1. Steps Toward Decent, Affordable Housing Habitat for Humanity in Amecameca, Mexico ©, 2006 © Scott Moore, 2006

2. To this A Habitat house built in Amecameca in 2005. The family we built with currently lives in this house. From this

3. The family of 9 lives in a one room house Most children sleep in bunk beds The twins sleep in hammocks

4. Ariel view shows typical design Two bedrooms, bathroom, family room / kitchen Bedroom Family Room Kitchen Bathroom

5. A low-tech blimp provided on-site aerial photography

6. Houses are constructed of brick with excellent insulation value In this climate, houses have neither heating or cooling systems

7. Amecameca is situated at the base of an active volcano Houses are built to withstand seismic activity

8. Rebar reinforces the brick houses Horizontally, vertically and at wall joints

10. Mortar is mixed by hand

11. Soaking bricks in water keeps the mortar from drying too fast

12. Corner posts and string help build straight, plumb walls

14. “Butter” one end of each brick Then set it on a bed of mortar

15. Tongue must be held just right For best results when setting brick

16. Use a trowel or rubber mallet to nudge bricks into position

17. Scrape away excess mortar Then tool the joints smooth

19. Building Walls!!!

21. Bucket and brick scaffold Holding down the scaffold

22. Need to reach from both sides!!

23. Electrical wires will run through plastic conduit Boxes are mortared into holes cut into the brick

24. Current house has a baño with a manual flush system But no running water!

25. Surface mounted water supply lines on earlier Habitat houses

26. Installing waste lines before pouring the bathroom floor Very thin PVC - Schedule 10, perhaps?

27. Cutting copper pipe with a badly-worn tool

28. Preparing copper hot & cold supply lines Will be embedded in the floor and wall Global Village Team taught the families how to work with copper piping. They previously had no plumbing skills.

29. Pressure testing the pipes

30. Mounting supply line on outside of rear wall Is it plumb, Dale?

31. Plumbing embedded in wall

32. Shower valves & conduit for kitchen electric outlet Yes, the wall is level!

33. Water supply lines were retrofit in David’s house We cut channels into the brick

34. Pipes were cut to fit and soldered into the channels Channels will be grouted with mortar and may be covered with decorative tile

35. Floor prep included leveling the dirt, wetting & tamping Concrete was then poured and finished

36. Hand mixing concrete for David’s floor Laura’s favorite job!

37. Adjusting a door frame Erik, where is your dust mask?

38. Where do you want that hole?

39. Exterior door installation

40. Setting interior doors

41. The finished look

42. A Joyous Celebration www.ColmbusGVTeam.com