After a good weekend in Darkhan, we headed of to Khutul for our second week of building. We were told that the families had continued to work on the weekend. At house #4, we found that the roof trusses, cross pieces and two of the ends had been done.
They had also delivered sheets of insulation and the door.
On house #5, they had finished the blocks over the headers on the door and windows, plus had built forms and poured the concrete piers on top of the walls (and have even removed the forms).
On house #3, they had built and installed the roof trusses and cross pieces, and more lumber and insulation had been delivered.
On house #4, we cut the face boards for the third end and installed them.
At house #3, much the same was being done.
There is a small store on the piece of property adjacent to the ten lots where Habitat is building. They are building a wall to keep livestock out of their back yard - but here are some calves that wandered by, in spite of the wall construction.
By midmorning, construction progress was great on house #4 - almost ready to start putting on the roof.
On house #5, Minh and I spent about 90 minutes cutting six blocks into the 24 spacers needed later in the process.
More great work on house #3.
Back at house #4, the finishing touches were put on the third end, including a doorway for exterior access to the attic space which will be above the insulated living space.
On house #5, the family members installed the insulation and plates on top of the concrete piers.
And at house #3, they finished the face boards on the end before lunch.
As usual, we went into our regular restaurant in Khutul, and had a nice lunch of breaded and fried chicken pieces, rice and a salad of broccoli, radishes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. They are always very prompt in serving us. After lunch, I led an expedition to get more bottled water - it turns out that both the large grocery store and the small convenience store both charged more that the small, local store that is adjacent to the build site. Among the livestock that wander through the build site was this sow - she later returned with her litter of piglets, but I did not have my camera with me.
After lunch, we finished the trim work on the ends of house #4 and started installing the roof.
On house #5, I helped install the ceiling rafters - six inches by six inches by fifteen feet long. The good news is these were not as green as the ones on house #4, plus they were lifting them up from a truck. All three family members working on house #5 are lean and strong - but the tallest is only about five feet, six inches - thus, my height was used in passing the measuring tape and marker back and forth between the brothers on each end - just hand them up and down to tom Tom. As for putting the beams in place, they started sliding them over the wall and I was able to walk across on the ground and hand my end to the brother on the other wall.
Progress is so fast now, that it is hard to keep up with it. On house #3, they were installing the roof by midadfternoon.
Back on house #4, they flashing was procured. It comes in pieces that are one meter wide and two meters long. This needed to be cut into four strips 25 cms wide and two meters long. The tin snips they have are very primitive (I later used the file on my Gerber tool to sharpen the blade and smooth rough spots on the metal handles). The flashing was installed in the seam where the two sections of roof came together.
Then Dorjo (the construction supervisor) measured the size of the first four pieces to be installed, we marked them and then cut them - but called it a day. Unless the family members worked after we left, that will be our first task in the morning.
Peter, one of our Australian volunteers, started giving lessons on how to apply the concrete as stucco, starting on an interior wall of house #4.
At house #5, they started making the roof trusses - my guess is that they will finish making them and may have installed them after we left.
And by the time we quit for the day, much of the roof and end faces had been completed on house #3.
After returning to the hotel and showers, we had a team meeting and then nine of us went to the Empire Restaurant for dinner. Total bill was under 150,000 MNT for nine dinners, two milkshakes, several sodas, five beers, one coffee and one bottle of water - less than $100 US dollars.
And so ends another great day in Mongolia.
They had also delivered sheets of insulation and the door.
On house #5, they had finished the blocks over the headers on the door and windows, plus had built forms and poured the concrete piers on top of the walls (and have even removed the forms).
On house #3, they had built and installed the roof trusses and cross pieces, and more lumber and insulation had been delivered.
On house #4, we cut the face boards for the third end and installed them.
At house #3, much the same was being done.
There is a small store on the piece of property adjacent to the ten lots where Habitat is building. They are building a wall to keep livestock out of their back yard - but here are some calves that wandered by, in spite of the wall construction.
By midmorning, construction progress was great on house #4 - almost ready to start putting on the roof.
On house #5, Minh and I spent about 90 minutes cutting six blocks into the 24 spacers needed later in the process.
More great work on house #3.
Back at house #4, the finishing touches were put on the third end, including a doorway for exterior access to the attic space which will be above the insulated living space.
On house #5, the family members installed the insulation and plates on top of the concrete piers.
And at house #3, they finished the face boards on the end before lunch.
As usual, we went into our regular restaurant in Khutul, and had a nice lunch of breaded and fried chicken pieces, rice and a salad of broccoli, radishes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. They are always very prompt in serving us. After lunch, I led an expedition to get more bottled water - it turns out that both the large grocery store and the small convenience store both charged more that the small, local store that is adjacent to the build site. Among the livestock that wander through the build site was this sow - she later returned with her litter of piglets, but I did not have my camera with me.
After lunch, we finished the trim work on the ends of house #4 and started installing the roof.
On house #5, I helped install the ceiling rafters - six inches by six inches by fifteen feet long. The good news is these were not as green as the ones on house #4, plus they were lifting them up from a truck. All three family members working on house #5 are lean and strong - but the tallest is only about five feet, six inches - thus, my height was used in passing the measuring tape and marker back and forth between the brothers on each end - just hand them up and down to tom Tom. As for putting the beams in place, they started sliding them over the wall and I was able to walk across on the ground and hand my end to the brother on the other wall.
Progress is so fast now, that it is hard to keep up with it. On house #3, they were installing the roof by midadfternoon.
Back on house #4, they flashing was procured. It comes in pieces that are one meter wide and two meters long. This needed to be cut into four strips 25 cms wide and two meters long. The tin snips they have are very primitive (I later used the file on my Gerber tool to sharpen the blade and smooth rough spots on the metal handles). The flashing was installed in the seam where the two sections of roof came together.
Then Dorjo (the construction supervisor) measured the size of the first four pieces to be installed, we marked them and then cut them - but called it a day. Unless the family members worked after we left, that will be our first task in the morning.
Peter, one of our Australian volunteers, started giving lessons on how to apply the concrete as stucco, starting on an interior wall of house #4.
At house #5, they started making the roof trusses - my guess is that they will finish making them and may have installed them after we left.
And by the time we quit for the day, much of the roof and end faces had been completed on house #3.
After returning to the hotel and showers, we had a team meeting and then nine of us went to the Empire Restaurant for dinner. Total bill was under 150,000 MNT for nine dinners, two milkshakes, several sodas, five beers, one coffee and one bottle of water - less than $100 US dollars.
And so ends another great day in Mongolia.
How could you?!?! (be WITHOUT your camera - and miss sharing the piglets with us?!)
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