Carter Work Project with Habitat for Humanity, Day 4

Wednesday we worked on siding, doors and various bits and pieces of framing inside the house. Our house in Oakland has v-rustic redwood siding (on the original house; finger-jointed pine or some such on the addition), and the HFH East Bay houses all have Hardie Board cement siding, so I'd never worked with vinyl siding before. With Tom the contractor to instruct me, I found that it's very easy to work with. I don't know about longevity or greenness, but for ease of use it's hard to beat. As with all siding, getting the starter course and the first couple of courses on straight and level are key. After that, each layer snaps into the one below, and with some not fully driven nails (to allow for expansion and contraction), it goes up very quickly. One finer point in working with it is figuring out which way to lap the vertical seams. If you lap it consistently so that the side it's commonly viewed from laps the next piece over, it's hard to see any of the seams.
We got a start on shingling the roof, but Wednesday ended a little early with a block party put on by the people of Pascagoula. Volunteers from the other building sites were bussed in, good food provided, and I think most everyone went home tired and happy.