Hot Roofs, Cool Jobs

"This isn't right," thinks Natasha, as the joists accept more and more insulation.

by Bruce Schimmel

Roxie is lounging in her living room, watching The Young and the Restless when the snowy stuff first appears.

"This isn't right," recalls Roxie, a great-grandmother of 10, her youngest asleep in the heat. Blue snow is now falling freely out of her drop ceiling. Meanwhile, 14-month-old Koreen sleeps peacefully on the couch. Finally. All morning long, a crew had noisily hammered, trying to close all the holes in her old home.

With this blue snow comes a great whoosh, as insulation races through a high-pressure hose. A wide, white hose extends out of a truck, up to the roof, down a narrow hole and back into the far reaches of a narrow crawlspace.There, lodged between a hot roof and an unsure ceiling, a man is spraying insulation into joists. And spraying. And spraying. "This isn't right," thinks his colleague, Natasha, as she wrestles with the fat snake.

Turns out that the fluffy blue insulation — essentially treated newspaper — was seeping down the sides of the house, past the second floor, to flutter below into Roxie's living room.

For Natasha, blue blizzards and other odd occurrences are not uncommon. She works for the Energy Coordinating Agency, a nonprofit that's been doing thermal makeovers on challenging homes for 25 years.

Earlier, the crew had rebuilt a cracked ceiling in a bedroom upstairs — sealing the hot, dark space in which one wedged-in worker now toils.

"There are some nightmares that come with this work," says Natasha. But despite the occasional panic attack, she loves her job. It's important, she says, because it helps people like Roxie pay for utilities and stay in their homes.

Since 1968, Roxie has lived here, just off Lehigh Avenue. She raised a family here and some drop by today to check in. Commercial contractors can't help people like Roxie — older people who can't pay, says Natasha. Which is why, after seven years, she's still at ECA, and expects to stay. The benefits are good, and she's treated fairly — which others in this crew echo.

A flood of new money, stimulus and otherwise, now flowing into ECA's coffers, may also help. Weatherizing homes is one of many programs of the agency, whose annual budget is expected to jump from its current $11 million to $18.5 million by September.

Last year ECA weatherized some 750 homes; this year, they expect to do about 1,000. In a city of this size, that's a pitifully small number. With many Roxies in need, and Natashas ready to work, there should be many more.

Back in Roxie's living room, the flurry has slowed, as workers lay in more foam and drywall. It's past 1 p.m., and this job should have been done by now. But the crew patiently patches around Roxie and the still-sleeping Koreen.

Outside, their newest crew member, Patrick, is feeding more fluff into the hose from a broiling truck. Around him, a fine dust swirls, forming a blue paste on his dripping face.

"I like this job," says Patrick, "because when we leave here, we know we've done something."

Meet and hear from Natasha and Roxie in an audio slideshow, at citypaper.net/canon or schimmel.com. E-mail bruce@schimmel.com.