Day 5, Campana

January 23, 2016

Above: our second day in Campana began with a debrief of yesterday’s energy auditing process. From the results we shared in the circle, we determined which projects would be most effective to conduct at each home.

Today at Jessica´s house, the weatherization team tackled two major issues: humidity and temperature. To combat the leakage on the northern wall, members of the team began to layer cement and stucco onto the exterior facade. Under the tutelage of more experienced workers, Soka students took turns flicking gobs of wet cerecita onto the brick surface and smoothing it up the wall with a flat-edged trowel. Although the learning curve was steep, we finally mastered the tricky maneuver by the end of the afternoon, thanks to the patience of our weatherization mentors. Meanwhile, inside the house, we began to construct the frame that would eventually house the anti-conductive fiberglass insulation. Metal rods were sized, cut, and then nailed in a grid formation to the corrugated tin roof. After the grid was complete, the fiberglass was stapled to a layer of protective drywall and inserted below the tin. During this process, standing beneath the insulation was measurably cooler than standing directly underneath the exposed tin roof. (According to Jessica, the exposed tin roof had previously cooked her family´s home upwards of 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer.)

At the same time, in Monica’s home, students and WWB volunteers began applying stucco to the cracks between the drywall pannels to create a smooth and water resistant roof that could be painted later.

When we left Jessica’s home, we felt confident about the tangible progress we´d made. We would save the final touches for completion on Monday with the visit of US Ambassador Noah B. Mamet.