Ruth Haller was on her hands and knees, crawling as she pulled the heavy-duty construction material up from the floor of the home she is remodeling in Barrio Logan.
“As you can see, it’s not glamorous,” she said of the work.
The teacher-turned-renovator now runs a home-remodeling company called Girls with Power Tools with her friend, Pamela Macias.
The pair have been working on the South 26th Street home for more than a month. They plan to finish next week and place the 1930s Craftsman up for sale.
The work is not all for profit.
The Girls with Power Tools proprietors plan to use 10 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the home to purchase laptop computers for students in the neighborhood or in other parts of San Diego. They are also considering purchasing wireless internet cards for needy families.
Haller will dedicate another 10 percent to Guitars in the Classroom, a Mission Valley nonprofit that trains educators on using music to enhance education.
Haller said it feels wonderful to give back to the community where she started her teaching career, and where she feels at home. She spent nearly nine years at Emerson-Bandini Elementary, which is less than two miles from the house on South 26th Street. Later she transferred to Webster Elementary.
“I love coming back to the neighborhood I started in … being here … it just feels good to go down the street every day and see everything that I love about being Mexican,” Haller said.
Macias and Haller started their home-renovation company earlier this year, after flipping four other properties independently.
Macias was a Realtor and eviction agent before she began helping clients with distressed properties by renovating the homes.
With the pandemic in full swing, and a temporary ban on evictions, there
