i went through a recovery house for 8 months but i chose not to do SalVa. like you stated you work for room and board and they give you literally $1.00 a week. personally a recovery house worked better for me. the one i went through had a schedule like this:
MON: 8-9pm (peer group) 9:30-10pm (General Inspection)
TUES: 7-8:30 (family meeting/AA meeting) 9:30-10pm (General Inspection)
WED: 8-9pm (peer group) 9:30-10pm (GI)
THURS: wanders AA meeting 9:30-10pm (GI)
SAT: 8:30-9am (GI)
SUN: 9:30-10pm (GI) 10:00-11:00pm (wrap-up)
the rest of the time your free to find a job of your liking. at my house we had 18 guys. peer group is when the house splits up into little groups and everyone shares about where they're at. on thursdays everyone travels as a house to a different AA meeting each week.
the requirements were do a 90/90. get a sponser and work steps. pay $120 rent weekly. once you do your 4th step and schedule your 5th step with your sponser, the managers and the sponser talk and you get off curfew. curfew is 1am but once off curfew you can take up to 3 overnights a week if you choose.
it was the best thing i ever did.