Repaired and Wrapped

The entryway room has slowed down the progress on the additions by at least two days. Maybe more. But the new addition floor joists can't be installed until there is something to actually connect to. 

Here are some photos of the repair and rebuild work on the entryway. The front wall is now made of 2x6's. This will hopefully allow the electric meter to be moved more easily and keep the service panel in it's existing location. The entire subfloor was replaced and even some floor joists were added and repaired.

The old master bathroom window was pulled out and the new one was installed. The new window required new framing, but the wood in the wall wasn't in good shape so new framing was necessary regardless.

The existing house that had the siding pulled off due to rot got new windows and house wrap installed (those rooms are the 2nd bedroom, master bathroom, and master bedroom).

We no longer have a front door, but one has been ordered. Here's a picture of the old door.

The floor joist inspection in on Monday morning. Then the wall framing begins.

Foundation Walls and a Repaired Wall

Our GC has really been working hard. And so has his crew. The concrete walls were poured and then they started working on the floor joists. Well... except not in the carport area since the wall and floor area where they need to tie into is too rotten. The crew has actually been spending the last day and a half repairing what the GC calls the worst rot and hodge-podge build that he has ever seen. 

Here is the concrete truck and pump truck pouring the foundation walls.

Here is the resulting foundation wall.

Here is the rotten wall in the entryway. The GC was amazed that the house was still standing.

Here's the same wall from the outside.

In progress. Only prayers were holding the roof up at this point. And one stud. And a post out beyond the house.

Here's the new floor framing. The new 3rd bedroom is going to be awesome! I might move into the crawlspace. There's so much room!

The GC got proactive and installed the new windows in the master bedroom. These are the most expensive windows in the house... Anderson 400 series gliders that slide both left and right.

Here's the repaired rotten roof-supporting wall.

Here's the wall from the inside. The floor is new as well and has much better support in the crawlspace as well. The header is made of the 4x8 that used to be holding up the carport before the construction started. Waste not, want not.

The floor joists in the carport will start next.

Foundation Wall Forms

I've been meaning to find the time to pull off the old siding, but I just haven't been able to do it. I told the contractor that if the crew had the time they could pull it off. So they did. They also found some rot is places that I expected to find rot and some places that I was totally surprised to find rot.

The contractors have also been doing their main task of getting the foundations built. The footings have been poured and the foundation wall forms have been built. The walls will gets poured on Monday. The lumber will get delivered on Tuesday. The framing will likely start Tuesday as well.

Here is some rot that was found on the NW corner of the house. It looks really old.

 Here is some rot on the master bedroom wall. It also looks very old, and it was very unexpected.

Here are the sonotube pier forms for the porch. 

Here are some photos of the house without the siding.

And here are some photos of the foundation wall forms. The footings have already been poured.

Here's the front of the house. The siding hasn't been pulled off yet, and I'm still trying to get the electric company to give me permission to move the meter away from the front door.

Footing Forms

Day two of the project had the footing forms completed (the inspection was requested) and the front porch demolished. The GC had ordered a porta-potty but it didn't show up until the end of the day (which pissed off the GC).

I also learned about an ufer. An ufer is how most new construction grounds the electrical system and house. An electrode is connected to a 20' piece of rebar in the foundation. The foundation contractor had a question if an inspection was required for the ufer.

Here's a photo of the porch demolition. They used a sledge hammer and a jackhammer to bust up the concrete slab and step.

Here are the footing forms.

I rebuilt the stairs that I had originally built for access to the travel trailer that we used to have. I cut them down so they had only two steps. My three-year-old walked out of the house and fell forward since he wasn't used to not having a porch. I felt really bad for him.

The forms for the piers (for the porch) and the foundation walls will be built next. Hopefully the inspection and pour for the footings will happen in the next couple of days.

Foundation Excavation for Additions

The contractors were able to complete the excavation for the foundations in one day. They brought in two machines (a bobcat, and a small trackhoe). It was pretty loud so we vacated the house for a while and went to a combo kids' play area/cafe and then to a park.

Here are the kids staring at the construction workers and work areas.

Just the bobcat showed up at first. I was doubtful that it could do all the work necessary. Turns out that the contractor thought so too and then the trackhoe showed up.

Then the dumpster arrived. Good-bye to our nice lawn. I may have to move the violets again.

Here's another progress shot of the excavation. They dumped all the dirt on Mount Hill.

Here are some photos of the completed excavation. The holes are about thirty inches deep.

I joked that Mount Hill was now going to be named Mount Mount. The seven-year-old made the same joke later in the day saying Mount Mountain.

The support posts for the carport roof seem to be doing their job. We were told not to touch them.

The bobcat really tore up the dirt wherever it drove.

Here's the third bedroom excavation.

Here's a photo of the house from halfway up Mount Mountain.

Here's the GC loading the trackhoe.

The excavation crew found an old bottle of Milk of Magnesia about twelve inches below grade. Now we have a nice souvenir!

Building the forms for the footings and foundation walls happens next.