Out of sweat and sawdust, door opens on family dream in Westford

WESTFORD, Oct 06, 2008 (The Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- On the porch of the new house on Williams Avenue, they welcomed Renee Bourassa and her three sons to their new home.

The minister, the schoolteacher, the construction manager, the family advocate, the volunteer.

Nashoba Quilters gave each of the Bourassas a quilt.

Jim Comeau, the project's construction manager, gave her a 43-piece toolbox.

A priest blessed the house, room by room. The small living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom and full bath downstairs. The two bedrooms and three-quarter bath upstairs.

As about 200 people looked on from the intricately arranged brick half-circle drive in front, Habitat for Humanity handed her the keys. Standing on the porch with sons Zach, 13, Nate, 6, and Tony, 4, she cried.

And everybody's house became Bourassa's.

Bourassa, 33, is expected to move into the three-bedroom, 1,408-square-foot home (awaiting finishing touches and final permits) within two weeks. She will hold the $145,000 mortgage on the house.

Since building began in March, Habitat for Humanity has led a slew of volunteers through the process of building the house with the green siding and the white trim. The 21st house delivered to a new owner by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell since 1991 took the work of 562 volunteers donating 4,827 hours.

The siding, made from recycled concrete (it won't need paint for 50 years), isn't the only green thing about Bourassa's House, said Dana Owens, Habitat's

executive director. The 10-inch-thick walls include 4 inches of insulation and a slim pocket so moisture won't be trapped in them. It used 20 percent less lumber, heating ducts are in the middle of the home so heat is less likely to bleed out the openings.

A pipe system rimming the home sends water runoff down to the backyard and a "rain garden," where it will be soaked up by day lilies or flow into the woods beyond. The basement and its floor are also insulated.

The home, which Owens says will use half the energy of other new constructions, is so airtight it's often hard to get a cell phone signal inside it.

Recycling slots outside the house were filled. Already, 34 construction bags and one small Dumpster of recycling had been taken away. It used 80 percent less landfill space than normal construction, said Owens.

Owens also announced yesterday that two of the lot's 2.75 acres have been donated to the town as conservation land.

"Of six or seven homes Habitat has done in Massachusetts, this is the first one to cost under $200,000 to be certified as Platinum by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)," he said.

"We were trying to prove a point," said Owens. "You can go greener and do it affordably."

Habitat bought the land from the town for $2 and took ownership in February. The papers were signed at Westford Academy, since the first dollars raised for the project came from Westford Pride, the school's community-service club.

The middle-school kids at the Blanchard ran a weeklong penny drive, raising $5,000. They didn't just buy the washer and dryer in the basement, but a dishwasher, too. And they made 600 chocolate-chip cookies that nourished work crews. They also donated students' artwork to decorate the home, and buckets of toys for the boys.

The electrical workers' union, the IBEW 103, sent 14 electricians to the house and wired it in one day.

Garden clubs from Westford and Billerica did the landscaping.

Bourassa, a medical assistant at Northeast Skin Surgery in Chelmsford who handles skin tissue for an oncologist, put in more than 200 hours of "sweat equity." She did siding. She did yardwork. She can tile now. She showed up every Saturday since April, except one, her son's birthday. Her family and friends also logged hundreds of hours.

"We don't give a house to her," said Owens. "She buys it."

She will pay only the principal on the mortgage, no interest. She will pay property taxes as set by the town, and must have homeowner's insurance. She will funnel $25 a month into a "repairs" account to ensure she can pay for things that go wrong. She attended homeowner's classes and will have the help of family advocate Diane Holmes for a year.

"There's a lot of hand-holding on what it is to be a homeowner," said Owens.

Habitat, the largest builder of residential properties in the world, has built more than 300,000 homes across the globe since forming more than three decades ago, including 57,000 last year. Greater Lowell's Habitat is one of 1,500 affiliates, one of 19 in the state.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the community. It's building community one hour at a time. That's what we're all about."

They raise every penny. It doesn't hurt when they have major sponsors like Cisco and HRH Insurance. Cisco employees donated more than 1,000 hours on the project.

Steve Sodt of Chelmsford donated over 100 hours himself, more than anyone else.

Sodt, 53 and unemployed, said he was "looking for a volunteer opportunity, and heard about this active green project in Westford."

"I did it to remind myself of who I am," he said. When he began in June, Sodt figured he could do something for someone else, not expecting anything in return. "The problem is, I got a great deal in return."

Renee Bourassa did, too.

"It's just awesome," said the new homeowner.

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