Construction Girl is alive and well. Today was the first day on the job site for my Habitat week. We are working on a twelve house sub division located on several acres in Sugar Grove, West Virginia. Two houses were under roof. One had its concrete foundation poured and ready to prep for exterior walls. One was almost ready for concrete in the foundation.

We woke up to steady rain that got steadier at times. Only lightening and thunder can end the day early, but we had none of that. Everyone was eager to work, rain or not. The rain prevented the concrete pouring, but the other three sites were ready to go.

Our group of thirty was joined by two other groups about the same size. Ninety volunteers are too many, so some of our group ended up going to the warehouse for inventory and clean-up to compensate for the lost jobsite. I did not volunteer for that even though it was raining. I know they still did meaningful work over there, but it sounded too much like housework which I find deadly boring. So I drove my van loaded with Presbyterians and tools over three mountains to Sugar Grove.

One of the other teams was an all-boy Catholic high school from Ohio. The few teenage girls on our team found themselves in great odds. The other group didn’t stay at the volunteer center, so we didn’t get to know them as well, but they were high school kids too.

My pink suede tool belt and work gloves from my previous life as Construction Girl were a hit. No need to be boring, right? At the end of the week when they handed out awards on scraps of lumber I got “best dressed on the jobsite.” I’ve never been accused of being best dressed before. I just hadn’t found my element yet.

I need to thank my former coworkers, Don & Stan, for the lessons with the hammer. Between my pink tool belt and my skill with the hammer, I managed to attract the attention of the only eligible bachelor on the job (not counting the Catholic boys, of course.) The strong armed supervisor later told me that the tool belt caught his eye, but when he saw me swing the hammer, he wanted to meet me. You know I have a weakness for strong arms. He asked me to be his assistant on a job later in the week where we were correcting some outlets and light switches that had been wired improperly by previous volunteers. I was happy to help him remove those shorts.

Anyway, back to the first morning. We stood in the downpour listening to the job possibilities for the day: siding & soffits, drywall, and something called “setting plates” that I raised my hand for. All I knew was that it had to do with the exterior walls of the foundation-only house. Eight of us were chosen to set the plates: 2 Presbyterians and 6 Catholics.

Lucky for me, another smartass Construction Girl was on my team. Because of our Catholic boy co-workers, we mostly we whispered our naughty comments to each other. I didn’t want anyone to think I was flirting with eighteen year olds. They at least need to be 21 for me. I have standards ya know.

Our team did end up dividing into four and four. One new graduate on our team was starting engineering school in the fall and was excellent at measuring and visualizing the end product. The other boy followed instructions very well, an excellent quality I think. Our team worked way faster than the other four. I’m not sure if it was because Construction Girls are less territorial about the cool parts of the job or because we were just more skilled. Probably a combo.

The sawdust created by the circular saw and the drills was kept under control by the constant rain. Once we had rimmed the foundation with our 2x6’s, or “set the plates,” we had to bolt them down. As Construction Girl, I had acquired some very useful tools that I and my teammates were frequently happy to have on this job. I got to break out my socket set to ratchet down the bolts. I wish I could think of how the write out the satisfying clicking sound that tool makes as it cranks down the nut. I love the sound of nuts being tightened. (See, that’s what we would whisper.)

The most fun for me was when I got to stand on a ladder and swing a sledge hammer. The exterior walls were different from any I have seen before. Once the plates were set, these big sections of exterior wall slid into place over them. These pre-fab walls called sit panels looked like giant rectangular scooter pies (moon pies if you are from the South.) They were two sheets of OSB board sandwiching six inches of industrial strength Styrofoam. Everything was wet, so we had to coax the pieces into place with a sledge hammer. (I still have a great sledge hammer story to tell you. Maybe after I get all this Habitat stuff posted.)

Even though sledging was a totally cool part of the job and there were all these eager eighteen year old boys around, I somehow got to climb the ladder and whack that panel down onto the foundation. Wow is that thing was heavy. Unlike the hammer, I could not swing it by the tail of the handle. The handle was too long for the weight of the head and the strength of my arms. It was great that everyone was willing to share the cool parts of the assignment.

The sun came out mid day, making it steamy for a while. We got two corners of the exterior walls in place before it was time to call it a day and go scramble for the limited hot water available in the volunteer center. It was fun to compare notes with my daughter about the tasks she got to perform. She had been on the team framing up studs for interior walls. I saw her swinging the hammer during parts of the day. She is a natural athlete and seemed comfortable with the tools. She looked good in her canvas tool apron. Next year, she will definitely have a pink one.

In fact, all the women on our team were talking about getting them for next year. Check ‘em out at charmandhammer.com. That’s where I got the pink eye protection and work gloves. They have pink hard hats too. If you equip yourself, let me know and we can go on a build together. They even have an all-women’s build coming up this spring. I just might go. Wanna join me? We'd be happy to take along some guys to cook for us.