HFH of Benton County: wheelchair-accessible house (Arkansas, August 2004)

James Hardie Building Products donated ¼ inch Hardibacker and scoring tools for a Habitat for Humanity home in Decatur, Arkansas. Habitat and the homeowners, Chester and Faye Penn, requested the tile specifically so that Faye, who is in a wheelchair, could move easily throughout the new home. Brandon Street, a James Hardie retail sales specialist in Arkansas, donated time to work with volunteers and other industry members. Though he had never worked in a Habitat home, he said he was proud to work with a company that supported TPFH and Habitat for Humanity.

Chester, Faye and Trenton Penn were on hand for the tiling in mid-August. Chester, 77, is a retired minister from Missouri, where he and his wife, Faye, 71, lived for many years. Their adopted great-grandson, Trenton, is seven. Faye is confined to a wheelchair and said that the tile will not only help her move through the home but will also prevent her husband from suffering allergic reactions to the carpet in their former residence. The Penns shared a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment before they moved into their new home.

From Brandon Street, James Hardie Building Products Retail Sales Specialist in Arkansas:

“Very rarely do you find so many people working toward a common goal without getting anything out of it, but with this project everyone was giving to give back for the sake of helping someone else. I worked with the volunteers to teach them how to cut and install our product. James Hardie is so good about training us so that we can work to show them what we call our “Best Practices” method of installation. The volunteers were the greatest. I worked with Lester and the others to show them how to do it and they made it happen.”

Local contractor Lester Steven works with a Wal-Mart volunteer to set Hardibacker tile backerboard in the Penn home.		Lester Steven worked with Wal-Mart volunteers to set Hardibacker in the Penn home in Decatur, Arkansas
Two Wal-Mart volunteers nail Hardibacker to the Penn floor.		Laticrete's Bobby Mitchell, right, works with Wal-Mart volunteers as they install Hardibacker tile backerboard and spread thinset mortar.
A James Hardie Building Products van sits outside the Penn home.		Brandon Street with James Hardie Building Products works with Wal-Mart volunteers in the Penn home.
A Wal-Mart volunteer nails Hardibacker to the Penn floor.		Lester Steven works on the tile layout in the Penn living room. Volunteers set tile over Hardibacker.
A volunteer from Wal-Mart scores a piece of Hardibacker tile backerboard for the Penn home.		Volunteers installed Orchid tile with Laticrete setting materials over Hardibacker tile backerboard in the Penn home.
Chester and Faye Penn sit in their newly-tiled living room as a local barbershop quartet serenades them at their Habitat dedication ceremony.		Volunteers used Hardibacker tile backerboard to tile this floor in the Penn home in Decatur, Arkansas.