A dream come true

The most exciting story of the day... Here, you may notice, is Sean sitting behind the wheel of the Bobcat. This would be funny because ever since it has shown up here he has been wanting to drive it - & I've gotta say, it looks pretty fun. But the thing is, this is legit - the guy next to him is Armando, the owner of the Bobcat, and in one kind moment he is both instructing Sean on how to drive it and giving him permission to use it over the weekend (to move a bunch  of bricks).

Pretty exciting stuff.

All that she sees

Zaya took this picture of Little Dog. Little Dog is not quite so sure about all of this construction, and quite frankly I'm not so sure that the crew knows quite what to think of our dog. Still, here she is, surveying the progress. 

Jack-hammering

This would be a retaining wall which was in the middle of our garage, holding up the middle of our house. Just gives you a feel for the immense amount of work going on down there. 

Yeah, sure guys, come on back

So the Bobcat is pretty amazing and looks pretty fun. Basically Sean & I both kinda want one. But here, one might wonder if the large animal is going a bit too far. Until now the backyard has been the safe spot for sunshine and some relative calm, but we knew that was too good to last...

The biggest hole

I mentioned earlier that the crew here has been digging these holes in the ground that will hold the cribbing. The cribbing is basically a nicely stacked bunch of big thick wood which then supports a metal I-beam, which then holds up our house while they undermine & replace the foundation.

I also mentioned before that one of these holes was not so easy to get to... which would bring us to this shot here. This hole is ~4 x 4' wide and maybe 9 feet deep, with headroom of only a foot & 1/2 or so above the top of the hole for squeezing your way into and out of. yeah. They jack-hammered it all out as our soil is rocky. Pretty amazing. Or as these guys would say to me - Si, mucho trabajo.

Our house designer became our friend

How exactly this happened I can't quite say. In some ways it must have happened almost immediately because I think our first meeting lasted 5 hours or so. She setup camp and worked on her computer while I cooked dinner, and all this seemed normal somehow.
Jen is funny. Not just kinda sorta funny but downright quick. And she is fun. And despite her supposed weariness of artists she actually is one herself, but don't tell. Our goals when we began this project were that it should be fun, & that we could come up with a unique and good design, we just needed a knowledgeable partner so that our doors would be tall enough and the whole thing could pass inspection. Jen has been all this and more. She has made this project a pleasure (so far). The craigslist gods were smiling upon us. Good news.
Just in case you wanted to reach this fine woman directly, try this link here.

What's going on down there anyhow?

My little home office area is set up directly over the garage, where all the excitement is right now. The first day I was sure a sawzall would soon come poking up through the floor somewhere close to my toes. Alas, my toes are all intact and the floor unscathed- all is well. Here though is a panorama to show the things that are going on down there. Basically after removing the concrete slabs from the garage, they've been mostly working to dig these 4 big square holes that will hold the cribbing, which will then hold our house up while they remove the existing foundation. (Let us all pray for no earthquakes). Then at some point they'll have to get rid of all that soil. Armando says we have good soil. What we have is rocky soil, but for foundation and stability this, it turns out, is good news.

What our house will stand on

Here's a photo of one of the holes for the cribbing, there are 4 holes like this being dug out down there. 3 of them are relatively easy to get to, the 4th not so much. I will try to get a picture of the guys shoveling that one out on Monday, because it is pretty amazing. The holes are 4x4' square, and soon our home will be resting on them.
We learned that the area we live in is called Rockridge because it was once a rock quarry. The different layers of rock & the colors are amazing. They are actually using jack-hammers to cut the squares- it's that dense. Lucky for us it is coming out alright.

Porta-potty & furnace

We haven't even begun to discuss the back yard, or the rest of the house for that matter. Well here it is- or at least part of it.
Which brings us to our next topic of conversation... might you wonder, if there is only one bathroom in your little house, where will the men go when they are feeling the need? ah! Enter the miraculous blue porta-potty! This makes our home a true job site and allows us all to go whenever we feel the need. How nice it will be to have two real live flushing toilets... wait, make that three.
Meanwhile, if you've ever been to our home, you'd say: what about that nice new furnace that was in the garage? what the heck did you do with that thing? Well, basically, Sean single-handidly disconnected it and then brought it up to the backyard, where it now appears as the funny looking plastic-wrapped thing on your right.
And how, you now ask, are we doing without any heat? Well actually, now that you asked, I am kinda cold...

Wasp's Nests

So what are these things? Some of you may have already identified them as wasps nests. Luckily for us they seem to have been evacuated some time ago. They were discovered wedged in behind the (now extinct) chimney, and are even more beautiful in person.

Some Questions Answered

So I can't explain Sean's boyish happiness exactly, except to say that boys do love demo, and this most certainly is that.
The other happy guy- the one on the left is Armando Sanchez, the contractor we chose to hire for the foundation and excavation in our garage. So far all is good- the machines are loud but they get the work done. The crew sings songs occasionally and brought their own microwave. Together they have already lowered the floor of our garage by at least a foot. Pretty exciting.

May the Transformation Begin

We have taken on our biggest undertaking yet, perhaps, by giving this sweet and beautiful little home a 100th year birthday renovation. Only one full day of work by the foundation crew and already the transformation has clearly begun.
This photo is a testament to what a bobcat and some seriously hard working men can do in a day.
As for the other mysteries...you'll just have to stay tuned.

Goodbye Chimney

There has been much discussion about pretty much every inch of our home. Our chimney alone has been the focal point for hours of discussion. The beautiful brick look of it vs. well, the room it will take up in the garage, and the room it takes up on the porch and the sun it may take away from the solar, the general lack of safety associated with chimneys and earthquakes, the fact

that we won't be able to burn wood anymore in it anyhow...
Believe it or not I was torn until just two weeks ago. I am a waffler. But as you can see here, Sean is not.
We have decided to re-use the brick for our driveway. Already now the bricks are cleaned and stacked and waiting their new phase in life. & the good news is, as you may be able to tell from the photos, Sean is damn good at the demolishing of things.

Before

Thought we should start out with a picture of the house before we begin to meddle... for reference.