Cedar Hill X Road
Four Habitat families have moved into their new homes and what beautiful homes they are! Nestled among the Garry oaks, with native plants and a few wild flowers bursting into bloom, this will be a wonderful place to raise children.
Habitat for Humanity Victoria is so very proud to announce that we held our key ceremony on December 9 in bright sunshine to present four local families with the keys to their new homes at 4000 Cedar Hill Cross Road. The four-unit townhome complex, started in October 2014, is anticipated to be completed before the end of the year. About 150 donors, sponsors, volunteers and other Habitat supporters gathered at the build site to celebrate this milestone and tour the new homes alongside of the four benefiting families.
“It has been so humbling and gratifying to see a community come together in this way to provide a ‘hand-up’ to local families in need of safe, affordable housing,” enthused Habitat Victoria’s executive director Yolanda Meijer. “Soon these families will be making memories in their very own homes.”
Sincere thanks to Tim Horton's (McKenzie/Borden) for donating enough hot chocolate to warm up everyone!
Build Progress Photos
This hard-working team dug trenches to add drain rock, prepped the front and back of the four-plex to lay sod and then laid it in place, and planted many, many large shrubs, trees, ferns and other native low-maintenance plants.
January 30, 2016 we welcomed Team Tom Harris Cellular to the build site to take on the grueling task of landscaping. It was cold, wet and blustery at 9am, but as the day progressed, the sun came out and it warmed up to tee shirt weather!
We took a break for lunch to enjoy hot pizza sponsored by Panago, then it was back at it. By the end of the day, backs were tired, feet were wet but the sense of accomplishment was palpable; the garden had been transformed from a mud pit to a green oasis. Thank you Tom Harris Cellular!
Our ace clean-up crew cheerfully took on the task of cleaning out the crawlspaces, sorting and cleaning out the shed and doing a full site tidy-up. It looks magnificent and the families are dazzled to have such beautiful homes. Next up is fencing and landscaping. Huge thanks to David, Linda, Paula, Steph and Brodie.
Three of our four families are now in their Habitat homes! That is why our crew is working hard to finish up final details. They are pouring concrete for the driveway and sidewalks and installing the back decks.
Volunteer clean up crew preps homes for key ceremony. Thanks to our ace team: Julian, Margaret, Wes, Janet, Nancy, James, Gesiel and Loraine.
Almost done! Our spectacular clean-up crew came out on Friday and again today to get our four units sparkling clean for the upcoming key ceremony.
Progress in the interiors is moving quickly with flooring installed, windows and doors trimmed, cabinets installed in kitchens and baths and lighting fixtures wired in.
The siding and roofing are now complete! This photo was taken at the end of September and as of the end of October, we are happy to see windows frames painted, siding and eaves installed and all roofing completed.
The colours chosen were a beautiful soft grey for most rooms with the master bedroom and bathrooms painted a slightly darker grey. Taking a look at their clothes at the end of the day, it was determined that pink tee shirts and grey paint look wonderful together.
Interior painting started in September when volunteer Paul came in with his paint sprayer and over the course of a few days, painted all four units. Thank you, Paul! Soon after, RBC employees came out for their third Adopt-A-Day on this project and painted the first of four units. They were followed by a group of generous women (100K Team Pink) who took on the task of painting an entire unit as well.
Colliers International's Victoria office "adopted" a day of painting and completed our second unit, top to bottom, two coats. As if that wasn't enough, they then took on painting baseboards and trim. Finally, the interior painting was completed by a team from EMCO Corp. Quick, professional and committed.
House wrap was completed a few weeks ago in preparation for siding, which is now well under way. The lower half is almost complete and the upper half will move along quickly once scaffolding is in place. Thank you to Mitten for the donation of siding!
Drywalling is well under way at Cedar Hill Cross Road and already complete on two units. A local company was hired to install the drywall and prep it for all our volunteer and Team Build painting crews. Construction is moving along at a great pace thanks to all our volunteers and the support of local businesses.
A Parade of Pink. On August 20 an enthusiastic team of women came to help us get the build site ready for scaffolding which is soon to arrive for the siding installation. They also cut and hammered on the perimeter joists which will support the back decks.
Drywall is being installed by the pros but they were thrilled to have a team of women sorting the drywall scraps from regular garbage as it requires special disposal.
Thank you lunch sponsor Thrifty Foods - our women worked up quite an appetite and were really happy to see lunch arrive! And special thanks to our hard-working women who helped build these beautiful four homes.
Women Build Day.Generous in every sense of the word, our #HFHV100k women took on the task of installing insulation - it was only fitting as the day was "pink" from start to finish. Once again we are so very grateful to Starbucks Saanich Centre for providing morning coffee and tea and Panago's at Borden and McKenzie for delicious pizza, including their scrumptious gluten free offerings.
Young mothers, grandmothers and even a great-grandmother completed their tasks professionally and with much laughter and discussion throughout the day.
Special thanks to Erin for being our on-site first aid volunteer and to Tom and partner families Amanda and Rick for keeping everyone motivated. Thank you!!
We invited media the opportunity to experience a build day and what fun it was! Teams from The Q and The Zone came out and joined Habitat family partners Amanda, Meghan and Justin plus our amazing volunteers to install water proofing around the window frames. (Hint: It's not as easy as it looks!) Special thanks to Starbucks Saanich Centre for the coffee and tea and to Save On Foods for sponsoring a delicious lunch! CHEK-TV joined in the fun with a few interviews.
It's truly wonderful to see the plans that we have been working on for so long to begin to take shape. Only now can we see the reality that was hinted at in the Architectural drawings. Soon we will be at the halfway point in this build and racing forward to welcome our four new families to their new homes. A big thank you to the framing crew who went above and beyond what they were contracted to do
Have a look at our great crew of volunteer carpenters. We have represented here over seventy years of construction experience making sure that all of the first floors walls are exactly as they should be! Many thanks to Chris C., Chris L., Ed, Karl G., Karl S., and Matthew who helped us out by framing the first floor walls after Camosun College was finished on the site.
Walls, walls, walls!
Our Camosun college students are back with their framing class. They will be framing the project over the next 6 weeks. Many thanks to the instructor Derek Smith, and all of the students for the great work that they're doing. This day's efforts saw the floor joists going in and some of the main sub-floors installed.
Many thanks to the Victoria Real Estate Board for their efforts on their Team Build Day. They accomplished a great deal. Starting in the morning they spread and tamped the gravel and sand in the crawl space, laid down the vapor barrier and smoothed the concrete covering the crawl space. Lunch was graciously provided by the folks at the Panago Pizza at Mackenzie and Borden.
We have reached the second floor in the framing. From here until the completion of framing, a professional crew will take over due to the skills required to work at height.
Following our December break, the New Year saw a flurry of activity on the building site. On January 7th, 8th, 13th, and 14th we had open calls to volunteers to come and strip the wood forms from the foundation and prepare the lumber for reuse, dig trenches for perimeter drainage, install the perimeter drains and damp-proof the foundation walls. Tom and all of the volunteers were also grateful for the wonderful weather.
These highly essential, non glamorous activities were all to prepare the way for the Camosun College framing crews who return later this month. A hearty thanks to all of the volunteers for this phase of the project!
Many thanks to the Camosun College students who came by during their winter break to volunteer one last day on the site to pour the foundation walls. This was the last work to be completed in 2014. We are looking forward to a great start on the build in early January with form stripping and perimeter drain installation.
The Camosun students continue their efforts this week, building the forms for the foundation walls. They are hoping to pour the walls soon so that the forms can be stripped before Christmas break on the 19th. It won't be long before the site really starts to take shape!
The students from the trades apprenticeship program at Camosun College Interurban campus were hard at work on the footings at the build site. Many thanks to all of the students, instructors and staff for their help in making this happen!
The drillers and blasters hard at work over the past week. We are looking forward to the foundation crew putting in their appearance soon. In the words of the blasters, the rock is good wall rock, moderately hard, and not too fractured!
Build committee member Gordon English and build supervisor Tom Swift survey the location of the build site in preparation for some final site work before the crew from Camosun College arrives to start on the footings and foundation on our Cedar Hill X Road build. One of the happy surprises is that much less blasting will be required than was first thought.
An exciting day at the build site as the old house and garage disappeared in just a few hours. We hope that all of the commuters along McKenzie Avenue enjoyed the show. Next up is excavation and site preparation.Stay tuned for a time lapse video of the demolition
Meet Team Hilti, our second team to participate in a team build day at the 4000 Cedar Hill X Road build.The rain stayed away just long enough for Team Hilti to finish the protective fencing around the oak grove, recover siding for reuse on a heritage house under renovation, and recover metals from the old house for recycling. Many thanks to the team for all of their efforts. Lunch was graciously provided by Panago Pizza on Quadra courtesy of Darren and his team. Our build supervisor Tom is incredibly happy with the progress so far. Next up, the heavy equipment moves in to demolish what remains of the house next week.
Many thanks to the Team from RBC branches around Victoria for their help in cleaning up around the site in preparation for the old house demolition next week. The team were able to clean out the garage and tidy up the site by stacking the firewood and removing the waste wood and branches. They also finished the removal of the old fence alone Mackenzie Ave. and erected the construction fencing in its place. HFHV provided the lunch today, and our staff were pleased with the progress on the site.
World Habitat Day marked the official start of our Cedar Hill Cross Road build in Saanich. Executive Director Yolanda Meijer welcomed members of our board, the Mayor and Council members from the District of Saanich, and representatives from some of our major supporters, including the RBC Foundation, Camosun College and the Victoria Real Estate Board.
Together with our partner families, they took part in our Sod-turning ceremony blessed by Rev. R Crosby-Shearer. Many thanks to all who took part. We are looking forward to providing four more hardworking families with their own homes in the summer of 2015!
On October 6th at 3:00 PM Habitat Victoria is Having our sod turning event. We went out to the site today to start preparations for the event. There is still some work to be done before we can hold the event. A volunteer crew will be out on Friday to load up the brush and trash from the site. We are going to be providing a van shuttle from the parking lot at the end of Lochside drive to the site as there is no onsite parking. Following the Sod turning our first Team build day sponsored by Hilti will be doing some deconstruction work on the old house.
As you can see, we have the construction fence and most of the Garry oaks protective fencing up. The building permit application is filed and allowing 6 weeks for review we expect a to receive the permit in the first or second week in October. Please pencil in Monday the 6th of October, World Habitat Day for our ground breaking ceremony. Hopefully over the next several weeks we will be able to do some of the Asbestos remediation and some of the building material salvage from the old house. Our staff is currently sourcing donations in kind, and other supplies for the build to lock up.
We had a hard working team of volunteers on site to begin cleaning up the lot, and under the direction of an arborist, to fence off the Gary Oak trees requiring protection during the build process.
Many Thanks to Heidi Dunn from Total Safety for the Hazmat Survey conducted on the property today. We are very excited to see the project begin. Over the next weeks, while we get the demolition and build permits for the property, we expect mostly to do preparatory work by cleaning up the site, and perhaps some work around recovering salvageable materials from the house and garage on the property which are both slated for demolition.
Please consider making a donation to Habitat Victoria's build fund today as we prepare for our next project.
Your support will help more local families build strength, stability and independence through our affordable homeownership program and contribute toward the building of eleven new Habitat homes over the coming year. We hope that all of our new partner families will find support and friendship with their neighbours and be part of building a stronger community.