For the weekend, Bethany was hanging out at wedding showers, so I was accompanied by my father-in-law. The plan was to dig out the footings underneath the current bathroom and what was left of the porch. We discovered that the piers that were currently supporting the structure were not at all solid (they were shaky, cracked, and about 8" below the ground!), so we set about to dig out proper footings for that end of the house. I attacked a tree stump that was directly next to one pier while my FIL worked on another section. I eventually ended up hooking up my truck (the one Bethany used to give me such a hard time about driving... HEATED SEATS!!!) and pulling the stump out after some digging and hacking away at it. I may or may not have slightly moved one of the piers in the process (oops!), but the stump was no more. I then set about digging between the piers to allow for the footing to be poured.
One of the many downsides of Bethany not being around to help was the lack of photographic documentation... oh well. We got the first two footings dug out, and then I set about to digging the last one. My FIL was exhausted, so I was mostly alone for the last one. By the time I was done, my arms ached and I was pretty tired out too, but we felt really good about getting so much done!
On Sunday, my father-in-law called and suggested that we remove two of the piers that were not really doing much. We wanted to pour the footings in one run as much as possible, so we decided that Monday
evening I would go out and help him make temporary supports and remove the two piers. After supporting the two corners with wood beams braced on cement block, we smashed and removed the piers:
We are taking a break to visit family for Spring Break, but check back after that to see the new footings and our progress!
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