Habitat for Humanity volunteers build Stevensville home exterior in 3 days

A Stevensville family has a new home with the help of more than 100 dedicated volunteers, and one busy weekend.

The final bits of construction were being completed Sunday up at the construction site for Habitat for Humanitys Blitz Build, which put up the exterior of a house in just 72 hours.

Crews worked to put the shingles on the roof, while down on the ground the doors and windows were trimmed. On scaffold platforms teams finished installing the soffit material underneath the eaves so that the siding could be put on that afternoon.

Seven lumber mills from across Montana donated all of the wood being used in the house. This is the third time the wood products companies have partnered with Habitat for Humanity on a Blitz Build, having put up homes in Corvallis in 2003 and Missoula in 2000.

The amount of wood products donated included about 7,000 pounds of plywood and what Society of American Foresters Scott Keuhn called truckloads of bunks of 2-by-4s, each with 297 boards, with the donated material coming from as far away as Columbia Falls and Livingston.

Its one of the few houses where you can say every stick is all from Montana, said Mike Kibler, executive director of the Ravalli Habitat for Humanity.

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Although the exterior construction was completed in three days, Habitat volunteer coordinator Erin Clark said the effort had been in the planning process since May. Work on the plumbing, wiring, dry wall and the rest of the work to finish the interior of the house will start as soon as the Blitz Build is done, but will done at a more relaxed pace.

In all, its going to be a 12-week build process, with the goal of having the family moved in by Christmas, Clark said.

Over the course of the three exterior building days, she said the site saw 140 volunteers lend their time to make the project a success. From experienced carpenters ready to jump right in to people who were putting on a hard hat for the first time, she said they found tasks for every skill level.

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Habitat for Humanity volunteers build Stevensville home exterior in 3 days