Tom Duffield here, blogging on Julie Smith's foreign (to me) Apple laptop. Our team of six volunteers arrived to find a house that is outwardly sound but actually had suffered extensive roof damage as well as flood waters to a depth of about four feet. The roof is obviously back on and our focus this week is getting all the exterior wood trim painted.
Previous volunteers installed new tongue and groove siding but unfortunately did so wrong. This house is being featured on the Travel Channel and several tasks were done in a hurry for the camera; they show the ill effects of satisfying the TV producer rather than the construction site manager. Gary Earnley and I built the scaffold and went to work renailing each board in properly.
First comes the filler for all those nail holes, then the primer (at least as far as the scaffold could be moved before running into the tools and supplies container). This gable end faces south; the weather was 87 degrees and nearly cloudless so the blessed warmth became a bit much after about five hours.
While Gary and I worked toward heaven, Velma and Bob Oliver remained firmly grounded as they repaired the damaged wood around these windows and then set to painting them. The local gang (East Side Mob) has tagged a few of our surfaces to let all who enter the neighborhood know who "owns" this turf.
Tom and Gary solve the problem of the tool container being in the way; climb up on top and hang over the gap to reach our facia painting targets. Note that I am sporting the Lawrence of Arabia look in deference to the beautiful (and relentless) sun.
Michel
Pilorget enjoys the warmth (and shade) while working on the front porch
trim. This man is so generous he would gladly give you the shirt off
of his back... but never the hat.
Judy Cotter applies masking tape to the french doors in the back of the house (also in the shade). All of this painting is done now. 
More hands make moving the scaffold easy. At least until one of the wheels falls off... for the tenth time in thirty feet.
Fortunately, the next move was blocked by an overhanging tree so we had to disassemble the whole thing and rebuild it around the other side. Much better than the "easy" way we used to get this far. Note how the East Side Mob has apparently staked a claim on possible new headquarters.
All the north gable end needed was primer and paint. There even was a convenient roof to stand on although the human ankle wasn't made to stand at such an angle for a few hours.
Except this large vent needed the lead paint scraped off. So up went the plastic isolation tarp / drop cloth to catch all the dust and chips. Then came the after action procedure: carefully roll up the drop cloth, tape it closed, take it down to the yard, unroll, vacuum up all traces of dust and chips from the drop cloth, reroll, retape, and finally toss the cloth into the dumpster. I'd hate to think what someone is going to have to do with the vacuum cleaner.
The house across the street has this fantastic live oak tree in front. The huge branches extend over the street, our house's front yard, and almost to the roof line. This beautiful tree has seen many hurricanes in its life and always comes back to thrive. With lots of work having been done on houses up and down the street, this neighborhood is starting to have the that thriving look too.
This house is just around the block and is being actively worked on by a contractor this week. These are what the bones of a New Orleans house look like once all the old damaged siding, insulation and plaster are removed. These folks are a long way from painting exterior trim... but they too are on their way back home.
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