Week 5 - August 18 thru August 22

Monday, August 18

Special note: The blogger (namely me) has had some problems for the past week trying to get this whole blog thing to work. I have since switched internet browsers and am finally meeting with success. Thanks Brian (via Katie) for the tip about Mozilla Firefox!

The garage floor is poured!


Dennis sizes up the wall he is going to build.


Tuesday, August 19

Today they hooked up the house to the sewer lines for the city.

All of the drains from the house come out here....right under the kitchen window.


supervising the dig......


the bosses checks it out.....


and now finishing up the garage floor.


Wednesday, August 20

All connected....


here's the sewer clean-out.....


And NOW.....we're powered up!


this month's bill should be a low one......

Week 4 - August 11-15, 2008

Monday and Tuesday

The plumber has been here and all the drains and pipes are in place. The stuff you see in the photos is for the basement.....Amy's bathroom and laundry, the furnaces and hot water heaters, and the half-bath for the grandkids' playroom and for Paw-Paw's workroom. Then of course all the plumbing from the first floor will somehow find its way down to hook up with these pipes that are already installed.

Wednesday, August 13

Today they poured half of the basement floor - the half under the Master Bedroom and Bath.

Thursday, August 14

Here is the other half of the basement floor! As you can see, the guys are all waiting for it to dry enough for them to walk on it and use the machines that make it really smooth. Not much shade, so they are all huddled in the corner.

Friday, August 15

It's the end of the week and they are preparing the garage for a new floor. Lots and lots of rock to fill in the hole and then lots and lots more to start laying out the driveway. Since the driveway is going to extend past the garage toward the backyard (so Den can park his truck and old Chevy off the street - what an idea...no cars parked on the street!) the driveway is going to have to be "built up" with more dirt and gravel. Den is going to build a retaining wall to support it.......plans are being made for wall building over the Labor Day weekend. Anyone wanting to play with tools and rocks just let him know he'd be thrilled to have some help.

August 8, 2008

The end of a busy week.........things are moving along quickly.

They painted tar all over the outside of the basement walls for waterproofing.

This view is from the top looking down into the basement. Dennis is showing Amy and Katie where Amy's rooms will be.

This view is from the back yard.

They poured the back wall of the house and left an opening for an 8 foot sliding door.

And finally the concrete forms for the garage are up and ready.

Pouring Concrete!

August 5, 2008

We arrived just in time to watch the crew start to pour the concrete for the basement walls.

This is one of Tom's trucks. Our house is being built by Tom's Building and Repair. They are a crew of brothers and sons out of Millstadt. They worked and learned the trade from their father (grandfather).

The concrete truck has arrived and they start to pour and poke it down with the long sticks.

Can you see the concrete coming down the chute?

We were getting ready to leave (it was soooooooooo hot)! and I thought I'd take a shot from the front.

And then another truck showed up! Yikes!

This photo was taken from the top of the hill and the street above ours. The view out our front door will be an empty lot (unless Grandma and Grandpa Goodrich buy that lot so we have something nice to look at).

A Look at the First Two Weeks

I have had some help from Jo and now the blog is sporting a couple of new items. Check out the time line above. It will let you know how close we are to our (hopefully) Moving In Day. Also there is now a spot for you to subscribe to the blog. Look in the very top right corner of the blog. If you fill in your email address and click on subscribe, a new box appears in which you retype your email address and then fill in a box at the bottom with the secret letters they show you. Feed burner will send you an email which you open and click on a link and then you are set. You will receive a notification in your email each time I update the blog. That way you do not have to go online and check all the time. It lets you know if there is something new to check out.

Tuesday, July 22

Here are the results of the 2nd day of digging.

Thursday, July 24

Today they poured the footings and put in the drains. As Dennis explains, when it rains, water runs up against the house and filters down next to the concrete walls (they will put rock against the concrete later this week to help with this). When it hits the footings, it runs into the blue pipe with the holes and drains out instead of into the basement.

Friday, July 25

Well it is the end of the first week, Peg and Amy are in LA. It's been raining and more is forecast, but luckily Tom and his crew will be on vacation all next week. Below, Nina and Gini take a walk thru the house (or should I call it the mud pit).

Maybe we should think about an indoor pool? OR.....maybe it will dry out by Monday the 4th. Dennis is feeling the need to dig a trough so the water can drain out. Glad I'm not home to watch that muddy fiasco.

Monday, August 4

Vacation is over for the construction crew and as you can see below, they have completely rocked the basement floor.....the puddles are all gone. Dennis did get in the hole with a hoe and let some of the water out...he just couldn't stand it. The wood lying against the walls of dirt are the concrete forms that will be set up tomorrow.

More to come.....keep a look out!