My First HEET Barnraising

I am in fact caulking a window in this picture. I was participating in a “barnraising” for the Women’s Center in Cambridge, MA where approximately 40 women got together to weatherize their building. It was organized by an organization called HEET.

HEET organizes gatherings to teach people how to weatherize their homes. They gather at a home or building that needs to be weatherized and volunteers break into groups to work on different weatherization tasks. Each group has a leader who is familiar with the work that needs to be done and an appropriate number of people who want to learn and practice the task.

At the HEET I attended, the groups included caulking, sealing a fireplace, winterizing windows, installing and programing thermostats, weatherstripping doors and touching up exterior concrete. I was interested in getting more experience caulking, so I joined that team. I practiced both caulking windows with a caulk gun and using temporary, removable putty (rope caulk) on the basement windows that could be sealed up for the winter.

The Cambridge HEET program has been running for a year now and they have been branching out to help other cities and towns set up their own programs. Their goal is that the volunteers will take the skills they have learned and implement them on their own homes.

Jonathan and I hope to participate in more of their barnraisings in the coming months.

Happy Greening!
Alicia