Look for the four stages of wall construction
Our Brenkle Court construction crew is learning on the job, becoming more comfortable with each new skill they master. Each construction lesson marks a milestone. The photo to the left captures the crew’s progress building walls. It illustrates four stages of wall construction. They lay out the 2×4’s in the foreground, frame then in the next, then nail plywood onto the frame. In the background is a completed wall.
Many of our male crew have been working on the crush, so the women have stepped up!
Over the last few weeks, we’ve dealt with a socioeconomic reality on the job site. This is the Napa Valley, after all, and wine is what drives our economy. More than a few of our male homeowners and their teams work for the wineries, so they’ve been unavailable for our weekend shifts. It’s the women who are ably picking up the slack.
Raising the walls is a team effort
We’re building community, one skill at a time
One skill, one wall at a time
While our crew has become adept at measuring the studs, using a skillsaw, framing and pounding plywood onto the frames to form the walls, standing those walls up and fitting them into place is a rigorous team effort.
But that’s an overarching goal of the mutual self-help program. We’re building community. One skill, one project at a time. Everyone moves in together.
