'I cried happy tears': How a house with rotten floors 'like Weet-Bix' was transformed in three weeks

'I cried happy tears': How a house with rotten floors 'like Weet-Bix' was transformed in three weeks

A Manukau mum-of-five burst into “happy tears” when she saw how her family home had been transformed and made safe to live in again.

Just three weeks earlier, the family was walking on planks to stop them from falling through rotten floorboards.

Their home had been destroyed by a leaking water cylinder they couldn’t afford to repair. There was mould everywhere, and cream-coloured carpets had become a mottled black.

After 15 days of intense labour the walls are white again, blue carpets sit flat on solid foundations, insulation has been installed behind an exterior that’s no longer flaking, and the smell of decay is gone.

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The makeover, thanks to a $20,000 loan from nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, has overwhelmed the family.

“This work was done with so much love by all the workers who worked on my home,” said the mother, who asked not to be named to protect her family’s privacy.

She said she and her kids were hugely appreciative of the work done on the house, which was inherited from family.

“We’ve started to move back in and are looking forward to being back in our own home.”

The builders tasked with saving the home found the rot had spread even further than was visible.

Habitat northern region building manager Jay Davies said as the team prepared to replace the tiled flooring in the kitchen the cabinets fell apart, requiring the team to source a new donated kitchen.

“It can be challenging to budget for home repair jobs where there are a lot of issues, which is quite common.”

The team had to prioritise how to spend the budget, and making sure the exterior was weathertight was at the top of the list.

Loans from the Habitat’ Home Repair Programme are only available to owner-occupiers and can be taken out for more minor work, but Davies said families usually only approached the organisation when their home’s condition had seriously deteriorated.

“The budget is set really on what the family can afford, so we have that conversation at the beginning, once we’ve assessed the home.”

“It’s important to note our approach is a hand up, not a hand out, that they can take ownership of their own future and continue the maintenance into the future with our help and our guidance.

“It’s really a snowball effect. Having a warmer, drier home can then impact greatly on future opportunities.”

Last year Habitat conducted 1327 home repairs ranging from minor to major work, up from 754 in the 2018-19 year.

In mid-May the organisation announced a boost in the form of a partnership with insurer AMI.

Habitat chief executive Alan Thorp said it would enable the nonprofit to improve the lives of 75,000 Kiwis living in substandard housing over the next three years.

“The improvements made in this home demonstrates the kind of impact that this partnership with AMI can have on the lives of everyday New Zealanders,” he said.

“In New Zealand, nearly a quarter of homes are affected by dampness, nearly 17 per cent have visible mould, and more than 10 per cent of New Zealanders live in homes that are over-crowded.”

IAG/AMI sustainability manager Jess Rodger said she was pleased to see the partnership in action and creating results.

“At AMI, we know that lifting the conditions of a home can have a real impact on aspects like energy efficiency, housing durability, safety, stability and wellbeing.”

Rodger said healthy living conditions were particularly important in the current environment, which had seen greater health awareness and people spending more time at home.

Published at Sat, 12 Jun 2021 17:00:00 +0000