This particular stage of the build process is absolutely one of the most difficult to tolerate. You can’t even walk around in the home. The floor is covered with debris.

Welcome to the nailing of the sheet rock.

Couple this disaster with generally an inability to communicate with the nailing crew. This is a tough physical task, very few of our kids could stand this job, consequently the Mexican labor pool is our only option, but they don’t speak English well.

The workers are paid by the square foot not the hour, and they don’t stand around and contemplate the planes of flat walls intersecting ceilings. The crews generally consist of as many men as they can fit in the home, with LOUD Spanish Mariachi brass coronet music blaring, thrilling the neighbors, accompanied by high energy drinks, and a microwave oven…hmmmmm. They literally fly around the building.

Sheet rock goes up, tape sticks on in strips, and mud splatters on, smooth on the first pass, these guys know what they are doing and they are doing it well. As I watch, walls once bare wood frames with electrical and plumbing running through them are now closed up and I see my future home appear before my very eyes. The music fades into the background of my mind and I start to imagine cabinets, fixtures, lighting, furniture, a hot fire in the wood stove…my house is becoming a home in the whirlwind of activity.

The transformation is stunning. Finally the REAL building size and shapes are in front of us, All of the decisions about room size, door placement, window/skylight locations are done. . .good or bad.