With concrete ready to pour, folks gathered Tuesday morning at Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County’s 60th home – the first being built using insulating concrete forms, or ICF, construction.
The group was celebrating at the site on West Inman Street near downtown Statesboro where the home is being built for Maria Lipsey and her three children. With ICF, House 60’s exterior construction should go much faster than the one to two months that would be typical for a traditional house exterior when everything falls into place.
Tuesday, Statesboro City Council Member Shari Barr and others wrote personal messages to Lipsey on the Styrofoam block walls of the home that soon will be covered by stucco.
Barr wrote: “May love always live here.”
Lipsey’s home measures slightly under 1,200 square feet, which is a little larger than a typical Habitat house because of the geometry of the ICF panels. On the outside, it will have a stucco finish – also faster to install than exterior siding – while inside, standard drywall will be screwed to the forms.
A single mother employed at the Walmart Distribution Center, Lipsey said she looks forward to moving into the four-bedroom, two-bath house with her sons Makel, now 10; Vonta, currently 7; and little daughter Ava, who will be 2 in July.
Maria Lipsey attended a Habitat for Humanity orientation session and started the application process about three years ago.
As a Habitat homeowner, she is required to put in a total of 250 “sweat equity” work hours, at least 90 hours of which must be in home construction. Lipsey took a week off in March to work on the house and plans to work on it every weekend. She also expects to help as construction continues on a Habitat house in the Hopeulikit community toward Portal.
For non-construction work hours, she can volunteer at Spike’s ReStore and in Habitat’s community outreach projects.
With volunteer labor and discounted materials, the house will probably cost about $100,000 to build, said Habitat Bulloch Executive Director Kathy Jenkins.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization and nondenominational Christian ministry dedicated to providing affordable home ownership in partnership with families in need. For information on volunteering locally, visit https://habitatbulloch.org.