Description of Homes

In terms of a general description of the homes I came across while in Appalachia, they were all single storied, usually slightly raised from the ground, they all had front porches which contributes to the social life in Appalachia, and they were often situated at the base a steep, forested incline. One house we worked on, we were repairing the foundation and floor that had rotted due to extensive flooding. Before repair the floor was soft to the touch and even when walking carefully along the joists it you could very easily fall through to the ground. Once we removed the rotted floorboards, rotted joists made of logs were revealed. In the construction world, building a basic foundation is relatively simple, however in our situation the entire house, including the walls and the roof were supported by a foundation that could give way at anytime. Throughout this repair, we had to keep the house supported while replacing what it was supported on.
On another house I worked on, we were repairing a roof that was no longer safe because termites and carpenter ants had invaded. In this instance we always had to be aware of our surroundings and careful not to step where the wood had decayed. In the beginning this was very difficult and we essentially had to make repairs from a ladder because such small portion of the roof could hold our weight. As the project proceeded we could work from the portions we had repaired, however the angle at which we tackled each task was dictated by what part of the roof was strong enough to hold our weight.