 This week was another week of great progress. The roof framing is almost complete and we will begin putting the zinc sheeting up on Monday. We have had a slight delay due to the rain. Our roof crew has worked hard and has been very good about listening to our suggestions.
We are being as careful as possible to reinforce the roof against hurricane winds as the roof is the most susceptible part of the building in the event of a hurricane.
 We have fashioned hurricane straps out of steel bar to tie all the rafters to the framing ofthe building. We are also using twice as many screws as they were planning to use to tie the sheeting down.
Tim spent much of the week painting the roof sheeting. We painted them red on the underside and blue on the top. This will help protect against the salt spray we get off of the bay. Everything rusts very quickly here, so we have to be as careful as possible.
 After we had painted quite a bit, Tim's helpers took over the operation and did very well. Freddy and Jeremy finished it quite nicely and are planning to put the final coat on the roof once the metal is all in place. These guys are from the neighborhood and it is nice to give them a bit of work.
We were able to build the rafters in such a way that we will have a large storage area in the attic. The building does not have a lot of  closets (with concrete, they would be very damp), so the attic storage is nice to have.
The guys are building the front veranda on the house. They are finishing up the forms and will be ready to pour the concrete on Tuesday.
When they are done with that, they will build a tower in back for the water tanks. We will collect rainwater in these tanks since the city water is rather salty, and it is undependable. It is not unusual for the water to go out for a day or two at a time. We also have a well on the property, but it is not deep enough and we need to dig it down about ten feet more if we want to use it.
 We had a nice visit from Rosemary Chatfield. She comes from GA and makes regular trips to work with Pastor Eli in Corn Island. She asked us if we could help them as they are trying to get a new drug rehab facility off the ground in Haulover (in the communities).
She is also trying to put together a women's shelter in Pearl Lagoon. We are going to try to help as much as possible. We can do a lot by simply connecting them with people here who can help with the work. We will continue to pray and talk about this.
God Bless You,
Tim and Kim |
