Time to Catch You UP

I haven’t bored you with the details of construction so far.  With the weather and scheduling demands, things have drug out this point.  BUT, things will hopefully pick up speed as we go into next week, so I need to bring you up to speed quickly.

Before I do … yes, we did cook almost all of the meat this weekend and ate lots of it over the weekend and lived to tell about it.  And looking on the positive side, there are lots of meals pre-cooked in the freezer AND we have more scrap metal!!

So, we left off with demolition and cleanup ending on April 24^th. 

Wed, April 25^th – rain; started excavating the basement

Fri, April 27^th – rain; set the forms for the footers.  These are called ‘Form a Drain’ footers.  They are perforated along the inside edge with drain holes at the walkout.  They will stay in place after the concrete is poured.  Gravel will be filled up to the top edge of the form.  Any water will flow into the drain and out of the house (theoretically ;)

Sun, April 29^th – rain

Mon, April 30^th – rain; poured concrete for the footers

Tues, May 1^st – rain

Wed, May 2^nd – rain

Fri, May 4^th – rain

Sat, May 5^th – rain

Mon, May 7^th – rain

Tues, May 8^th – rain

Wed, May 9^th – rain

Fri, May 11^th – They were able to get the forms truck across the construction access (i.e. across the corn field).  So the forms were set for the basement and garage walls. 

Sun, May 13^th – Mother’s Day; rain all day

Tues, May 15^th – Cement trucks were able to get in and pour the walls.  Only one truck got stuck on its way in and we pulled it out with one of our tractors (a green one ;).  We ordered a load of gravel to pour in a spot along the corn field that gets little sun.  That helped.

Wed, May 16^th – Removed the forms from the walls.  There is this strange tunnel between the house and the garage.  We’ve never seen anything like it, but we are assured “it’s how we always do it.”

 My labels are too small ... the top one says "we think we need a pond out here."  The red line depicts where they goofed up the wall ... more on that later.  And at the bottom is the tunnel they runs to the other side of the garage .. no footers!

view out the walkout basement

Thurs, May 17^th – Rough plumbing is set and passes inspection.  This is the plumbing for the basement bathroom and drains that will get buried in concrete.  We measure the placement that night and discover several things are in the wrong place.  The floor drain will be under a wall.  Another drain from the 1^st floor will be in the middle of a closet. 

Fri, May 18^th – Rough plumbing is re-done to plan.

Sat, May 19^th – rain

Sun, May 20^th – The length and shape of the wall adjacent to the garage just didn’t seem right, so we went out that night about 9:30pm with our tape measure and discovered that it was poured wrong. (see picture above).  It was suppose run along a number of feet and then turn for 2’ and then continue on.  Well, it turned about 4’ too soon.  Oops … who needs matching built-in cabinets on both sides of the fireplace?  Yup, they chopped out the space where one of the built-ins would be on the 1^st floor.  We went in to look at the plans trying to figure out how they could have made such a huge mistake when we turned to the foundation page.  There it was … the designer had drawn the foundation page incorrectly, but all the floors were right. 

Mon, May 21^st – I call “Designer Dave” to let him know what happened.  He was very apologetic and agreed to come out to the property to meet with the builder to discuss a solution.  We weren’t going to get the space back in the basement which we could live with, but it had to be fixed on the first floor.  So they decided to pour some extra deep concrete in that area of the garage to create a footer and build the wall out as it was designed.  It isn’t load-bearing, so it should be ok.

I also asked Dave to look at “the tunnel” where no footers were poured.  (It was drawn correctly, the concrete subs just decided not to follow the plans ... ??)  He had issue with the one on the back wall of the garage, so he proposed they pour a make-shift footer under the wall.  Dave modified the drawings and had them back to us that afternoon. 

Tues, May 22^nd – some late night gravel floor prep work started

Wed, May 23^rd – more gravel prep and inspection

gravel poured in garage

Thu, May 24^th – poured basement floor and footer fix on back wall of garage

the dark concrete was poured beneath the back door to the garage as an after the fact footer.

Fri, May 25^th – our builder wasn’t happy that the concrete guy didn’t come back to day to finish prepping the garage floor, so he insisted he at least come out before the day was over to score the basement floor concrete.  We were making bets as to whether or not he’d come out on a Friday before a 3-day weekend. 

About 10:30pm, I hear a noise above the sound of our window fan.  I look out the window and in the pitch dark, I see a glowing light coming up from the basement and a plume of concrete dust hovering over it.  He showed up alright!  It only took him about 30 minutes.  We sent a text message to the builder.

Mon, May 28^th – Memorial Day; I was out with my tape measure after dinner just seeing where my kitchen window would be and discovered that the 2 basement windows beneath our 2 bedroom windows were set (in concrete) in the wrong spot.  One was only off a few inches.  The other was off more than 2’.  Really??  Back to check the drawings.  They all match, so there’s no excuse.  

Originally, these windows were going to be mostly below grade and wouldn’t have been noticeable.  However, the grade has changed since we started, raising the house a bit and the basement windows will be above ground with no window wells.  So short of breaking concrete walls (no), the only other solution is to cover up the zig zag of windows with shrubs. 

I made some “BRIDGE ~ SLOW ~ 3 MPH” signs for either side of our bridge.  Traffic will be increasing and with a ¼ mile long driveway and a 70’ bridge, we can’t have contractors flying up and down the driveway. 

Tues, May 29^th – prepped and compacted concrete in the garage; rain

Wed, May 30^th -concrete was poured in the garage and the first load of lumber arrived, but the framers won't be available until Friday.

Thurs, May 31st - the concrete guy came by about 7:30pm to score the garage floor and is just leaving (around 9:30pm)

That closed out the month of May and the foundation.  It's supposed to rain tonight so I'm not holding out hope for any framing to begin tomorrow. In fact I hear thunder now.   I'll try to post some more pictures this weekend of the finished garage.

The Inconvenience of the Unexpected

So my mother will be able to empathize when I tell her our freezer died sometime this past week… when, I’m not exactly sure. The package of vegetables I retrieved for dinner last night was cool, but not cold and certainly not frozen. It seemed that whenever there was a big event at my house growing up … graduation, wedding, holiday … a major appliance would give up on its intended electrical or mechanical obligation. I distinctly remember a refrigerator and a washing machine letting her down at the most inopportune time.


Is the unexpected really ever convenient? My husband will tell you I’m the optimist in the family, but if you think about it, even the pleasantly unexpected can be inconvenient. Guess that’s the control freak trumping the optimist.


Ah, well, I digress. So after dinner, we discover it was actually an appliance failure and not an electrical failure as the other freezer was still cold … which was the good news since that had the lamb I just processed and the all important bag of ice. No water hookup to the frig in our temporary residence, so we are making or buying ice during the construction. Little things you take for granted like automatic icemakers and electricity!


So there were at least a dozen containers of food I cooked extra and froze and about 30 – 35 pounds of beef and lamb. They were still cool, so we moved them to the refrigerator and plan to cook everything and refreeze within the next 48 hours. I have a lamb shoulder in the crock pot now and Carol (cousin Terry’s wife) is going to do a beef roast in her crock pot. There was about 10 – 12 pounds of ground beef, so we’ll have lots of hamburgers this Memorial Day weekend and stir fry the rest for adding to recipes later.


It was easier when I was a vegetarian. They don’t have these problems! Please look for a construction update soon to confirm that the meat wasn’t bad.

Demolition Day

Demolition finally happened on April 20 & 23.  There was a bit of delay due the challenge of accessing the property with big equipment.  We have a 70’ bridge you have to cross to get to our house and the guy with the dump truck didn’t want to cross the bridge.  So our neighbor graciously offered to let us cross his field, go across his driveway, then across our field to get to the house… about a ½ mile drive from a main road.

red outline is our property; pink line is truck route on a grassy lane along a corn field

 So with the track hoe in place, demolition began.  He was working very delicately because we wanted to try to salvage some of the old beams.  It was amazing to me how precise he could be with what he brought down.  He went around the perimeter and took down the wrap-around porch.   

there goes the kitchen!

 Then he pushed in the back enclosed porch and kitchen which was the only section of the house that was one-story high.  

a view into the bedrooms and living room

 Then he peeled off one of the walls around one of the fireplaces.  It was clear the house and the fireplace really weren’t connected.  

down comes the fireplace/chimney

 And then after the fireplace below the roof was brought down, the chimney above the roof still stood. 

see him lifting up the corner of the roof

 It was entertaining to see him pick up the corner of the roof and rock it until it fell … and as it did, he rolled back quickly!  With that half of the house down, they quit for the day.  

Redneck Drive-In

Our neighbors came over in their 4-wheel utility vehicle with their granddaughter.  We sat there … one of us on a tractor, a couple in our golf cart and some at the picnic table.  We decided this was the definition of a ‘Redneck Drive-In.’ 

So we got to walk in and around the half-a-house later over the weekend.  I think the guys even salvage more stuff.  In fact, that’s when they went back for the bead board out of the laundry room that is now in my outdoor bathhouse!  We noticed the 5 layers of siding and the old beams that just turned to powder when you kicked them.  The only things holding up the house were the 2x4s and plywood.

1/2 the house left - view from the back pasture

Monday, they came and finished the other side.  It was an incredibly windy day, so we huddled (again on the tractor and golf cart) in a low spot among some walnut trees to keep us out of the wind.  

But the blown-in insulation and lots of other debris was flying everywhere.  He pulled out a huge pile of beams and floor joists.  He was down to the last wall and fireplace #2.  With a last little push from the back hoe, it came tumbling down.  All gone …

Many people asked me if I cried.  No, never even had the urge.  But it was amazing to think that this house stood for over 160 years on the top of a hill in a town famous for a big tornado (Xenia, 1973).  So it was a little sad for the house.  So much so, that we are in the process of creating a head stone for the burial site in the back of the property.   

                                       “1073 Long Road House #1 ~ 1849 – 2012”

Pre-Demolition

Usually when people move out of a house, they pack up their personal belongings and leave the house behind. In this case, we had started down the road of remodeling in 2005 when we bought the house, and so there were many things worth re-using in the new house … light fixtures, ceiling fans, doors, vanities, toilets, shower door, hot water heater … and things at least worth selling to someone else … Buck Stove, dishwasher, cast iron sink, stove

~used to be my kitchen~

… and most importantly things worth stocking in my husband’s Home Depot Annex… electrical wire, electrical switches, plugs and cover plates … yes, even the box that is in the wall that holds the switch was removed with a quick sledge hammer smash to the drywall. They took out both furnaces (yes, 2 … the pre-1900 construction of the walls didn’t allow duct work to be run to the 2^nd floor), all 3 (yes, 3) electrical panels, anything made of steel, aluminum or copper (scrap metal prices are an all-time high).

And when the demolition crew still hadn’t shown up, the guys took out all the new (from 2005) walls on the 2^nd floor, the 2x4’s, batts of insulation, lots of wiring and a newer window. We also took up the original oak floors on the second floor. And I mentioned the fiberglass shower insert and the bead board/peg walls in the laundry room that became my new shower. I took out all kinds of trim to reuse in the kitchenette and ½ bath that hasn’t been finished in our current living quarters. We also took out the 1x6 trim I put around both living rooms for re-use.

But sometimes you find things you don’t expect to find… I was in the laundry room pulling out some trim and cousin T was on a ladder in the hallway around the corner. He was smashing the ceiling drywall to retrieve the 6 gauge wire that ran from the dryer to the electrical panel when I hear him scream like a girl and jump off the ladder. In the ceiling was the shedded skin of our pet snake, Frank, I have written about in past posts. We pulled the skin out in tact head to toe and it was at least 7 feet long. Right next to the skin was a bird’s nest. (Are you still wondering why we demolished the house? More reasons later.) So we are truly hoping Frank moved out before the demolition… and he doesn’t move back into the new house.

Do we still need to pay the demolition crew? There’s not much left, guys!