The Life & Times of Louis & Amber - Construction Photos

Below are some photos of the work being done on the Restoring Hope Village property.  We completed another 40 posts today, and after tomorrow we should be well past halfway done with the fence construction.  Hopefully within the next two weeks we'll be able to report that it is done!

There are many more photos and video clips posted on the Restoring Hope International Facebook page.  This is just a sample.  They kind of show the steps of the process.  First, you dig the holes - a very tedious task given the soil type of our location.  Then, you set the posts using lines to keep them straight in a row and all the same height.  In addition to the lines, you have to level every post as well.  Once they are set in the right place, you lock them in that position within the hole using bricks propped against the sides.  Then you fill the hole with concrete, further securing the post.

Typically we set the slats in the fence the day after planting the posts.  You have to level the bottom slat.  Then you slide in the remaining 5 slats for that section.  Once the last one is in you realize that while the bottom one might be level, it still looks crooked.  So you take out the top 5 slats, adjust the bottom one accordingly, and then put the other 5 back in.  And you do this on every section.  So tomorrow we'll be setting 40 sections of slats.  Once all the slats are in place, you come behind the fence with a special mix of concrete and trowel it into the gaps, locking all the slats into place on the fence and also making theft a considerable chore.

Hopefully, when you're all done you have a nice, straight, solid fence.  Right now the concrete posts and slats are so new that they are extremely fragile.  They crack from time to time, but usually not badly enough that they are worthless.  We've only lost 1 post and probably 6 slats so far.  Thanks for your continued prayers as we continue with the work here.