There Will be More Concrete....

There Will Be More Concrete....

July 10th -- I came home this afternoon to find the forms for the foundation walls in the process of being set up for the next concrete pour on Friday.

This photo shows the footer for the staircase that will go into the basement that was poured yesterday with the form for the foundation walls in the process of being set up.

 This photo shows the footer of the west wall addition with the "bump out" for the future fireplace and part of the form for the foundation wall.

 Another view of the footer for the west wall of the addition along with the back entry mudroom.  A very nice thing for me to look forward to next winter is the idea that after it snows, I won't have much shoveling to do to get from the rear of the house to the garage!

 These next photos show how the north wall of the gathering room addition has to have a 5 foot set back from the property line to meet today's code while the original wall of the house does not meet that code.  This shot also shows why the basement door needs to be moved to the south to align with  the stairs to the basement and with the set back wall of the gathering room addition.  

To further fuel my obsession with the very scary brick foundation that my house rests on, these photos, particularly this one, show just how these rows of brick somehow have kept this old house standing for 110 years.  It is a really good thing that I live where there are no major or minor active earthquake faults!

While the foundation work has been progressing, I have been working on selecting plumbing fixtures (no small feat), fireplaces (a lot of heat), and today was the first meeting with the kitchen designer (very neat).  

Each of these adventures will be featured in their own forthcoming blog posts.

But now, another intermittent installment of....

Lessons learned:

1.  The contractor did his best to "warn" me about demolition and how some of his clients call him in tears when they see parts of their house demolished, but he didn't really warn me about the toll that would be taken to the yard due to:  a) bringing the excavation machines through the yard to the excavation site; and b) the digging, setting up forms, pouring concrete and the like. 

a.  It has been a big challenge to maintain order and to keep the yard from dying.  Not only was I unprepared for cut sprinkler lines, but there are ruts in the previously even lawn from where the excavator machinery rolled into and out of the yard on it's treads.

b.  I knew that there would be digging for the foundation, but I was not prepared for how much digging and that big piles of dirt would be piled on what was once very green healthy lawn because it would be needed later to back fill around the walls of the foundation.  With all this digging dirt has been flying everywhere leaving behind a thin coat of dirt/grime everywhere inside the house that is impossible to keep under control.  In my full-on zen mode I am no longer trying to clean it; I've given up the fight to become one with the dirt.  

The two big take home points here -- First, get used to adapting to living in a level of dirt and dust that resembles camping.  Second, make sure to budget some cash for a total landscaping renovation job that will include replacing the entire sprinkler system, fencing, lawn/ground cover, walkways, and shrubs.