Rootin' Around

Well, well here we are again, after almost a month!  After recovering from poison ivy, Spring Break, and yucky colds that kept us occupied for a bit, we are back in the saddle.

Dad was planning on having the cement poured in the ditches dug on the east side of the house while we were away on Spring Break, but there were some delays.  We were on hold because of a tree "trunk" (later was found to be some really thick root systems) that was found under one of the piers Gabe was going to have to remove with his truck hitch.  Dad had the dumpster removed so the cement pourers would have easier access to that side of the house.  We put the cement truck on hold until we could get the root taken care of.

Last weekend we came out on Friday to finalize the foundation.  Gabe worked on getting the ditch deeper, since the requirement is 30" at its shortest spot.  Here is Gabe working on the channel, from two different directions:

It was my job to level and clean up the "crawl space" since there was all the dirt from inside the kitchen that got dumped out when we were preparing the inside crawl space.  There was an inordinate amount of glass and debris in the area for me to clean up.  When all was said and done, I had collected almost two large buckets full of glass and debris (mostly glass)!

There is the mound of dirt to Gabe's right in the picture above.  Notice the root in the foreground.  That isn't the problem child, but it will also need to be removed eventually!  Here is a picture of the notorious root Gabe hacked out with a hatchet:

Go Gabey go!

Notice the 1980's addition is being held up by a couple makeshift piers:

Dirt's flying!!!

This step isn't super glam, but it must be done.  It's important to do the foundation right.

                                                                 View from the south                        This ditch is deep

All that digging is hard work!!

The next day, we got a late start, around 11, but it didn't matter since we didn't have a whole lot to do.  It was a gorgeous day to boot!  A little warm at times, but beautiful, none-the-less.

I was again working on cleaning up the crawl space under the addition:

SOOOO much glass!!!

Mom & Dad brought us lunch, soo nice!

Here's Dad in the ditch patching the waterline:  Hi Dad!

Here is the new and improved ditch, ready for concrete footings and a slab to be poured.

In the above picture notice the discarded pier in the background.  Also notice the "tchotchkes" (as I like to refer to them; it's a fun word to say, n'est pas?) in the foreground that were excavated in the vicinity, especially at the entrance/exit to the kitchen crawl space.

                                                                                       Close up on the ditch                   Crawl space all clean!

Here's Gabe taking a break before getting up on the roof to remove the brick chimney stack of which we would have documentation, but mom accidentally took video of the inside of her pocket instead!!  Oooupa!  ;)  Sorry, no video this week!

The leftover pile of bricks Dad made after Gabe pulled them down off the roof:

Daffodils!!!

Meanwhile, Mom was busy cleaning away the brush and large stones from around the spring house.  I came and helped after while.  Mostly, we wanted to make sure the poison ivy was ripped out.

Must wear gloves and wash up real good!--poison ivy is not our friend.

Welp, we called it a day a bit early today, since I had a bachelorette party to get to and we needed to make sure we got the poison ivy juices washed off immediately.  Here's a shot of the house after we got the ditches covered with plastic.  We don't have a dumpster right now, so surrounding areas look a little messy.  We also covered the pulled poison ivy branches with plastic so they could die without us having to burn them.

Cement is scheduled to be poured on Friday.  See you next week!

Of Piers and Footings

This is Gabe this time. The past week has been eventful, and not necessarily in a good way. Last weekend after working with our friends, Evan and I ended up with a little surprise on Sunday/Monday:

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!

Floor-less house & Friends

Howdy!  Bethany here.  It has been a while since I have last posted about our adventures--this is because I have been so busy with school, not for lack of progress.  I have promised pictures of our little floor-less house in the mountains....so here goes!

As I stated in the last blog post Gabe and Dad had pulled up the remainder of the first-floor flooring in the house the weekend previous as snow flurries were deciding whether or not to stick, the wind was howling, and I was finishing a school project.  (Mom was away on a birding boating trip that weekend.)  This particular weekend we had the most gorgeous weather imaginable for the dead of winter--not to mention we were having friends come to help us out!  God is blessing our socks off!!

Friday we worked to pare down the pile of wood flooring sitting on the porch.  I have a mind to re-purpose it as wood panel wainscoting in the dining & powder rooms.  It is good flooring, minus the 100 years of wear in some spots.  It looks like it has been sanded down and re-finished a couple of times.  Our friend Mark, who has his own construction business remodeling old houses in D.C. and came over to help the next day, thought our wood flooring is heart pine, a desirable wood that isn't sold in stores anymore, and can only be found reclaimed from old houses.  That was exciting news!  So, Gabe sawed off the un-salvagable parts while I worked to carry the goods upstairs where we actually still had flooring.

Our pile of pine

Here is from whence it came:

Notice the rubble stone foundation

                                                                                            Remember this?                                       Now this

                                                                               Plywood for ease of walking     Crawl space opening on left

Gabe and I (mostly Gabe) then worked on removing the mess of electrical wire from down below.

Isn't he a cutie??!?

My dad stopped by to check out the scene:

Here's how the conversation went regarding this photo:

Dad: That was my sexy pose!

Me: That was the first thing that I thought of.

Gabe: chuckling from the background :)

Dad made a fascinating discovery---the 1955 kitchen/dining room addition was completely level from front to back!!!

Impressive!

                                                                                         silly series of a photographer in a new jumpsuit

Done for the evening!

Saturday was an awful lot of fun.

We were all prepared with water bottles, snacks and gloves for friends and fun to begin.  Three couples from our small group were to come out to help.  The first couple, Evan & Sarah arrived promptly at 10:00 am, then Andrew and Becca with their toddler Carter, and general contractor Mark (his wife/toddler couldn't make it).  While the guys were trooping around, getting a general tour, Sarah and I realized we had a mutual acquaintance in the area!  My friend from church growing up, Kim, is Sarah's sister-in-law!  What fun is that?  Kim was in the area with her three little girls, so they were able to stop by and bask in the sun with us!!

The guys got right to work after examining the plans Mom & Dad brought out after while.  Us ladies took a walk around the small little town and then sat out on a blanket in the side yard and watched the kiddos play.

Barn nearly across the street from our house

                                                               Walking down the center of town    beauty in Eye of the Beholder

Another beautiful house nearby

View of our house from the furthest point on our lot

See how the house is nestled in the side of a mountain?

In the above photo, Dad is removing unnecessary plywood from the side of the house.  Mom wanted to get to work too, so she worked upstairs carefully removing nails from the floor boards of heart pine.

The order of the day was to get a vapor barrier and gravel to cover the floor in the crawl spaces.  Another job cropped up too, the need for a few underpinnings (additional supports under the existing foundation) on the shallow side of the north wall.  Mark and Andrew worked on that while Evan leveled out the ground and assisted Gabe on the other side.

Here is a fun video of the guys at work:

Gabe filling up some buckets to carry gravel inside:

Good picture of Evan:

The results of their hard work:

Here is Mark and Andrew working on some serious underpinnings:

I thought it was funny that they were chucking dirt out this window onto some plastic outside.

                                Chucking dirt out the window                          Those are some pretty sweet underpinnings

Meanwhile outside, us ladies were chillin' on a blanket watching the kids and talking :)

Becca pointed out this sweet cloud:

Around 1:00 pm, Becca, Carter and I went a couple miles away to a country store to get us all sandwiches.  They were delicious!!  Kim left after lunch.  It was so good to see her and meet her three lovely daughters!!

Carter was exploring all around.  He saw the commotion with his daddy chucking dirt out the window and wanted to check it out:

He even found a cute perch on the dumpster:

Becca and Carter left mid-afternoon so he could get a good nap.  All that excitement must have worn him out!!  Dad Andrew and Mark, in for the long haul, intended on carpooling back to Reston together.

Evan and Gabe eventually moved outside to clean up debris under the bathroom now that the plywood around the foundation was removed.  I warned them of poison ivy....

The branch/stump like thing in the middle of this photo looks pretty un-obrusive, but not so.  They were working for a while to uproot that pesky thing!  Eventually, the next weekend, Gabe had to attach it to his truck to pull it free.....  Also notice the bowl Gabe was chucking in the bucket trash can.  I pulled it back out as an artifact to keep.  Silly Gabey!

See, its a part of a still-life we composed, artfully inspired by Andrew.

All in all, it was more than a success, thanks to all of our amazing and wonderful friends.

I even got a sunburn!!!  YES!!!!!!!  Hey, anything that reminds me it's not the dead of winter gets me going.  The forecast had said around 55 degrees, but really, I think it was upwards of 70.

Many hands make for light work!!!  Or something like that.

Thanks again folks!!