Laurie's World

Day 3 started at 8am…so a little earlier. I was up and already showered though as I was unsure when the sewer pipe to the tanks would be out of commission. As it happens, it was not cut at all today as they spent a good chunk of the day getting ready to cut the pipe. They had to core drill through the existing foundation where the new exit is going to be…They rented a 4" drill and the pipe was 4 1/4", so they spent a bunch of time chipping at the hole to make it bigger. They did however bust up the electric switch that controls the tank pumps…so while we technically HAVE all the plumbing…we have to use it with caution until the switch is fixed bcz the tanks are not being pumped out to the field, and if they fill up…we are in a bad spot. It will be Monday at the earliest…could be longer. Had a an window place and another electrician out today for quotes…We have to make some of these decisions…particularly the windows as they can take up to 5 weeks to be manufactured. The guys cut out at 6pm today…so a little early HAHA. I am such a mean boss…the jokes are flyin’ about getting me my own hard hatIt will be quiet here for the weekend, but a very aggressive time schedule had been set for next week…so we will see how they do!

Here is what the house looks like from the front street…no pillar, just some fancy 2x4s holding up that porch roof

Here is the house from the side…see what I mean about my poor lawn!

Day 2 got off to a slow start, they guys came about 11 am with 2 jack hammers. The plan was to jack hammer out the porch as well as the thick part of the patio in the back that they could not get out with the Trac Hoe yesterday. OK…this is the noisiest thing I have EVER heard. it is in stereo…I can’t even think!! So the back is all done in about 2 hours, and I go and look in the front and there is barely a corner chipped on the porch. It is so very thick! So the 2 guys worked on the front and did not finish it until after 8 tonight. We are talking about a 7×5 square of concrete…but 3 feet thick…they found the septic waste pipe coming out the back of the house and developed a plan to reroute it so it comes out the side of the house instead of the back. Dave is so great with the Trac Hoe…what talent…they have dug down to the foundation level in all three areas by 8:30pm, but there is a lot of hand digging to do now for the footings and all down by the drain pipes etc. They plan to come back by 8am as the material package for the footing forms is being delivered at 10:30 am tomorrow and they plan to finish the forms by Tuesday so they can get the forms inspection and be ready to pour (monopour) for Wednesday. Strip forms Thursday–and start framing on Friday. I am overwhelmed with all the things I need to do to keep this train moving…

Well, Day one was CRAZY. Troy and I got up early and took out the pool fence and cut down the trees in the forest that needed to be cleared so we can get a bigger patio poured. The guys showed up about 10:30 and blew out pretty much all the concrete in the patio in the very back, the patio up by the house as well as cleaned up all the trees and stumps in the forest for the new patio area. They spent quite a bit of time trying to crack into the front porch, but no luck…They need to come back tomorrow with a jack hammer to try and get that out, they think it is almost 3 feet thick. The lawn is getting pretty torn up, but that is OK…maybe it will scare the moles away I am excited but very nervous…

This is the porch being demo’d…note the nice rotten beam up at the top corner–consensus is a past roof leak–not sure what will have to be done to fix this…if we need to replace the whole beam or it can just be cut out and replaced. The only thing holding it all up was the decorative brick exterior. YIKES! So there will be some repair to do there…