Demolition, Day 2

This is the final goal for the house, hopefully about 6 weeks from now (although I'll be happy as long as it's finished before Christmas).  I am trying to "keep my eyes on the prize."

Today has been a bit more eventful than yesterday.  It's definitely turning into a typical home improvement project!  :o)

I am glad Todd worked from home today and was able to talk to the foundation guy, Augustine, about the plans.  There is a concrete slab in front of the door.  This slab has caused quite a bit of concern - which we didn't expect as little as 24 hours ago.  It is actually part of the foundation.  This means that it has post-tension cables running through it.  This is problematic for a few reasons:  1) the slab is slightly higher than the rest of the foundation, making water run-off a problem. The new porch is supposed to step DOWN 2-3 inches as you come out of the front door.  2)  The post-tension cables have to be handled very carefully or they could rip up the entire house.   A guy was supposed to come this afternoon to assess the situation and determine whether we could release the tension on the cables.  He never showed...

Augustine was surprised that we weren't going to have a concrete beam (beams?) installed as part of the front porch.  He said that John, our contractor, had indicated that it wasn't necessary because we don't have to have inspections out here beyond city limits.  Needless to say, Todd and I found that response a little disconcerting.  Augustine said it was something he would prefer to do and Todd agreed with him.  Then, Augustine looked at the dirt we have, which is VERY loose, and decided that it wasn't good dirt.  I am not entirely sure what constitutes "good dirt," but he wants to bring in clean fill dirt from elsewhere and compact it.  Again, Todd said that we would prefer to do it properly.  As of this moment, I know that John has been out to talk with Todd and Augustine and agreed with Augustine's suggestions.  That said, I am not sure whether any changes have actually been planned...  I am hopeful that Augustine or John will be on-site first thing in the morning before any more work is done.


Thankfully, Todd was here to talk to the concrete guys when they arrived this morning...  Among the other concerns, they were planning to just drive the concrete truck up onto the front yard.  Our drainage field is in the front yard and DEFINITELY can't support that kind of weight.  Todd told them they will have to use the driveway.


In the midst of raising new questions, progress was still made.  They successfully ripped out all of our shrubs today and made a massive pile in the middle of the yard.  Everyone who drove by on their way to the park stopped to check out the progress.

This is what it looked like as I stepped out the front door mid-day:

Todd mapped out where the electrical conduit was to run power to our street light and where our water comes into the house.  This didn't get effectively communicated.  As a result of this, and of the electrical conduit not being buried deeply enough, they broke the conduit run out to the street light, so we will have to replace that.  On the bright side, they brought a trench digger to help dig for the new foundation work and were able to dig a new, deeper trench for the conduit pretty quickly for us.  It was a fun piece of equipment to watch!

The new trench for the electrical:

You may note that there was once a light post right beside this trench.  LOL  Todd went out to talk to the guys about digging the trench.  He reached out and touched the light post.  It fell over.  Oops!  I guess we'll have to replace that, too!


Once the guys left for the evening, I left Isaac inside while I ran out to get 2 last photos from the day:

The little mischief maker!

I came back in and found this in the middle of the living room floor:

Thankfully it was just a wet diaper and there were no accidents on the floor.  It looks like our little guy has found a new way to keep Mommy on her toes!


In still other news...  Baby #2 had a heart rate of 156 yesterday.  That is just barely slower than Isaac's 160/162 throughout the last pregnancy.  Good to know there really is a baby in there and I'm not just getting fat.  :-)