A group of volunteers from Home Depot are set to paint, saw and hammer at a White Lake Township home today to finish the work an Army officer couldn’t before he was shipped off to Afghanistan.

Since 1st Lt. Joseph Prapotnik, 42, left in the spring, his wife, Melanie Prapotnik, and her 13-year-old daughter have lived with a shell of a bathroom, sliding doors that didn’t lock and other issues with the foreclosed home they bought prior to his deployment. A week after he ripped out the main bathroom, he got the call to duty.

To help, 25 volunteers from the Farmington Hills Home Depot worked Wednesday and planned to get back at it today to install tile, a new tub and a bathroom cabinet, rebuild stairs and patio railings, replace three sliding doors with alarms on each and finish other odd jobs at the Prapotniks’ home on Grass Lake Road.

“I’ve been stopping myself from crying all the time,” Prapotnik, 40, said Wednesday, near two workers buttering thinset on walls for a new limestone and glass tile backsplash. She particularly praised store manager Dennis Sanders. “He’s taking care of me like my husband would. Really, what he’s giving us is more than just things — it’s peace of mind.”

The effort is part of Home Depot’s 2012 Celebration of Service to help those in the military and their families. Between Sept. 11 and Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the company expects to participate in more than 300 projects nationwide that focus on veteran housing.Click here to read more

Farmington Hills Home Depot employees take a break from working and surround Melanie Prapotnik, front and center, outside of her home in White Lake Township on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. Melanie Prapotnik’s husband, 1st Lt. Joseph Prapotnik, is serving with the Army Reserve in Afghanistan, where he’ll be stationed until next spring. Home Depot stepped in to help her with her home repairs. Photo by PATRICIA BECK, DFP