The Bailey residence on Sheridan Street in Seabrook is receiving an extreme makeover this week courtesy of more than 20 local contractors who are providing parts and labor free of charge.
The contractors have been working on the residence around the clock since Monday morning, busily infusing the home with their own spin on the popular home repair reality show ‘‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which spends one week completely renovating the homes of struggling families.
The contractors have installed new siding, new roofing, new piping, new windows, new electrical wiring, new smoke detectors, new gutters, a new garage door and remote, a new drainage system and a new bathroom sink and shower stall for the Baileys, a family of three unemployed adults.
Matthew Holmes, the owner of Glenn Dale-based Matt’s Gutter Service and the driving force behind organizing the home makeover effort, said the approximate cost of improvements being made to the home is between $120,000 and $130,000.
The family is struggling to pay for basic necessities such as food and clothing and do not have the money to pay for the necessary improvements to the residence.
Sharon Bailey, 59, has adenoid cystic carcinoma, an incurable form of cancer; a mentally-retarded adult daughter, Sonya, 39, for whom she is the primary caregiver; and a husband, Charles, 65, who struggles to speak and fend for himself after three strokes and a heart attack.
The family’s monthly fixed income, which comes entirely from Social Security and disability benefits, is approximately $2,735. A third of their monthly income is for medical premiums and they pay $1,148 per month in mortgage payments.
While the home repairs continue, the Baileys are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Greenbelt in a room donated by the hotel.
Sharon Bailey said the family is trying to rest as much as they can there.
‘‘It’s tiring right now because it’s a big change,” Sharon Bailey said. ‘‘But it’s a change for the good, a change for the better.”
She said she was grateful for the efforts of all the contractors working on her home.
‘‘I never realized that there are so many people out there who when they know that you need help they’re willing to provide it,” Sharon Bailey said. ‘‘I never, ever dreamed there were that many people willing to help us and come give support.”
Sharon Bailey said the improvement to the home she is most excited about is the installation of the new, wider shower stall, which will make it easier for her to bathe her wheelchair-bound daughter.
Holmes met the Baileys a year after he was released from prison in 1993.
Holmes said the Baileys helped him ‘‘transition into society” after he got out of prison. He said Charles Bailey loaned him tools and helped him with work on his car and Sharon Bailey helped him with his finances and opening up a bank account.
He stayed in touch with the Baileys over the years, helping to take care of Sonya and doing odd jobs around the house. With this large-scale remodeling, Holmes said he wants to repay the Baileys for the kindness they showed him during a difficult time in his life, especially now that the family is struggling so mightily.
‘‘I knew how bad things had gotten for them on some things but not on all of it,” Holmes said. ‘‘It was about a month or so ago when they told me they didn’t have any meat on their plate for about a week. I got to thinking about that and realized I needed to do something more for them.”
Holmes said he began seriously considering the makeover effort three weeks ago when he began contacting contractors.
‘‘I called a couple contractor friends of mine and asked them if they were willing to do some things to this house and help this family out and they all told me they were,” Holmes said. ‘‘Then I went on ahead and started calling all the contractors I could find in the Yellow Pages.”
Some of the more than 20 contractors Holmes found and who have become involved in the project include Wayne-Dalton Garage Doors and Openers, a Jessup-based company, Aquaguard Waterproofing Corporation, a Beltsville-based company, Benedict Metal Works, an Upper Marlboro-based company, Hawkins Electric Service, a Beltsville-based company, and Bowers Inc., a Bowie-based company.
On Monday, eight trucks, many loaded with tools and building materials, could be seen parked outside the house. A pile of aluminum siding sat in the front lawn, cardboard boxes filled with insulation lined the porch and two men hammered away atop the roof while two others worked to install a new garage door.
Vince Delair, a distribution center manager for Wayne-Dalton, was outside the home on Monday morning installing the new garage door.
‘‘Wayne-Dalton is a very family-oriented company,” Delair said. ‘‘We’re always willing to come out and do these sorts of things.”
David Haber, a contractor for Hawkins, was helping to install a new electrical feeder for the home.
‘‘Anytime you can help people that need help, it’s certainly a good thing,” Haber said. ‘‘That’s why I wanted to be here.”
E-mail Jonathan Stein at jstein@gazette.net.
