Days 9, 10 and 11...Catching Up

Here we are 1 1/2 weeks into the project and have a basement floor! The cement guy, Adam, was here today around 4:00 and poured the floor. Here is a summary of the last few days:

The cement truck was a tight fit between the two houses

Pouring the floor

All done!

Day 10

Wednesday, or Day 10, the basement was prepared for the pouring of the floor. They came with a water pump and pumped out all the water that had accumulated in our hole, laid down plastic on top of the rock and punched a hole in the wall. The hole was necessary so they could measure the floor height (or something :).

Water pump in corner

Day 9

After learning that cleaning the "new" interior wall was our responsibility, Brian borrowed my dad's power washer and cleaned the wall. What a manly toy to play with...

Day 8: Backfill

While the boys and I were out terrorizing the local grocery store (see their blog for that story!) today, the addition got backfilled. Our mound of dirt is no more! While I didn't see the building inspector come I guess we passed since work continued.

Day 6: The Day We Became Everyone's Favorite Neighbors

(note to readers: Day 6 was Saturday)

On Saturday we once again earned the titled of, "Favorite Neighbor." We first earned this titled on a hot Sunday morning, around 7:00 am in September 2004. This was the day that a very sketchy looking, foul smelling, shirtless guy showed up with a jack hammer and a pair of sandals to bust up our concrete slab during our new garage project. Yes, you read that correctly and are inferring beautifully...7:00 am, jack hammer, Sunday morning - who wouldn't love us? Since neighbors on either side of us are new (since Sept. 2004) it seemed appropriate for us to remind everyone why they should love us.

Saturday morning we knew someone would be at our house around 7:00 am so at 6:20 when I heard some pounding I just assumed it was the boys. Brian had gone running and was showering while I was in the basement getting caught up on the blogs (incidentally, I was dressed, presentable and ready for my day). I kept thinking, "why don't the boys just get up? They are in beds, nothing is holding them back!" when Brian yelled down, "The masons are here!" The pounding that I was hearing was them walking on our roof as they prepared to rebuild our chimney. Shortly after I went out and wished them a good morning their saw was busy sawing bricks. At least Jake and Tanya are early risers, Jake had just come back from his run when things got started.

Around 7:00 the other crew arrived to install the egress window well and put up pink foam. We continue to be amazed at how fast this first part is going! We *might* have a basement floor and backfill by the end of this week, but maybe not. Initially we were told we shouldn't expect anything this week so we aren't expecting anything.

Brian did remember to ask about the exterior wall that is our new interior wall...it is our responsibility to clean it. He borrowed my father's power washer and hopes to get down in there this week and start washing. Otherwise, that room might get framed out and drywalled very quickly this fall!

Day 5: Much to Our Surprise

Today Brian had a comp day so he joined us on a visit to see my grandmother. Much to our surprise we came home to tarred (I think that's what you'd call them) walls and some new supplies.
It's hot...and it's only the beginning of summer. It probably will get a whole lot worse. The air conditioners that I got yesterday from a friend unfortunately won't fit in the boy's room. The windows are new and don't open as wide as we need them to. Lucky for us though, our old crappy windows fit the air conditioner perfectly. We bought a new dehumidifier today because after a little research we determined that our other one had bit the dust. While it ran, it really wasn't doing anything (the lack of water in the collection tank; the hot, humid basement; and the iced over innards were our clues). The new one has been running non-stop for the last 6 hours and there is a noticeable in the basement. All these small appliances...I retract the comment I made to Brian a week or so ago that went something like this, "Without central air, I wonder what our electric bill is going to be like?"

We were wrong about the work stopping...our egress window well is going to be attached to the cinder blocks tomorrow and there is a possibility our chimney is going to be rebuilt (and that's a whole 'nother story and project!).

Now We Wait...

My guess is that it will be about a week in a half before we have any more work done. We won't leave anyone hanging, if there are no posts there isn't anything to report. See you soon!

Day 3 - We Have Walls!

The "hole" early in the morning...

The new foundation in the evening!

It was decided today that we just can't take it (okay, Ethan and I). Tomorrow I'm picking up an air conditioner from a friend who is going to lend it to us for the summer. Ethan complained today about being too hot. Poor kid...

Day 2: Footing and Masonry

Here are the materials that were delivered later in the day. I guess it's a cinder block foundation; we weren't sure if it was going to be block or poured concrete.

Footings were poured today and we should have walls in the not to distant future! Both Brian and I went to work today so we missed all the excitement but I guess a remote controlled crane came and the boys called all the concrete, "mush." Our kitchen window is filthy with little boy face prints and hand prints; I guess it wouldn't take a detective to figure out where they are spending a lot of time these days!

It occurred to me recently that we never posted pictures of our dirt moving project from a few weeks ago. You are looking at the back of our garage and approximately 3 yards of dirt. After the garage was rebuilt in November 2004 we really needed to fill in the back. There was 6-8 inches of exposed foundation. Since the boys were born just a few weeks later it just never got done. We kept saying we should do it, but never did. This year was time. The stakes are supporting Brian's hops experiment and the clumps are a sedum ground cover. Eventually, this could look really nice!



Sunday afternoon our friend, Red Fox paid our yard a visit. I'm giving him/her all the credit for the lack of rabbit sightings we've had recently! One of our neighbors admitted he's a little cocky about his vegetable garden. He's not messing around with chicken wire because the fox has been so efficient this year.