Day 3 Concrete & Stuff

Yesterday I actually had a day off from work and as I did chores I was able to try and stay out of the workers way.

Hofer Concrete Construction is who is doing the concrete work.  These guys really hustle and work hard.  I can see that what they do is not an easy job.
They finished setting up the ICF and in pulled the first Croell truck.

My only complaint is that the first driver came down the hill so fast no one thought he was going to be able to stop with a full load on.

Here is a short time lapse of the concrete going in yesterday.

The guys worked until the rain moved in.  

They smoothed off the top of the walls and left.

Today they are putting the drain 'tile' around the basement, putting the water proofing on the walls and putting 'washed' rock over the drain tile.

I just ran out and got some shots before I have to run off to my next work shift.

Siera was really not too happy about watching the big concrete trucks.

She kept going behind Fred for protection.

And Micah was extremely ho hum about the whole thing.

She felt it was just another day in mule land.

It has begun!

The day finally arrived and it came with a lot of action.  One moment all was quiet and the next, workers were here and things were started.

I put up a Trail Camera and let it run while I was gone at work.  Rich was home and got to observe the work all day long.

The excavators found that our little house is perched on rock.  

Here is a time lapse video of the day taken by my Moultrie Trail Cam while I was at work.  It is sort of boring, but it helped me see what I missed all day.  It is 8 minutes long.

When I got home from work I walked around the place and took a few shots.

Old view:

New view:

See the rock?  I wished that could stay as the basement wall, wouldn't that have been a conversation piece?  Alas the sandstone would make a mess.  Still, I love the colors.

Here is another view of the rock, the basement hole and looking west towards where the drain for the basement will exit.

Then a view from the west side.  This ditch is the where the drain tile for the floor drain will be laid.

Well there is the west side of the house peeking out from behind the pile of rock, dirt, and sand.  It takes up most of the yard and nearly extends to my 'Dog Garden'.

One more view of the basement.  And NO I did not climb down into it!

Yesterday the concrete guys started putting in the ICF's after they put in the footers.
[Insulated Concrete Forms]

Very short video of that:

My camera was blocked by a vehicle for most of the day so not much to see here. They were working in the hole anyway.

Here is the partially installed ICF's...

The concrete guys are here this morning and I need to go out and get chores and set up a camera for when the concrete truck arrives.

Things are moving rather quickly and as far as I am concerned rather smoothly, except I suppose for running into solid rock when doing the digging.

Guess what, it has started!

Sorry just a few shots to wet your appetite.
I was gone when they started the Big Dig.

Of course it was not sand under the house, but rock.  Beautiful sandstone rock, it didn't take two hours but more like all day.  I have a time lapse 10 minute video of the day's events, but I am too tired to upload it tonight.

It will have to wait a bit.

I'll try and update this on Wednesday which is my day off this week.

Rain Delay

Digging the basement was supposed to start on Monday.
However Mother Nature has opposed the start of the excavation.

Luckily though we are not having Texas weather.

I took this photo on Sunday and walked into the frame and stood.
Shot in Infrared so the grass would appear white.

I had planned on taking a photo in this spot after the hole was dug or at least started.
However due to a rain delay, I will have to wait.

Excavator?

This is not the excavator.  It will come tomorrow sometime.

But I started things with my own little shovel by removing the blocks we've used for so many years as our stepping stones into the cottage.

The yard looks very strange without them.  But this is where the digging will take place.

In fact while doing chores yesterday I turned around while feeding Lil' Richard and thought that the house looked so terribly forlorn and barren.

All the plants and perennials have been moved over the past year from around the house.
Two of our beautiful pine trees are now gone.

Of course here is a view from 2010 when we had 3 more pines and from a different viewpoint.

I can't wait to see the 'new' cottage.  It sure does need an update inside and out.

Yesterday we spent time moving things around so when the heavy machinery is delivered they will be able to turn around safely and easily.
The horse trailer/mule trailer had to be moved, as well as the skid steer's implements.

Things have finally dried out enough around here so that we are not in 'mudville' any longer.

Let the Excavation Begin!

He said the tree has to go.

I didn't want to loose another pine tree, but I could see the sense in it.

So in the afternoon we proceeded with it.

I took video.

He lays it down exactly where he intends on putting it.  Between two other pines.

And now we had a big mess.  Branches all over the place.  We started to clean it up. We tossed the pieces we cut up to fit the bucket on the skid steer and Rich hauled it away to a brush pile out back.

The tree was truly too close to the house and if we'd had a bad windstorm he was afraid it would to damage to the roof as it was heavy with branches over the top of the house.

However I did enjoy having coffee in the morning and watching the silly squirrels and birds scamper up and down this tree for the past 20 years.

It looks rather bare right now but I imagine with a new porch near where hubby is standing will fill in some space.
We briefly talked about some shrubs or low lying plants to plant near the house.

His mind wasn't on it.  He was exhausted after that and went to lay down for a bit.
My neighbor came down because he'd heard the chain saw going.

Within minutes he pitched in and helped me stack up the rest of the branches so they could easily be hauled away.
New neighbor!  Talk about being blessed and lucky.

It only took us an hour this morning to clean this up.  The tree trunk is still there.  We will drag it away and hopefully sell it as a nice pine log.

And then Morris and I worked today on cleaning up the small stuff and replanting the hostas that had been at the base of the pine.
They would need a new home and I had just the place for them.

My helper.

This afternoon a couple of trucks pulled into the driveway.  It was our Contractor Kurt and his concrete/digging guys.
They came to look at where they were going to put the basement.

Kurt said he was looking at sometime next week to start digging.
We had a conversation about not having water as they will have to cut the lines and re-attach them.
We also had a conversation about not having electricity.  Hmmm.  

Where they have to dig, the electric and water must be cut off for obvious reasons.

I'm guessing we'll have an interesting time.
Hopefully we won't be without for more than 24 hrs as I will need to find places for my freezer and refrigerated food.  Also we will need to fill stock tanks and add more water to some of our old stock tanks.

It will be an exercise won't it?  So the tree went, the contractors are itching to start and things are looking good in the long range forecast.

Sounds like I best get busy and pack up the rest of the 'stuff' that will need to be moved inside the house.
Yikes, it is almost here!

Picking floor, cabinets, countertops, and doors!

I want to give Artie of Johnson's One Stop for doing such hard work yesterday.  His ideas were helpful and he kept us from making a mess of things.

We are going to go with the Light Hickory Cabinets with a rather simple front.
Here is a sample of what it will look like. Mind you this is not our kitchen design itself.

The flooring will be a lighter color as the countertops will be a dark color.  I went with a greyish colored wood laminate floor.

It will cover the mudroom floor, the kitchen and eating area.

There is enough warmth in it to pick up on the hickory and the designs in the counter top.

I posted this photo before. 

The bathroom will have a stone look to it. The shower and toilet will be white and I may even pick white for the vanity.

Again there is enough texture to make it interesting yet it will work with the colors I pick for accents.

However, the bedroom floor is my win-win. I saw it, I liked it and I always wanted something fun and interesting.  

Rustic!  Looks like a barn floor!

I think the flooring will make me a happy person.
Here is a sample of the old worn out kitchen floor.  
We have peeled all loose stick 'em tiles and in my opinion it was always ugly ugly. But we knew we'd eventually change it.

I'll see if I can find the doors that we'll be putting on the house. Rich had decided green, I wanted barn red.
Guess who won?

I like barn red, I like red. The gables on the house will have barn red shakers.  Isn't that cool?
I hope so.

I'll be living here a long time I hope!