Gettin' There

The plumbing is being roughed in. The floor won't be poured until the radiant heat is put down.

We have backfill around three sides! The west side is not done yet, but all the piles of dirt have shrunk considerably.

The inside walls have all been sealed with very stinky grey stuff. Glad there's still a lot of air flowing thru there. Peew!

Walled In

The egress window wall is done. Until the stairs are done, the only way into the basement is with a ladder.
All the walls are finished and skim-coated. The yard and driveways are a sloppy mess after all the rain we had yesterday. Eeew!

Things Boys Like

Piles of Rock
Mud Puddles
Gooey Muddy Driveways
Random Trailers Left in the Yard

Wall-y

Most of the holes in the walls were filled in today, in spite of the rain.
The sump pump is in. It'll be under the stairs, once we have stairs.
A cat on a Cat.

Digging In The Dirt

This is the view of the house from the road, taken this morning.
This is the same view at 5:30 this afternoon. Not bad, huh? It almost looks like there could be a yard under here. They'll bring in topsoil to put around the house; not much would grow in this clay dirt.
We're keeping the dirt, because,well, we could use it. We have a silo hole to fill, and a low spot where the granary used to be, along with a few other projects too crude to be called 'landscaping'. For now it's all going behind the machine shed.
What is it about a pile of dirt that attracts kids like a magnet? (Dogs, too.) The driver guesstimates there are ten more loads to dump back here. Maybe it'll make a nice sledding hill.
The pressure tank is now up and out of the way of the concrete guys, who are coming tomorrow. Rain or shine, I hope, since rain is in the forecast.
A toast to the new basement!!

More Pictures

The new bobcat path to the basement. The biggest piles of dirt are already gone. Only the smidge under the pressure tank is left.
The same wall from the inside. There's a geology lesson in this photo somewhere.
Under the dining room and bedroom. That pipe hanging down was cut off to make room for a house-lifting beam. All the plumbing has been hacked apart, which is why we need the plumber to come out tomorrow.
Looking up at the back door. The sill is rotten and is being replaced. Other than that, I just tho't it was a cool picture.
Close-up of the wall by the back door. I think this house's had a few mice in its day, don't you?

Down!

I loaded up the kids and drove out to the house at 9:30 this morning, and the house had already been put down. They said it would go faster coming down than going up, and they were right. I did get some video of the mover guys pulling a beam out of the house with a bobcat:

These guys are incredible! I can't believe how they maneuver the huge beams with a li'l bobcat, and don't hit anything (like our new walls).

It's so exciting to have the house down again! It looks higher off of the ground than it was before, but I think after all the backfill and topsoil goes in, it'll be close to where it was. We'll have to wait and see how many steps they need to build to the door! I'm hoping to get back out there this afternoon to get photos of the inside, and to see if the excavator shows up to scoop the last of the dirt out. In my dream world the plumber will be there, too, so we can move in next week, but I'm not holding my breath.

The big pile of sand is gone, so it's easier to see into the hole in the wall for removing dirt. It already looks darker down there. After the dirt comes out, the gravel goes in, and then the wall can be closed up. Then they can pour the floor, although I think the plumber has to do a few things first. That is why I have a contractor, to keep track of who needs to be where when. He's a great guy; he was at the house all weekend with his bobcat driver (his dad) filling and fixing. Yup, I said Weekend.