This gets added to my tool box

This lovely gem showed up while Martin was digging to prep for the foundation.  He has promised to clean it up for me.

Foundation work stage 1

The old rock walls are being taken out from under the sills.  Martin is digging down the depth of the new foundation (about 3 feet) and putting in temporary supports to hold up the corners and the nibbed-scarf joints in the middle of the sills.  

The first step to putting in a foundation

We ran a (pink) masonry line today.  It runs the full length of the west side of the house and marks where the top of the sill will be and where the outside edge of the foundation will be. Martin will build a masonry block wall on top of masonry footers.  

We have other lines to run, but we can't put them in until the backhoe is done and out.

how useful could this ever have been?

While Martin and I were pulling weeds, removing trash, and leveling behind the barn, we came across this tiny wrench. It is about 2 and a half inches long.  Is it possible it was a specialty wrench for working on a specific part of a car engine?  We have found so many car parts in the same area, that was our first thought. After further consideration, this seemed far-fetched. Then again a wrench this small seems far-fetched.  I suspect it will be kept and added to the collection of curiosities that we have discovered.

The east wall and sill is going to be bumped out four feet. 

 We've decided that the north wall (the one that separated the main portion of the house from the kitchen addition is going to disappear.  Martin is planning on taking out the sill temporarily, but putting it back in to support joists for the main floor. This wall is disappearing for a couple of reasons. If you look at our floor plans, most of this area is going to be open.  Also we need access to inside of the house for the backhoe (the one the neighbor is going to bring over to help us dig the basement). The north wall is the least load bearing at the moment, is the easiest to take out, and offers the best access for the backhoe.

A resourceful water source

Martin will soon be mixing concrete and cement, for which he needs water.  We would prefer not to set up an account to be able to turn on the town water, at least not yet, since we are headed into winter and freezing temperatures that can reek havoc with an unprotected water line. So Martin put gutter up on the barn roof and set up this water barrel. It has been full ever since.  I've used it to water the lilacs and Martin will have an easy supply of water for his foundation work.

bye bye kitchen wall, make way for the backhoe

To allow the back hoe room to access where the basement is going to go, the back (north) wall of the house needs to go.  These pictures are the beginning stages.

The sill is out for now.  We are planning on putting it back in.

Martin supported the two corners.

Weather tight

There were a lot of big rocks under the wall and as a part of the original kitchen addition foundation.  Martin has been wrestling them out and making an ever-increasing rock pile.

Such an oddity

Maybe you have seen something like this before, but we were surprised.  We have been having a series of extreme thunderstorms and heavy rains.  Just outside the door that goes into the back of the house, we discovered these curiosities.  

Where the kitchen addition was, every place under the current eave that had a pebble, root, stick, piece of plastic or old shingle, the heavy rain and run off from the roof eroded the sandy soil all around the more solid object leaving them on top of their very own miniature mesa or mountain.

What once was level has drooped

The front (or south) sill and wall and the west sill and wall are going to be kept and incorporated into the renovation.  

Martin was a bit frustrated today.  A while before he headed to Ireland (and came back with a cold), he had leveled the sills.  He checked them just before he left and everything was still level. Actually the northeast corner originally was a bit high (not even resting on the rocks that had been used as the "foundation", but even this corner had settled. The sill was level the whole way around.

However, it isn't level anymore. We have bows and sags.  Matin will be challenged to get things level again or to work with what we have and make the best of it.  

If anyone can do it, Martin can.

Water pipes

 The only tap in the house was in the kitchen addition, which has been torn down.  We needed to find where the pipe that connected the tap to the town water main ran, so we wouldn't hit it with the backhoe when we dig the basement.  Martin dug down, removing rocks that had been used for the foundation in the original kitchen addition, until he could follow the pipe and figure out where it was headed.

 Just outside the kitchen addition there was a pipe that I uncovered with the backhoe.  There was much debate over the dinner table the past few months speculating if it was to the well that must have been on the property before the town water was hooked up or was it to the tank we heard was buried and used for waste water from the kitchen sink.  Well Martin also dug down to try to figure out what the pipe connected to. It appears to have been a water line (we are assuming it connected to the well).  It had a shut off valve.  The puzzling thing is that it was just outside of the kitchen.  So, was it originally hooked up to a hand pump? If not, how did they get the water out? There doesn't appear to be an electric well pump because there are no electric lines going to it.  Was it only used in the summer and shut off for the winter?  We'd be happy to hear what your speculations may be.

 The water line that connects to the town water main took a 90 degree turn and headed for the corner of the barn and the driveway. We assume that once it hits the driveway, it turns again and is a straight run to the water main.  We aren't planning on digging in the driveway, so we should be safe.

Martin still recovering

Well, for the first time since I've known Martin, he has been so sick, he has spent two days in bed.  He seemed to be doing a bit better last night and I'm hoping he'll be back to his usual self soon.  Because I have been so busy with work, I haven't had a chance to swing by an tigin to take pictures. Bear with us, we will be back in the swing of renovation as soon as possible.

Martin forgot the camera

Martin had planned on taking the camera to an tigin yesterday (Sept. 17,2013).  He loaded up tools and other necessities, but left the camera at home. So no pictures again.

I promise they will be coming soon.

On top of everything, Martin has a miserable cold.  We both blame it on flying. Martin isn't able to sleep on the plane, so between recycled air and lack of sleep. the arrival of a cold was inevitable. He worked at an tigin (digging) for 3 - 4 hours yesterday, but was disappointed that he couldn't put in a 10 hour day.

Martin is back

9/16/2013
Sorry, no pictures with this one. Martin is back from Ireland. We visited an tigin yesterday.  Martin mowed, the sunflowers are looking great, and the barn roof is leaking on the side that we didn't put triflex on.

Martin was at an tigin today, working on digging out where the extension is.  He found what looks like the pipe to the old well and has traced the water line out to the driveway. He is in charge of bringing the camera to the house tomorrow and taking pictures, since I am back at work and, as much as people think teachers don't work hard, I am putting in 12 hour days (plus a two hour round trip commute). That doesn't leave much time for me to get to an tigin.

Tomorrow my sister-in-law and niece are coming for a few days to visit.  We are looking forward to this, but prep for visitors also takes time and energy, leaving less of both for an tigin.

Stay tuned, pictures and more to come.

suspension of forward progress

Martin is visiting Ireland for a short time.  While he is gone, we obviously are not getting anything done with an tigin.  He is due back on September 14th. Check back with us and the blog on September 15th.

more bones for building the alien skeleton

I've added a few bones to the alien being collection.  Most of them were discovered while we were leveling the areas behind the house and barn.  The mouse or vole skull and a few other bones were found in the hole where the kitchen addition was.  Martin found a few more as he was digging out the basement in that section.

bushes out front

Our neighbor to the east told us that the two bushes in front of the house didn't get much taller than they are now. They usually have small white flowers, but we cut them back to the ground this spring.

We decided that the bushes needed to go. With the foundations and construction work that is going to be going on, they will be in the way.  It also gives me a clean slate for landscaping once we get that far.