Steps Toward Decent, Affordable Housing Habitat for Humanity in Amecameca, Mexico ©, 2006 © Scott Moore, 2006

To this A Habitat house built in Amecameca in The family we built with currently lives in this house. From this

The family of 9 lives in a one room house Most children sleep in bunk beds The twins sleep in hammocks

Ariel view shows typical design Two bedrooms, bathroom, family room / kitchen Bedroom Family Room Kitchen Bathroom

A low-tech blimp provided on-site aerial photography

Houses are constructed of brick with excellent insulation value In this climate, houses have neither heating or cooling systems

Amecameca is situated at the base of an active volcano Houses are built to withstand seismic activity

Rebar reinforces the brick houses Horizontally, vertically and at wall joints

Mortar is mixed by hand

Soaking bricks in water keeps the mortar from drying too fast

Corner posts and string help build straight, plumb walls

“Butter” one end of each brick Then set it on a bed of mortar

Tongue must be held just right For best results when setting brick

Use a trowel or rubber mallet to nudge bricks into position

Scrape away excess mortar Then tool the joints smooth

Building Walls!!!

Bucket and brick scaffold Holding down the scaffold

Need to reach from both sides!!

Electrical wires will run through plastic conduit Boxes are mortared into holes cut into the brick

Current house has a baño with a manual flush system But no running water!

Surface mounted water supply lines on earlier Habitat houses

Installing waste lines before pouring the bathroom floor Very thin PVC - Schedule 10, perhaps?

Cutting copper pipe with a badly-worn tool

Preparing copper hot & cold supply lines Will be embedded in the floor and wall Global Village Team taught the families how to work with copper piping. They previously had no plumbing skills.

Pressure testing the pipes

Mounting supply line on outside of rear wall Is it plumb, Dale?

Plumbing embedded in wall

Shower valves & conduit for kitchen electric outlet Yes, the wall is level!

Water supply lines were retrofit in David’s house We cut channels into the brick

Pipes were cut to fit and soldered into the channels Channels will be grouted with mortar and may be covered with decorative tile

Floor prep included leveling the dirt, wetting & tamping Concrete was then poured and finished

Hand mixing concrete for David’s floor Laura’s favorite job!

Adjusting a door frame Erik, where is your dust mask?

Where do you want that hole?

Exterior door installation

Setting interior doors

The finished look

A Joyous Celebration