What House? Weeks 2 - 4

So it's been a while since I've updated, but it has been a little slow going the last couple of weeks. There have been several hiccups, but nothing we can't figure out. Here's a short run down of our obstacles...

1. Mother Nature! We've needed the rain in Charlotte, and we sure have gotten our fair share. We've lost a week to rain in the past 3 weeks.

2. Tree. There was a tree where we wanted to add on to the house. We originally we're going to yank it out, but decided an ultra deep stump grinding job should do the trick.

3. Exterior Walls. We were going to keep them, but as luck would have it we couldn't. The studs were 1.5 x 2.75 instead of 2x4s. They simply wouldn't hold up the weight of the second floor. That cost a couple more days and another dumpster.

Now for what we DID accomplish...

1.) The roof and all walls are gone. The tallest point on the house is the railing to the former front porch
2.) Here's a shot from the back yard. The temporary power pole has been connected, so as soon as it's go time we're wired up!

3.) Here is where they dug for the additional foundation. In the foreground of this photo you can see roots from the problem tree. We're adding 12' on to the back the width of the existing house which is about 34'. They're turning the back yard into a huge mud puddle.

Today was another rain out, but for the remainder of this week we're hoping that the block work will be completed in the trench above. The new floor joists will be tied in with the old and hopefully start with the framing. I'm ready to see this house start to go UP!

Demolition Derby - Week 1

So, at the end of week one they've gotten a good jump on the demo inside the house. They removed all dry wall, insulation, flooring, and studs (that aren't load bearing). Before they went to town, we moved some very old, very big bushes with the help of Matt's Mom and Dad.

We got our permit this week as well, which means that we can start with foundation work soon. It will be interesting to see how productive week 2 is. It's going to be a rainy week.

After bush moving and 4 dumpsters here's the state of the house after week 1.

1.) Here's a view of the house, you can see where the bushes used to line the driveway.

2.) Here's where the bushes live now. The caution tape will hopefully keep people away from them. We were told that moving them was "stressful" for the plants.

3.) Here's one of the inside.

4.) This one shows that they've removed all of the ceilings and insulation. I imagine the insulation was a bear to remove. It looks like crushed up packaging peanuts.