Footings…Day 4.5 (Sunday)

The Sunday noon report…The forms look like they are all set. Sam and I took these close up shots of the places where the new footings will meet the old foundation. The top photo shows the cavity prepared for the crawl space footing where it joins the East wall at the old ash box. There will be a large footing under the connection point, reinforcing rods bent at 90 degrees (not shown) will be placed in the holes and the existing walls will be filled with concrete. The middle photos show forms for the footings that will underpin the basement walk-out wall. When these “columns” are filled with concrete they will provide a really solid footing for the back wall of the house. The bottom photo shows the front basement wall footing connecting to the old foundation.

As the forms take shape and the “plan” becomes more evident my confidence rises…but I have to admit that I will be a whole lot happier as the work gets above the ground.

Footings…Day 4

Today we have forms all the way round the foundation. The iron (re-bar) is mostly “hung” around the crawl space and garage. The West end photo shows the forms for the vertical posts that will be poured in the corners of the basement walk-out wall. Matt Sletten plans to have cement delivered mid-morning on Monday and thinks the footings will be poured by late afternoon.

Footings…Day 3

The forms are up almost all the way round the East side. We’ve decided to pour a giant footing where the ash box used to sit and core fill the blocks above it. The crew is just starting the forms on the West side. It looks like we might have cement early next week!

Footings…Day 2

The precision string layout for the footings is complete. The lumber has arrived and the crew is getting ready to start building forms. When I asked how precise the footings have to be; the answer was “you have to chase any errors here all the way to the top”. It looks like getting the heights right is a lot harder than the rectilinear elements.

Footings…Day 1

The precise layout for the footings has begun. The crew has the West end all laid out; including the deep footings for the basement walkout door. They are just getting going on the crawl space and garage. The good news is that the old foundation is straight, parallel, and square. The bad news is that the basement wall in front of the chimney and ash box is going to need more extensive repairs than we planned. The rest of the foundation repairs should be easy and everyone agrees that the decision to leave it in place is sound.

The View out the front

I realized that despite 40+ entries to this blog I have yet to post a photo of the neighborhood. Cottage Lane is a sleepy little street that no one seems to know about.  Tonight’s panoramic photo is the view we will see from the front porch of our new home. As I stood taking the photo there were two deer in a neighbor’s yard down the street and a gaggle of geese in the pond. With back yard access to the Hennepin County trail and beautiful front yard view…we cannot wait to move in!

 

Excavating…Day 3

The excavating crew finished up sometime this morning. The panoramic photo on top shows the site from the front yard dirt pile. The second photo shows the trench where the garage footings will be poured. The remaining basement walls and floor look pretty insignificant sitting in the giant holes that have been created.

Excavating…Day 2

The excavation crew has started to working on the crawl space and garage area of the lot. The hole at the “East” end of the house looks nearly ready for footings. Today’s noon panoramic photo shows the freshly exposed “West” wall of the basement and the beginnings of the trench for the breezeway. The two evening panoramic photos were taken from the tops of the dirt piles adjacent the holes.

Excavating…Day 1

OMG ! I stopped by expecting (at most) to see the excavating equipment dropped off in the yard. It turns out these guys don’t kid around. The tree stumps are laying on the front yard and the “East” end of the house has been dug out. The panoramic view shows the progress as of about 3:00 pm.

 

Demolition…completed

The demolition of the existing house is complete!

The crew loaded the last remains of the house into a dumpster, cleaned up a little, and left well before noon (too bad…today’s 69 degree temp and 51 degree dew point made for perfect working conditions). The panoramic view below shows the foundation walls and old well room. We also get our first glimpse of Paul Winters (our camera shy JLM construction supervisor) heading for the dumpster.