Et cetera : NCCC Cedar 3 assists Lutheran Disaster Response with flood recovery

Ema Irwin cutting out a sill plate to fit a new egress window.

Flood recovery project: David Chupp of Cedar 3 cuts a piece of subfloor in Minot, S.D.

By Trent Roberts

AmeriCorps NCCC team Cedar 3 is working with the Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) in Minot, N.D. until September 26. The team is assisting LDR with gutting, sanitizing and rebuilding homes, delivering materials and organizing the supply trailers and warehouse.

To date, Cedar 3 has prepared and sanitized three of the four assigned homes. The sanitizing process consists of four stages; preparing the homes by removing everything in the house down to the subfloor and bare wall studs, pressure washing every inch of the livable area and scrubbing the areas that cannot be pressure washed, dousing the inside of the home with a mold eradicating/deterring chemical and mopping up the mess.

Cedar 3’s current project is rebuilding a home that has become known as “Cedar 3’s House.” The team started the project with a small amount of gutting and removing the siding. The team then sanitized the home and later came back to install the new subfloor and frame the windows. Cedar 3 is currently working on installing new windows and in the future they will be installing doors and hanging drywall.

LDR’s mission is to assist those impacted by disaster, targeting the vulnerable populations that are not able to recover on their own by providing volunteers, case management/financial assistance and rebuilding. LDR is taking the lead in volunteer coordination to rebuild after the 2011 floods in N.D.