garden wall

So the people finally started the wall today. The stones been here for more than a week. Plus they kept going out and "started working on the wall." but all I ever saw was them digging and scraping at the ground. Not really a wall now . So here is Sean and a rock and me. That rock is barely bigger than me, I don't see what the big deal is though I guess sean did a number on his tailgate rolling it out.

slab

So we have a slab now. We water it, and love it, and when there is work, we cover it with cardboard. People are so strange.

Fireplace?

From the inside to the outside. Luckily our neighbors next door have been great about all this craziness- and it hasn't been too cold.

Back of the house

There is still the back of the house- what was once the laundry room. The new foundation is poured and the utility sink has left a yellow mark on the wall. Sean & I were put to work. The main job was the hole that Sean made in the existing foundation so that if one wanted to crawl in our crawl space they could wiggle their way under this new section.
The second are bolts drilled into the existing foundation that will serve as connectors between the new house and the old. Sean drilled the holes but I got to clean them with a toothbrush and then mix the epoxy and put in the bolts. Of course I got the epoxy on my pants and hair as I worked. No surprise. But all is well, we think we're ready for the framers to frame.

Goodbye

We have grown surprisingly attached to our foundation crew. This is to say that as all the work has gone well, they will be leaving us soon & off to the next job. Digging in the hole in the wall (which is soon to become the stairs up to the rest of our house) is Pedro. Above is the always happy looking Juan, whom everyone really calls Gordo. (Yup, one morning I looked up at Sean to say- are they really calling him Gordo?). And the hard working one who seems to hold them together when Armando's not around is the one crouching down- Victor. Sometimes we get to hear them singing as they work, other times I don't understand their jokes, but they laugh. Our dog watches and begs from them when they eat their lunch. Of the treats we've brought them, they seem to most appreciate banana bread & oranges.

As you can see from these photos, the re-bar has been set for the pouring of the slab. Once the slab is poured, these guys are pretty much out of here. They are sweet, sincere & diligent men. We wish them the best.

Leveling out

So I'm not sure if I've made this clear or not, but we are still living here in our home. To make matters more severe, I mostly work from home, and our little home office corner is, well, directly over the garage. So I've gotten pretty used to the noise, but there is this new thing thats been happening now that the framers are here- they are jacking up the house to level our floor and as they do this there is this amazing noise, like thousands of spiders running along the walls. They leave only cracks. Sometimes I get up and stand outside for a few minutes, just in case a window pops.

framing garage

So once again the people start something but can't seem to keep up with the rest of it, leaving the dog, obviously the cat won't do anything, to work on the blog. I've been nobly protecting my bed while new people are pounding away on the house. Above is a panoramic view of the garage with the framing started. Below are a couple of detail shots of the beams they put in, lord knows how, the things are as tall as me.

And on the right is a shot of where the chimney used to be but no more. And now Sean has gone and removed the concrete beam that was holding up the stone facing and the bottom foot of the facing, that's people feet you see. The framers were nice enough to brace the lintel bar, now if you would like to give me a guess as to what was holding the rest up while Sean took out the beam, let me know. Oh well, the garage is coming together.