Renovation and Demolition: Lauren's View of the day

Today we quickly got to work. I was assigned upstairs to sawing wood that would be put up for insulation barriers. I worked with Zhora, Nawal, and Preethi. It was a lot harder to cut the wood than I thought. You had to push these 2x4’s slowly but firmly. Zhora was quick to jump at the task while the rest of us were nervous to use the saw. It kept overheating and stalling so we had to keep resetting and turning it on. All of us were involved because the pieces of wood were so long. Two people held the wood on each side. The most important tasks were to push the would toward the saw and to catch the wood on the other side. Chuck explained the safety measures carefully and made sure we understood. Building houses isnt exactly the safest task in the world.
After cutting most of the 2x4s we began nailing the cut pieces to the appropriate places in the next room. We used nails and hammers and another saw to cut even smaller pieces. We learned quickly how difficult hammering nails into wood can be. I even hit my thumbs a few times. Aiming correctly was difficult because we were working close to the floor so the nails would go rogue and end up in awkward angles. As if I hadn’t learned how hard wood is before, I realized more so now. Getting the nails all the way through the wood took me atleast a full minute or two. When Chuck demonstrated it took him one or two seconds. I quickly became frustrated and worked on cutting the wood into pieces. When I tried again a few minutes later I was more successful and my attitude brightened.
After an hour or so Lindsy and I switched spots. She knew I had wanted to be a part of the demolition in the backyard. I was very grateful and jumped at my new job with enthusiasm. I joined Tom, Poeima, Grace, Alfonso, and Chuck. They were removing the back porch. Using a sledgehammer for the first time was fantastic. We broke up the porch using only the sledgehammer, two levers, and a power saw. When we were removing the last piece of the porch I got to saw it off as Tom and Alfonso caught it.
The most exciting part of the day was knocking down the roof of the porch. Tom, Alfanso, and I stood toward the fence and pushed at the corner with a long piece of wood. Poeima and Grace stood at the other side doing the same. Chuck sawed off the roof from out the third floor window. The rest of the group was at a distance in the backyard watching. Terri even videotaped it. As Chuck sawed Tom said it looked as though the roof was coming toward our side. I panicked and almost ran toward the rest of the group in fear. I kept imagining the roof falling on top of us. I held on to every last bit of bravery in me and kept pushing with the wood. Fortunately it fell in the perfect spot. No one was harmed. We all cheered and took a photo standing on top of it. The rest of the time was spent cleaning up all the debris inside and outside the house.
Chuck happened to be an UB alum and had graduated with an Antrhropology degree. Since the beginning of this semester I have been debating between Sociology and Anthropology. I have been very passionate about culture and diversity my entire life and I want to spread that. I would love to study other cultures by doing fieldwork in other countries. However, I have been unsure if I would want to do this for me entire life. Meeting Chuck was great for me because I saw the work he has ended up doing. As Lindsey mentioned in her blog, Chuck said he doesn’t make very much money but he is very happy with his work. Happiness has always been my drive for success over money and hearing him say this made me feel much better about my choices of majors. I had such a wonderful time and I can see myself doing something similar as a career.
Aside from stepping on three nails in the backyard and hitting my thumb with the hammer a few times, I had a wonderful time today!