Week 2: What Goes Up Must Come Down and Two Feet to Stand On

Week 2: This week included a downpour on the day they were going to pour the footings for the new addition. Had to wait a day and then they finished the footings. Alex's demo crew was hard at work and by Friday they had the entire house picked clean. The only things left are structurally related. We did find out that the main structural beam is in two parts and that neither are adequate. They have been notched out in several places. We will have to replace them with either a steel beam or a I-beam. The only hard part is that there is little wiggle room to get all the ceiling joists to lay on top of the one beam. Our Architect, Ferd of Box Studios, is going to come up with some options. In the end, it is a little sad to see our home that we have spent the last ten years in looking so empty and cold. I know in a few weeks it will be taking on a new look and we will get excited. And at the end of the week, we had another severe downpour and that now makes the pit look like a pool. The footings are entirely covered, but they are calling for weather in the 90's with high humidity tomorrow so we will see if the water evaporates. This week we hope to start getting the foundation walls erected and Mike, our contractor, is going to be able to go over the complete plan with me to talk about any issues now that everything is exposed. Then onward and forward.


Here is earlier in the week with most everything cleaned out on the first floor. The furnace and structural beams are all that are left.






Here is Alex taking down the chimney.








Here is the excavation for the new addition.








Here are the guys from the concrete company finishing up the excavation and making sure it is the correct depth.






Here is the finished forms for the footings.









Here is the gutted kitchen with the furnace removed. The green beam above is one of the main structural beams that is compromised.







Here is some of the walls upstairs. This is looking towards the office from the master bedroom.








This is one of the bathrooms and the back chimney that was about to fall over due to lack of mortar between the bricks.







Upstairs bathrooms now removed. Many holes in the floors.







Here is the rain we had on Tuesday that delayed the footings. We had a hard rain that continued throughout the day. I was surprised that there was not more standing water. It was a different storyon Sunday. We had severe rain where in some areas it has rained almost 3" in short time. We looked at the footings and they are completely covered in water now. We will have to see after tomorrows high temps if it evaporates.



This is a shot of Kathleen's room gutted.








On Wednesday after school we stopped by to take a few shots and heard the cement trucks were coming. We waited and low and behold we got to see the pour. It was a very cold day in the low 50's.







Here John the concrete supervisor is directing the cement truck into position. It came extremely close to the edge of the pit.






Here the footing on the bottom has been poured and they put in rebar to help with strength. They are starting the upper footing that will connect to the old house.









Here the windows have been removed. They will be donated.







Here is Wednesday which was a nice sunny day and the footings completed.









Here is a shot from the first floor up to the roof. The stairs were removed on Friday and the demo work is complete.







Here is a view from the kitchen into the family room.







Here is the rest of the chimney coming down. The firebox was all rusted through in the back so it is a good thing we removed the chimney. A fire waiting to happen.






Here is a shot looking up to the second floor where the stairs had been.








Another shot of the family room and the structural beam.








Here is the house as it stands with the windows removed and the demo completed.





Below is a video of the pouring of the footings. Sorry it is a bit choppy. I will have to make sure and bring my flip video camera everyday for videos. The camera is OK but the Flip is better. Will also have to make sure it is not as cold as it was too.