Week 8 - September 8 - Part 2

September 8, continued......

Are you catching on to the groups of 4? Today, while we walked around the site, we discovered we have wildlife....just like on Woodland Court!

Here is evidence...the crew has seen deer coming up from the woods almost every day, early in the a.m.

Looking up from the basement, you can see where the stairwell will be.

This picture and the one below show the modified "bay window" I fought for. It is on the back of the house above Amy's "suite".

I plan to put a table in this window so we can enjoy the view when we have dinner.

Week 8 - September 8 - Part 1

September 8, 2008

Well, thanks to Sara, I am now using a new picture viewer that coordinates with the blogger program. Anyway, it lets you look at all your pictures and download 4, yes, I said FOUR, pictures at a time into your own blog. AND it is sooooooo much faster than downloading in the regular blog program. The only drawback is that you can't (at least I haven't figured that part out yet) do more than four. Thus from now on, all of my blogs will be groups of four pictures. Hopefully if I ever get caught up with the current date, it will make blogging on time much quicker. (Yeah, right!)

The guys are putting in the floor joists.

This is the view from the top of the hill as they work on putting down the subfloor.

A close up view of the joists and in the background the subfloor.

The basement is now covered.

Week 7 - September 1 thru September 5

September 1 thru September 5

The wall work is completed for now.....at least one more row will have to be added later so that the concrete can be poured. The paid crew is back at work.

The beam is in place to support the main floor of the house.

The back wall of the basement is in, complete with framing for three windows (two for Amy's rooms, and one for the playroom for the grandkids) plus an 8 foot sliding door (so Den can get stuff in and out of the soon-to-be workshop towards the front of the house.

This is how Den is preventing erosion from the back of the Great Wall.

The long pile in front of the house is the pile of floor joists. Den had a panic attack the day these came in...When we arrived on the site, all of the pallets from the stone they had laid over labor day were missing (we get a $$$ refund from the stone supplier if we return the pallets). Dennis was sure that someone had stolen them and was cursing as he tromped all over the site. But, no worry....they are under the pile, supporting the floor joists!

And here is the view from the top of the hill.

Labor Day Weekend - Weekend of the Wall - Part 1

And this is the wall that Dennis built...and Gary Dengler, and John Beaver, and Byron Goodrich, and Jason Wilson, and Mike Rheinecker.

Saturday, August 30th


Day One of the Wall begins with Dennis and Gary (for anyone who doesn't know, Gary is Den's nephew) at 7:00 a.m.. They were joined a little later by John Beaver (Peg's cousin Mary's husband)...


and Byron Goodrich (Nina, Gini, and Trey's daddy).

Peg and Amy delivered fluids (water, tea, gatorade, lemonade, and ice) all weekend.

Remember the drain pipe? Here's what's left before the wall goes in.

Labor Day Weekend - Weekend of the Wall - Part 2

Sunday, August 31st

Sunday, Jason (the newest addition to our family, Hayden Cole Wilson's daddy) came over from St. Louis to help.
One of our hi-tech pieces of equipment also doubles as the picnic pavilion under which workers can rest and "enjoy"? a bit of shade. See the little patch of shade under the tailgate? Here is a view of the progress so far..... a little different view... and a video of Gary defying gravity......

Labor Day Weekend -- Weekend of the Wall - Part 3

Monday, September 1

Late on Monday afternoon (around 3:00 p.m.) Gary and Den ran out of energy and made a call to Mike (a friend who just did some big time renovating on an old home in Freeburg. Den and Gary both helped him raise the garage a foot or two in the air so he could park his truck inside.)

With Mike's help they finished up the wall....

Remember the drain pipe? Here's where it comes out at the back of the driveway.

Here's the back of the driveway and the reason for the wall.

Here is a finished view of the corner

Here is a long view of the side of the driveway next to the neighbor's house.

Week 6 - August 24 thru August 28

Sunday, August 24

This week the contractor will be busy working on another project, so Dennis was assigned the task of building a stone wall to hold up the rock that will support the driveway. This becomes the first of many (I'm sure) added expenses that are going to happen because of the surprise walk-out basement. So while the contractor's away.....the boys will play.


Den and Gary start the prep work...

They have to dig low enough to bury a drain pipe......


Check out the high class equipment...What is that brown barrel on the back anyway?

And now, the sum total of the first day's progress. This is the left back of the driveway up against the house.


And the right back next to the neighbor's house....


and a view from the street.


Tuesday/Wednesday, August 27 and 28

Den and Gary worked evenings until after dark to get everything ready for the big weekend project.

First the drain pipe goes in.....


The rock is delivered and delivered and delivered.....


The rock will have to come up above Den's waist in order to keep the driveway level. The driveway itself comes from the street, turns into the garage, and extends past the garage another car (truck) length.


Gary moves the rock to start fillin' it up. Click on the arrow below the picture to see Gary play tractor.



The drain comes out the other side.


Here's the progress looking from the side...


and from the back.