In 4 hours...

Crew came in about 10, broke at 2 for lunch. As normal, click on pix to enlarge.

From the SW corner of house, looking roughly east. AM and PM.
From the driveway, looking west. AM and PM.

(accidentally posted without pix - check later for photos)

Concrete guy showed up Tuesday (19th) and began measuring for setting up forms. It didn't take long for him to realize that the excavated area at crawlspace (back third of addition footprint) was about 4 inches above the required elevation. Thursday morning , the excavator returned to dig out the last bit so the concrete sub can start setting forms, as early as the weekend. The configuration of the section underneath the Garage completely changed; there's a shallow trench around the perimeter now, probably to allow for footings. Perhaps we will have first concrete pour for footings on Monday.

Before the redig

and after

the new trench, space for footin

We lost about 4 feet in our bedroom when they took out that bay window. The inset on the temporary wall is necessary for eventual access to foundation, as the new stairwell will be installed in that area. The work done last week was occurring just at the beginning of a heat wave not seen here for about 15 years. We had 4 or 5 days in the range of 95-105 degrees and all of a sudden no ventilation or light in the bedroom. It started raining on Monday with about a 30-degree dip in temperature. It's been raining off and on all week, and I love it. Mud, be damned. I thought I was gonna die in that heat.

Day 002 - Excav Done

Well, you can get a better idea of the size of addition. The excavator is gone; he took most of the fill dirt, but left some for landscaping, etc. We still have soft spots in the backyard from the sewer fun a month ago, so this will help with filling in.

Crawlspace for office (back 40% of first floor) is about 4 feet deep.

The garage floor will be poured slab on grade, roughly the same elevation as the sidewalk.

Foundation guy will do site visit and prep on Saturday.

Finally, what is this?

Day 001 - WHOO HOO!

We have officially broken ground. We no longer have a side yard or driveway; we do have a shallow hole in the ground.

Some of the pix are fuzzy; I took some when I got home, but couldn't get them out of camera so I had to run out real quick and take some different ones just as sun was setting.

Wow! It's finally really really happening.

Crawlspace for underneath the office.

Starting over again

Excavator is supposed to be here tomorrow AM. Let's take one more look at what is/was, and one more look at what we should end up with.

We did not paint this weekend; L thinks we should prime the Garage before painting. I think we should torch the Garage, but I was overruled. However, we did get the sample paints and this is what they're supposed to be. The darker tan for the main color, the lighter tan for the windowsills, door jams, etc. The red is the second trim color - the darkest color on the red column.

Maybe tomorrow I can post pix of another backhoe in the yard - this time digging for a HOUSE and not a sewer line. Then it should finally sink in that this is a real project and not just some abstract concept that L and I get to argue about. Today an email conversation about whether or not to get a sewing machine morphed into where the closets should go in the bonus/guest room.

Oh and The Kid talked to the Coast Guard recruiter today. Although she has several years with Sea Scouts and two years of general studies at PCC, she can't enter the service as an officer (cough, cough, smile). She could enlist as a newbie (what do they call them in the Coast Guard? "coasties?"). Maybe she thought that, as an officer, she wouldn't have to swab the decks or clean the head?

Hurry up and wait

Well, the gas was turned back on Monday after the July 4th holiday. 8 days without gas stovetop or hot water. We take so much for granted, don't we?

Not much going on visually, hence no pix, but L has been working on the contractor's bid. They are all over the map. Excavator - $900-6,000. Concrete guy $2,200 - 7,000. I'm pretty sure he requested bids in U.S. dollars, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Last week, an electrical crew moved the existing electrical panel in the basement, a couple feet to the right of where it was. It's previous location was right where the new stairs are going. We think. Sometimes, it's hard to read these drawings. L had already relocated the plumbing supply line, as he didn't think the inspector would cotton to a water line hanging directly over the panel. Good call. L was without power for 6-8 hours but the fridge and freezer were generally OK. Of course, he opened the fridge up as little as possible and the freezer not at all. None of us have died of salmonella so I assume it was fine.

Excavator is due to start on Monday - THEN it will seem real, when they start tearing up the driveway. Since I was hoping this would happen in March, I am more than ready.

Hurry up and wait

Well, it is now 8 days/nights that we will have been without gas for water heater and stovetop. It was apparently a perfect storm of incorrectly assuming the architect pulled all the permits, getting a request in to the City after getting the necessary permit and then to the gas company. I am ready to kick some a$$ at the gas company if they are not out here by 9AM. L wants to wait until noon and then call them.

While we cool our jets, I'll show you the condition of our backyard and some of the buried goodies.

L found a lot of medicine bottles, many for various skin ailments. He took pix of those, but they are on his $$$ camera that I shouldn't touch (grin). I think the back corner of lot was just a dumping ground for anything that couldn't be used as fertilizer on lawn or garden. We've been raking and moving some of the excavated soil back to its previous resting place, but there is a LOT left over because of course, it went back in a lot looser than when he dug it out.

You start with a hole in the ground

or several. We broke ground today with the plumbers excavator opening up new trenches for the sewer line. The gas meter guy left a little patch, about a yard square, of uprooted soil, which they will RESEED after they're done (!!). The back yard, well, that will take a little more work.