I can see my yard again!

May 2nd, the cement guys arrived early to get the basement floor prepared for pouring concrete.

The plumbers have installed the drain and have run the water up through the bottom.

I grab a quick shot while the guys are waiting for the concrete to arrive.

Rich watches the contractors working.  He likes to keep an eye on things.

The floor is poured and then another truck comes in with a mix of concrete and pebbles [the technical terms were explained to me but I don't recall them!] to fill in the gap between the house on the slab and the rock wall below it.

Rich gets down and helps the concrete guys.

Here they are filling the 'gap' between the basement wall and the house.

Now if you recall, when the basement was dug, it was discovered that the house was on sandstone.  

Here it is:

And now with the basement finished and the gap filled.

End of day 7 of construction.

Items that were left to be completed were backfilling and running out the drain pipes for the drainage around the basement walls and the drain for the basement floor.

Remember that BIG ditch?

This is where the drains are to run off and direct water away from the house.

Here is the ditch with the drain tile in it and the water drain [it is buried by sand].

A job well done by Kurt from Crooked Creek Construction, LLC.

While the guys were doing that I went around to take a photo of Morris in the yard with the house in the backround.  
Looking at the house now I can see how badly things need repair.

One of the other things I want to show is how ugly things are pre-remodel and how things will look in comparison when it is all done.

I came home from work yesterday and found out that Kurt had come out with a skid steer and cleaned up that huge pile of dirt and sand.
Rich had moved the pile of gravel and dirt that had been graded out of the driveway.

Imagine my surprise at being able to pull up to my old parking area!

However, I still need to walk around the house to get inside.  But no more ditches!

There will be some extensive yard work to be done after this job.
We discussed hiring a guy with a dozer to come in and re-grade the driveway, then put in a new rock base and add gravel on top.

This was something we were meaning to do but had decided to wait until the remodel was finished.

The Little House Remodel Saga continues.

Thoughts on remodeling

It means change and it means a lot of adjusting for a period of time.
I think the 'digging' of the basement and the adjustment of using the 'south' door for entering and coming in has gone pretty smoothly.

My living room and other rooms have plastic totes full of stuff that I've sorted through and gotten out of the way.  The little space we had as the entry way was packed with 'stuff'.  20 years of stuff crammed into a small tiny space.  I sometimes wonder where we got all of that?

I am now faced with putting the winter garments away -- whoops?  Where? And pulling out the summer jackets.  No place to hang them at this time, so the chore boots go on a rug in front of the couch. The jackets get tossed on top of the totes.

My youngest son sent me a nice email explaining that he and his family would love to come and visit and see the construction.  I was pleasant in my reply letting him know that there was barely enough room for Rich and I to get around and we had no extra space at this time.

I'm thinking that I am probably more overwhelmed by all of the sudden changes that have happened this past week because I had an extremely heavy work schedule.  Plus Rich hadn't felt well and still doesn't feel quite up to par.

He was rather upset to come back from turning the water off/on to see that the plumber guys helped themselves to our shovels in our shed and hadn't bothered to clean them off.  
Rich is fastidious about his equipment.  Shovels are to be cleaned after each use. He is absolutely a fanatic about that.  Yet those two shovels lay against the shed entry with sand stuck to them.

He wondered why the plumbers could show up in a nice shiny truck and not have shovels when they knew they would have to use them!

It will be minor things like this that will test our patience, especially when I have to take apart the kitchen when they take down the wall that has the sink in it to extend the kitchen.  
When things get a bit overwhelming, I close my eyes and imagine how nice it will be when things are wrapped up.

And then I start to dream about how I will work on landscaping and how much I will enjoy the new space.

I guess the motto ought to be, one day at a time.

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!