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| Home : Volume 32 : Winter 2006 | |
| Labor of love: Students aid local Caring Home Makeover | |
Plans for more windows and a slightly reconfigured entry |
Engineering students gut the interior in late October |
The Pertzborns' original home |
Lanky, often loud, and ever charismatic Ty Pennington was not present. Nor did anyone shout, “Bus driver, move that bus!” But the cold mid-December day that Jim and Mary Pertzborn first saw their east-side Madison home after a fall 2005 renovation indeed was reminiscent of an episode of the popular ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Minus the megaphone, civil and environmental engineering senior Samantha Thompson took Pennington's place during this local remodel, called “Caring Home Makeover,” as one of a handful of people running the show.
The Pertzborns have owned their 1,270 square-foot ranch-style home for 41 years. During that time, they had 16 children — 14 of whom are still living, and five of whom still live with them.
Now, Jim has diabetes and Parkinson's disease and Mary has rheumatoid arthritis. When he's not at work, Mary cares for Jim and entertains their children, their kids' friends and spouses, and 16 grandchildren — many of whom visit daily. “They are some of the sweetest people ever,” says Thompson about the Pertzborns. “There's always a ton of people there. It's just a very warm home.”
With so much activity and so little space, including a cramped kitchen (“we always had to take shifts for meals,” says daughter Lori Pertzborn Bugutski), narrow doorways, and just one tiny bathroom that Jim couldn't access if someday he uses a wheelchair, the house needed some help, says Thompson.
Enter the Caring Home Makeover, a Madison initiative inspired by Extreme Makeover's success. The idea first surfaced at WKOW 27, Madison's ABC affiliate station, and then members of the Madison chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) and Madison utility company Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE) joined the effort. “It was conceived as a community partners project to renovate the home of a deserving family,” says Bob Goessling, WKOW 27 production manager.
NARI member Tim Sweeney volunteered his company, Sweeney Construction, to handle project management for the makeover. “They needed somebody in the office who could do a lot of the coordination and scheduling and contacting different people,” says Thompson, who has interned with the company since May 2005. “I was the lucky person in the office who got chosen.”
The Pertzborns moved back in on Dec. 16. |
The finished living room |
One of Thompson's first contributions to the project was labor: She rounded up members of several engineering student organizations and, on the morning after the UW-Madison football team's 31-20 Homecoming victory over Purdue, more than 50 students were on hand to demolish the Pertzborn home's interior. (As is the case with Extreme Makeover, the Pertzborns temporarily moved elsewhere and had no knowledge of the improvements their home would receive.) “There were so many people who were so excited,” says Thompson, of the demo. “They did an awesome job&@8221;.
From there, Thompson and three Sweeney estimators coordinated more than 100 Madison-area companies that donated labor, equipment, furnishings and appliances for the home.
“Between the four of us, at least one of us went out to the house every day and saw how everything was going and made sure that things that were supposed to be done were actually done,” says Thompson.
Thompson says the effort she and the hundreds of other volunteers put into the project was worth it. “Any amount of work or trouble you run into just kind of goes away when you realize what you're doing for someone else and how special it is for them,” she says.
The makeover gave the Pertzborns a home that is not only stunning inside and out, but will serve the family well for years to come. Outside, workers replaced dingy white aluminum siding with stone facing and cornflower blue siding. Designers removed several interior walls and added larger, energy-efficient windows, creating a bright space in which the living room, dining area and kitchen flow together. They added blond hardwood kitchen cabinets, gleaming stainless appliances, and built-in shelving on all sides of a new gas fireplace.
The master bedroom, too, looks and feels spacious, in part because designers added larger windows and installed wide patio doors that lead to a new backyard deck. The large adjoining master bath now has a broad doorway, gleaming fixtures, and a custom-tiled walk-in shower. In the basement, workers added a much-needed second full bath. Wherever possible, crews installed Energy Star-rated products, including a furnace and water heater, says Luanne Fax, MGE residential services manager and NARI board of directors member.
Mary struggled to hold back tears as she saw her “new” home for the first time. “I've just walked through the most beautiful house I've ever seen in my life,” she said. “And I can't begin to explain what it means to us. It's going to be such a help for us to have to help Jim.”
Turning to the crowd of several hundred friends, family members and volunteers that packed the lawn in front of the home, she said: “I may not know all of your names, but rest assured, you'll never be forgotten.”
For Thompson, perhaps the most meaningful part of this Caring Home Makeover was that so many volunteers logged so many hours for people they didn't know. “It's been amazing just seeing so many people come together,” she says. “When you watch the news and you hear about bad things happening — it's great just knowing that good things can still happen and that there is a lot of good in the world.”
Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu
Date last modified: 03-Feb-2006
Date created: 03-Feb-2006
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