Sunday, June 29

Before and After: Basement with Walls

Before
And AfterAnd After

Framing the Basement

We've been busy the past week as we started framing Last Saturday. Here's what we have accomplished that time. (I wish I had taken an "Our First Wall" photo, but the memory card was full, and I didn't have time to download all the pics to the computer, so alas, it is never to be had.)
Tom came over and spent all day Saturday helping Troy. They were able to get a lot done.
Troy's parents and Emily his youngest sister came over around 4 pm and stayed until 9:00. They, and Tom were able to lift, mark and install almost half the floor joists.
It makes me nervous to watch Troy walking on the tops of the walls that are 3 1/2 " wide with a 9 foot drop to the basement floor.
As usual, we also had our two "little helpers" along
Here they are climbing on the lumber in their socks. Once they get dirt into their shoes, its hopeless trying to convince them to keep their shoes on.
Melissa and Emily were lots of help. The joists are to be placed on 12" centers in some places, and 18" centers in other places. They marked on the top of each wall where the joists should sit. It's not as easy as it sounds!
Tom making sure the joist is sitting right on the mark.
Em and Mom measuring and marking while both standing on the Little Giant Ladder
Using the speed square to draw the lines
We moved the Little Tikes slide down into the basement so the boys could play while we work and we would be able to keep them semi-contained
The novelty wears off fairly quickly, though.
Troy was especially glad to have them all there when it was time to move the joists that were 42 feet long!!!
Aunt Emily taking a break with the boys
A fun picture looking through the framing at Melissa and Tom
This is what we accomplished at the end of the day. Thank you for all your hard work everyone!

Friday, June 27

Not enough time to blog

I'd really like to have time to post some new pics of what our house looks like now, but Ihave been spending every free second out building it, that I don't have mugh time to upload the pics. Check back soon.

But, we are now in the "Framing Phase" we have 5 walls up and the joists (what the upstairs floor will sit on) are being delivered this afternoon.



The golden hammer of the week award (I just invented that, or thought I had, until I googled it) goes to a lot of people who have lent a hand. I will only use first names to protect their privacy. The winners are Alan M., Parker B., Paul W., Brett F., Tom H. and my Dad. THANK YOU! Some jobs, no matter how skilled the individual, cannot be done alone.

On another blogging note, I like cooking blogs, but don't have time to maintain one of my own, so a friend in my ward lets me be an author on her blog. Here's a link to the blog. "I Love to Cook" Hope you like it. It fulfils my desire, without the pressure to constantly update.

Thursday, June 19

Reconnected Sewer

I know some of you have been worrying about our sewer situation. Well, all fears aside. We are back in business!! No more treks outside in the rain in the middle of the night anymore. HOORAY!

Sunday, June 15

In a People House

Have you ever read this Dr. Seuss book? It is about a bird and a mouse that explore in a "People house." I would recommend it to any with little kids. When we dug our basement, we unintentionally evicted some birds from their homes. In their efforts at relocation, one young robin red breast decided to move in with us. I was confused at first when Timmy nonchalantly mentioned that there was a bird on the microwave. I glanced over and there was a real live, twittering, flapping bird.
I was a little worried about its health because it was battering itself attempting to fly through the glass window to get back outside. I opened the doors, thinking it would fly out the same way it came in. But, with us in the house, it was too fearful and wouldn't cross the kitchen or living room to get to the doors. Here is the bird on the corner of the fridgeSitting on our sam's club sized hand sanitizerOn top of the fridge again.

The boys thought it was awesome to have a bird in the house, especially since I don't let any animals in: no bugs, no dogs, no pets, no nothing! (We do have one pet crab, but it stays in its tank, especially after what happened to his superhero brother when he ventured out of the aquarium.) I am just not an animal person, so this noisy, active wild animal was great excitement and entertainment. Spencer even learned how to say "bird" when all this was going on.
Finally, I ventured over to the window it was beating itself against, and opened the window, and removed the screen. I placed the screen so the bird had only one place to fly to: toward the open window, and in a minute or two, the bird was happily back outside. It was easier than getting raccoons out of the chimney. What a relief!

Saturday, June 14

Basement Photo Update

Big excavator loading all the cement into the dump truck
The huge construction equipment makes my little house look soooo tiny
This is Chad the driver of the big digger with Tim and Spencer.
There was a little down time while we waited for the dump trucks to return from their dumps.
The boys thought it was awesome to sit up in the cab with the driver.
We mentioned in another post that we hit water when we were digging. Here's the water; you can see it running into the home toward the top of the picture.
We had to fill the hole with gravel, then sand, then compact it down with the digger so we could have a 6 ft. crawlspace there instead of the 9 ft. basement ceiling we had planned.
Timmy loves to be right in the middle of it all
This isn't even the deep hole, but he looks like he's sure small.
Now filling the trucks with dirt
Digging for the footings in the front yard
The cousins came to watch the digger, too.
What is it about tractors that captivate the male species so well?
All the spectators
How romantic- me, my man, and a yard full of dirt. *sigh*
Wearing our fancy clothes
Down in the hole after it was dug, before the footings
See the little pipe sticking out the side of the hole? Guess what it is. MY SEWER LINE!! It has been 2 weeks, 3 days with no sewer. But who's counting...
The pumper truck to pump the cement into the footing forms
the forms
I was amazed at how tall those trucks rise
The cement trucks- there were 2 for the first set of footings, and 8 for the foundation walls.
Another great action shot taken by me- the cement plopping into the forms.
There was a crew of 4 doing the footings: one man to control the pumper truck, another one moving the hose the cement came from, one guy pushing the gravel down, and another floating, or smoothing the top. It was very cool to watch. I video recorded some of it, but need assistance from my tech support team (Troy) to upload them.
Putting up the foundation froms in the crawlspace
The rat maze
Up on top of the 9 ft. forms
Timmy in the Cat they used to backfill the backyard portion of the foundation
Spencer in the driver's seat of the Cat
The was the coolest thing. In order to get the Cat into the backyard, the big digger lifted it up and over the foundation walls, and set it down on the other side. It was amazing to watch. I was slightly worried about the weakest link in the chain, but, it held up just fine.
Up, up, and away
Just like a mommy picking up her baby- effortless!


Timmy was getting a little squeaky, so he greased his nose
Here's the front of our house- digger, dump truck, port-a-potty, all the makings of a proper construction zone
Loading up to leave- This huge one doesn't even use a ramp to get up onto the trailer
the future stairway for the outdoor basement entrance
The whole hole. This is the view from my roof.

This is why we can't flush the toilet, or use the sink, or the dishwasher, or the shower, or the washing machine. It would empty into our big hole and that would be more mess than any of us want to deal with.