Building a house in Mexico

If you've never built a house in Mexico it's an experience I highly recommend. It's not "easy" and sometimes it's not "fun" but it is rewarding beyond words, and God always teaches me something during the experience. Please check out One Mission's website if you're considering a trip. You can even take your kids, if they are older. They can get a lot out of this experience and there are real ways they can contribute to the process.

I also have to say that at the end of the day this trip is not about the house that's been built, but about the love that's been shown to the family you build for. Whether or not you develop a relationship with them, you have shown them love by giving of your time and money to build them a house.

Before we went the first time I was a little skeptical that 15 non-skilled laborers could build a "house." Now that I know more (a lot more) about the process it's really cool to see it all come together.

A few quick details about what I mean by "house."
11' x 22' wood structure with a concrete floor
Plywood roof with rolled shingles for water protection
2 doors and 2 windows for the whole structure
Plywood, black felt paper and chicken wire exterior covered in stucco (used to be just stretched baling wire, paper and chicken wire- the plywood is a MAJOR improvement)
The house does not have: water, electricity, finished walls inside, heat, AC, etc
The house is a castle compared to what these families are currently living in.


Here's a quick picture story of how it works.

This is the family's "view" from the front of their house. We build on what used to be the dump so it's full of trash and all kinds of random things. This is the worst location we've ever built on for trash and debris.



All of the gear packed up and ready to go. One Mission provides each team with all of the tools you need to build a home. That sure beats hauling it all down with you!




Tent city where we slept. You can bring trailers and RVs but we don't have one! It was very cold at night. About 40. Once we got our system down on how to stay warm it wasn't that bad. The park also has running water, a cantina where we ate hot meals, and a pool for the warmer months. It's really quite nice!



The pad is about half finished at this point. Normally you have to level the land before you start, but the husband, Jesus, had the whole thing leveled and ready to go when we got there. By looking at the property, if he hadn't done that we would have spent about 2 hours doing it. Having a concrete floor is more than just a luxury for them. It provides a healthier environment so they don't get sick nearly as often. It deters pests and bugs, their old "house" had a sand floor. And it helps them maintain the temperature for the cold winter months and hot summer months.




Mixing concrete for the floor. All mixing is done by hand in wheelbarrows using shovels and hoes. It takes several hours to make enough concrete for a 11' x 22' pad.



Building the side walls takes place in the sand. You lay out each wall and put it together according to very detailed instructions in the manual. Construction is simple with 2x4's cut to the proper length with hand saws. You put one piece of 2x4 (called a fireblock) perpendicular between studs for added strength. You use California corners on some walls so that you can attach them to each other once you stand the walls up. We put most of the plywood on the walls while they were still on the ground so we could get each wall as square as possible.



Raising the side walls. You can see the interior of the walls in this picture. This is how the walls are left when we leave. Some families have enough money to get drywall or some other covering, others leave the walls as is.



Getting the plywood on the roof and finishing up the side walls with plywood as well.



Getting the rolled roof paper laid down and finishing the felt paper and chicken wire for the side walls. Notice the young boy flying a kite, they had so much fun flying those kites. Wish I could remember the Spanish word for kite....


Putting the final touches on the roof. You have to seal the seams of the rolled roof with tar in order to prevent water leaks.



In process with the first coat of stucco. You can see the felt paper and chicken wire. Also, they are putting the finishing touches on the roof as well.



Almost finished with the first coat of stucco. We came back the next day to do the second coat because it takes awhile for the stucco to dry.



Grandpa Long sweeping out the finished product. You can see 2 of the doors and one window.




The whole building crew in front of the finished product. We love building with high school students. They work SUPER hard and are lots of fun. They love to play with the kids and take them on trips to the "store" 2 houses away to buy them treats. We see the truly selfless and loving side of the students when we are there.




3 generations of Longs with Jesus and Marlen.