Photos From The Site | Discuss The Project

There’s a story behind that diamond ring on Cynthia Tate’s finger.

“I lost my ring in the fire. Tom sifted for days with a pizza screen” to find it.

But it was badly damaged, so Tom took it to a jeweler friend for repairs. That proved difficult and the jeweler instead created a new ring using two small stones from the original.

Tom presented it to Cynthia on Sunday night. He said his friend told him not to worry about paying for it just yet; they could work something out.

“I hope you like pizza,” Tom told his buddy.

Quite a laundry list of building materials went into the Tates’ new house.

• 330 cubic yards of fill dirt
• 65 cubic yards of concrete
• 39 pallets of block
• 300 sheets of drywall
• 125 gallons of paint
• 2,500 square feet of wood flooring
• 1,000 square feet of tile.

Crews were busy Monday afternoon cleaning up the staging area and nearby grounds. They’re putting things back to how they were pre-“Extreme Makeover.”

“We’ve cleaned up any of the trash the spectators may have left,” said Lynda Wailes, one of the volunteers from builder WCI Communities, Inc.

Crews were busy raking up mulch put down on airport property during the week, breaking down tents and loading up stuff to get it off the site.

When WCI took on the job of building the house, it sent out an e-mail seeking volunteers to help do odd jobs.

“They actually had too many volunteers,” said Wailes, who works at WCI’s Westshore Yacht Club.

She said she signed up to help right away. “I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

Get Weekly Deals | Write a letter to the editor | Subscribe and get two weeks free | Place an Ad