Opinion : New life for an old house

Vinton volunteers from Blessed Hope begin work on replacing a floor in a house in Kentucky.

We visited the Creation Museum in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, KY.

Voluntteers from Vinton take a lunch break outside the old Kentucky home they are repairing.

June moved in the old house 18 years ago. For years, the widow has lived alone at the end of a quiet street in Kentucky.

We met June on Monday, and went to work on her house. If all goes well, she will have a new roof and siding by the end of the week, along with a couple of rebuilt floors. Parts of her house were literally supported by telephone poles.

On Monday, the siding crew finished one side; two sides of her house had been finished by an earlier crew. But first we had to remove the lower siding, which had been literally touching dirt.

Inside, another crew tore out and old floor. We could see their hands as we prepared the siding from outside. They used treated lumber to create a new system of joists. Two more rooms have similar floors.

Today, weather permitting, some of us will begin work on the roof. Hopefully the old shingles will be replaced by marroon steel.

Three years ago, in the spring of 2009, I started a similar project -- working mostly by myself, with some help from the kids and advice from people who have an idea of how to do this stuff (I sure didn't).

It took me most of 2009 to finish that project. This one, with a crew of men and women who know what to do, will be mostly finished by Thursday.

On Monday night, we learned more about the Christian Appalachian Project, and how they are helping people throughout the eastern half of Kentucky.