Gutting New Orleans

During my recent trip I had the privilege of spending an afternoon working on a service project with Hands On New Orleans. This amazing group organizes volunteers day in and day out to help rebuild a city which seems to have been forgotten by almost everyone. Volunteers (and voluntourists) from around the country and beyond are housed in bunk beds in a local church and eat communally. Many of the leaders here started out as week-long volunteers, but were so touched by the need that they have stayed on for a year or more.

On this particular afternoon, the 40 of us were gutting a house that was made unusable by floodwaters during Katrina. About half of the group worked in the backyard, pulling out the overgrown ivy and a rusted fence, and tearing down a lean-to structure.

In order to work inside, we had to don white jumpsuits (complete with footies), particle filters, safety goggles, and hard hats. The particle filters were for the mold and asbestos, and made you feel a little bit like Darth Vader. We used crowbars to knock through and pull down the sheet rock and insulation from the walls, leaving just the studs and the outer siding of the building. Yep, that’s all that houses are made of in a lot of the US.

Looking at what was left of the building after we were done, it was amazing that it could be salvaged at all. We were told that in ‘normal’ situations such buildings would not be salvaged, but in a disaster zone like New Orleans, you save what you can by treating the structure for mold and sealing it before rebuilding the interior. It’s expensive to knock a house down.

This is what we had left by the side of the road by the end of the day. As of now, the city still picks up trash form building sites such as this, although it is threatening to stop sometime soon. Debris from houses finally being rebuilt is a huge problem in the state.

With government funds tied up in bureaucracy and many insurance companies refusing to pay, volunteer groups such as Hands On New Orleans are often the only hope for homeowners who would like to move back into their houses someday soon. To learn how you can help, see their website.