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The Bay Area has seen its fair share of rain over the last month so, with more on the horizon in the next few weeks, we thought we’d check in with Habitat’s construction team to see how they are getting on.
Habitat’s Amber Drive project is perched atop Diamond Heights – one of the highest points in San Francisco and one which offers commanding views of the financial district three miles away. The view does come at a price, though, and the neighborhood’s exposed location means it gets the full force of the blessedly rare spells of rain and wind that head our way. We met up with our senior director of construction Erin Colton during the latest torrential downpour to see what effect this type of weather has on our residential construction. “This is definitely more rain than we’ve had in the past several years,” says Erin, “and we’re not getting any breaks in the weather – it has been storm after storm throughout winter.” “Fortunately this building is mostly waterproof, but the last five percent that isn’t needs really close attention. We will have flashing that goes from roof to roof on this project but, until that is installed, we have fitted temporary gutters to catch and manage water which is critical at times like this.” In terms of keeping on schedule the eight-home project is in a good place because of the excellent progress on construction already made during the fall. “The rain has slowed down progress a little on the exterior but, inside, it’s full steam ahead.” After the rain stops, what then? “It is mostly dry on the inside of the building,” reports Erin, “but we have to make sure that all the wood has a moisture content of 19% or less before we cover it up. So we go through the entire building with a moisture meter to check if it has dried before we continue.” “Any wet areas are aggressively dried with heaters and fans.” One thing that the rain hasn’t dampened is the spirits of Habitat’s volunteers who are still working hard alongside our professional crew at this critical stage of building. Because of their efforts, eight Habitat families will be able to embark on their affordable homeownership journey later in 2023. If you, or your colleagues, or your congregation or community group would like to help out at our Habitat projects, find out more by visiting this page.
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