Week 5 Progress

Pretty original blog title, huh??
Well....the rain really slowed progress down this week. Bailey's did get here on Thursday and Friday though to start closing up the north and west walls. I will say that really helps by keeping the north wind out from under the house. When I say that they are closing up the walls, I mean that they are taking 2 x 12 studs and putting them on top of the concrete walls that fit perfectly under the house to support it. They then cover the studs with plywood. The plywood will be covered with a stucco texture when it's all finished to make it look nice.

I also took some pictures in the basement showing the old walls and the new walls. I still think it's amazing that the old walls were all hand stacked. A lot of work went in the basement 103 years ago.

Not sure what is on the agenda for this upcoming week. Stayed tuned next Sunday to see what got accomplished this week!

WALLS!!

Progress progress progress!!!! I LOVE it!!! This week consisted of getting the Styrofoam forms built around the north and west side of the house and getting the inside of them filled with concrete. It only took a couple of days for Bailey's to get the forms up. These forms are light weight and just snap/hook together.

As you can see, the middle of the forms are hollow. Concrete is then poured in them to finish the walls.

The newly poured concrete has to cure for a few days before they go ahead and do any other work to the walls. Thank goodness they got things finished up this week when the did. Right as the last cement truck was leaving, it started raining. It rained and rained. I ended up with almost 3 1/2 inches in my rain gauge. The yard was a muddy mess and there would have been no way any work would have been able to get done. Things are almost dried up now and there is another good chance of rain on Tuesday of this week. I'm just praying we don't get into a wet spell. Working in the water and mud won't be fun for anybody!!
I'm not sure what is on the agenda for this week, but I'm sure this time next week you will see more major progress!

The "New" Old Floating House

LOTS AND LOTS of progress this week!!! The north and the west walls of the basement were taken out this week. It makes for a COLD house but I'll deal with the cold if it means getting a new basement!! It's really incredible how my house is sitting right now. The only thing really holding it up are a few basement jacks. It looks like it's floating. The concrete footings were poured on Friday. This week the Bailey's are going to start forming the new walls with the Styrofoam forms that will be used. Not sure what all that entails so this is a learning process for all of us :). Stayed tuned...

This Tough Old Dirt

Found out this week that this basement isn't going down without a fight. After 4 good days of work around the outside of the house, it was discovered that the 103 year old dirt around the foundation is just too tough for the mini excavator that Bailey's brought in. A bigger excavator will make an appearance later this week and work should really take off. What the guys did get accomplished was digging trench to run the tile that will be set around the bottom of the foundation and the new tile that will drain my gutters.
So stay tuned until next Sunday to HOPEFULLY see some major progress being done. It's an exciting time around here and I'm glad you all are in it with me.
Enjoy my 4th annual fall colors shot :). How awesome is it that I get to wake up and see those trees every single morning?! My great-great grandparents were pretty smart cookies about choosing the location to build their, now my, dream home.

Support System

Work has officially started on the basement, no turning back now!! This week consisted of getting the support beams set under the house. They also dug some footing holes and removed all my ductwork. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold!! Thank goodness I have a couple of infrared heaters!
I talked to Bailey's today and they are going to start digging tomorrow. So work should really take off. Stay tuned for weekly updates from now on! It's going to get EXCITING!!!

This Creepy Old Basement

This only means one thing....I'm getting ready to start another new project on This BEAUTIFUL New Old House!!! This isn't going to be just a tiny new little project either.
This spring after the amount of rain that we had gotten, I was sick of running my sump pump every other day pumping water out of my basement. The most water I pumped out at one time was 18 inches. Most other days it was ONLY 2-4 inches. On days when it would rain and rain, I could see water seeping in through the cracks in the old limestone. It was enough to bring a girl to tears. So I had it and decided that this old house needs a new basement!! I talked to Jeff at Lockridge and he got me some quotes from guys that do this sort of work. I decided to have Charlie and George Bailey do the job for me. They have a fairly new way of pouring new basements under existing houses. They just support the house with beams while they work on 2 walls at a time. They say that it is less stressful on the house than jacking it up. And Lord knows that this house doesn't need anymore stress. She's already been through enough and I'm not going to subject her to anymore than what she needs. I am very confident and have no worries. These guys know what they are doing and have done a few basements like this before and say that it works really well. I'm anxious to see how they do it.
Enjoy the pictures of the 103 year old basement. The limestone at the bottom most likely came off the farm that the house sits on. Kind of sad knowing how much work went into laying it and now it is being replaced. Sometimes things need to be done though. I didn't do this much work to the house and then have an unusable, leaky basement sitting underneath of it. So I figured since I'm still young (27 is young, right??), I might as well just replace it now before it got worse and prices got higher. Stay tuned for more frequent updates!!

Another project down

Holy cow!! I hadn't realized how long it has been since my last update. I didn't forget about you all and don't worry...it's not like I haven't been doing anything. I managed to get a couple of bigger things accomplished at the house over the LONG winter.
In my last post, back in October, I mentioned that the next project was going to be building a dining room table. I'm not one that says I'm going to do something and then not do it. If I want something then I'm going to get it done...eventually. I had been looking online for some instructions on how to build a big harvest table. I came across this do-it-yourself website, ana-white.com. This site has hundreds of DIY projects and I found the perfect table that I wanted in my old house. The next goal was to get Page to go along with it. I knew that she would help me but it was just finding time to be able to do it. A few months had passed and we were finally able to get it fit into the schedule. I bought all my materials at Lockridge in Promise City for $113.13. Which I think is a pretty good deal for an 8 foot long harvest table. If I were going to go buy one, it would cost me well over $1,000. I delivered all the lumber to Page, let her do her magic and after a couple of weeks, this is what we hauled out of her basement and into my house.

Page had done her job and now it was mine to get it stained and coated with polyurethane. I put a couple of coats of stain on it and then applied 3 coats of poly on the legs and 6 coats of poly on the top. I used the polyurethane I put on my floors because it is heavier duty. So hopefully I will never ever EVER have to touch up the top again. I also found 6 matching chairs at Whiddledottles, the antique store in Humeston, and also a Hoosier cabinet at the antique/home decor store in Albia, Black Bird Primitives. I think it turned out amazing and my house finally looks complete!!! Now, I can say that it only cost me $113 but when I add in everything that Page has done for me, it is a million dollar table!

Another winter project I did was had carpet laid in my living room. I decided that adding carpet would look nicer than the old wood floor, warm the room up alittle, and just make it look better/homier. Now why would I want to cover up original hardwood floors, you ask?? Well the floor wasn't in very good shape and it's my house so I can do whatever I want :).I got ahold of Marjorie at Horton Floor Covering in Humeston and told her what I wanted. She called me back probably a couple weeks later and had what I wanted. This new carpet matches my bedroom carpet almost identical. I absolutely love how it looks and feels. I'm so glad I went ahead and did it. I was also able to re-arrange my living room how I wanted. This carpet is probably one of the best investments I've made in this "little" project.

So what's my next plans?? Well, I'd like to re-finish my steps going upstairs and I still have some woodwork I need to work on. I've also been looking into a new basement. The basement that is under the house now is starting to get bad. The walls are starting to buckle more and more, the floors are buckled, it leaks water like crazy, it's cold, and is probably 103 years old. I'm working on getting numbers together so hopefully something will get done because it's just going to keep getting worse.
I hope you all are enjoying the nice spring weather. It feels so good to finally get past the winter. The grass is starting to turn green, the birds are starting to chirp, and the flowers are popping through the ground. Also, the planters are making their way out of hibernation. Spring is probably my favorite time of the year! Thanks for reading and keeping an interest in this adventure. Have a beautiful spring!