: to cover the pieced plywood floors (not flat or square) with luan subflooring and then lay 12-inch tiles, a process none of us had done before.

Our lunch breaks were in the pleasantly shaded front yeard, usually with a gentle breeze. Lunch was whatever we packed for ourselves before leaving camp. We had plenty of sandwich fixin's and other healthy food, ice, water, and other drinks, and wheeled coolers to transport our food in. Lunch time was also time for reading the directions on the tile box.

Both bedrooms turned out rather well, after painting and installing baseboard, then covering the gaps with quarter-round trim.

Measuring, fitting, and mitering baseboard and quarter-round trim took place at our chop saw station in the driveway. Note painted baseboard drying at right.

The house across the street was an earlier Camp Victor restoration project.

Installation of fans and smoke alarms

Note: After completion of the Ocean Springs ramp project, members of that team helped with final details on this project as well.

Note the dates on the pictures. The fans had to be installed twice, because we were moving one from the dining room (to be replaced with a chandelier), and there was a glitch with the old fan not clearing one of the smoke alarms.

For unexplained reasons, the previous crew had failed to lay the last four tiles in the living room above this step into the dining room, and the step itself was an unfinished 2x4. We finished the tiles, painted the step, and installed a metal strip over the edge of the tiles. Team leader Kelly was doing double duty, writing our final report and protecting the wet paint.

Our last task was to move the first (and largest) piece of furniture from the (soon to be) dining room into the (soon to be) master bedroom. Leading the way is construction supervisor Jimbo, a long-term volunteer at Camp Victor, who didn't make it into many of the pictures, but who was a steady presence throughout the week.

Finally, here is the Moss Point team, together with Aloise and Luke. Their house still needs work, but it is much more livable now than when we started — and their appreciation and smiles made our day — for four days running!

DAS, 10/28/07

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