Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

I had a lot of plans to do quilty things this weekend, but I got sidetracked by Hollywood. Extreme Makeover:Home Edition was in our area building a house for an area family, the Vitale's, who have a severely handicapped son, Louis. You can see
the family's website.

Back at the beginning of the summer, there was a signup sheet at 7-Eleven soliciting volunteers in case the family was chosen to be on the show. So of course, I signed up. They called this week, unfortunately, I was unable to spend the 4 hours they requested because of childcare issues. So instead, Thing One, Thing Two and I went to be spectators at the build site in Athens, VT.

The location where the family lives is very remote, they are about 5-6 miles out of town (population 300 something) at the top of a hill on a narrow dirt road. The crew says that this has been one of the most challenging locations they have ever worked at (imagine the Hollywood production functioning with no cell service?). The volunteers and spectators were being bused from a parking area in a neighboring town up to the location by shuttle bus. The road was temporarily made one way because it was too narrow for trucks to pass one another. Oh, and did I mention that when we wre therer on Sunday it was pouring rain?


Before anyone asks, no Ty Pennington was not there. So unfortunate. He was in Bangor, Maine, doing the reveal of a house that was built there last week. He was due back in town last night or this morning. The reveal of the Vitale's new house in Vermont is tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept 12 at approx. 2PM. If anyone lives in the area and wants to go, the show is asking for cheering spectators to come out and be hon hand for the reveal. You need to park on Rt. 121 in Cambridgeport and take the shuttlebus. I wish I could be there, but my schedule doesn't allow for it.

Some interesting things I learned from talking to a representative from the constructon company:
-The house is build with concrete walls, 6 inches of concrete with rebar in them. The R value of the insulation is R50 and the estimted cost for propane heating of this house will be just $500 (Extremely low for Vermont).
-There is a lovely playscape for the two children to use, and it is handicapped accessible for the baby.
-Over 100 University of Vermont students (3 busloads) showed up to Volunteer on Sunday.
-Almost 4 acres of land had to be cleared for the trucks and construction equipment to work on the house. Once the project is complete, 75 trees will be replanted.
-Ty Pennington gets no special treatment like a plane or a helicopter, he rides the bus with the rest of the crew and designers.


If you want to read more, there is
an article here,
here
and here.