Stop the Breeze

Finished the form work under the front of the house and poured the concrete completing the run. I used treated 6x6 4' on center to shore up the original 8x10 wormy chestnut beam. I used treated 2x6 studs between the posts, insulated with R 19 batts and covered it with 3/4" treated plywood. I build a 3' x 3' access door and then sealed all the remaining cracks between the block and the framing with great stuff. This should hopefully seal off the wind seeing as how we have had a giant hole under the front of the house for a few weeks now. Temps are down in the 20's at night lately.

Solid

I got a new perimeter band on the footer and a new sill plate installed. I cut out the last remaining rot from the bedroom cleaned out the rest of the trash. I bolted two treated 2x10's together and got it jacked up under the center wall of the house. I used metal hangars to secure it to the new band on one end and the locust beam on the other. Now it is time to move back to the front of the house.

Patchin Holes

I replaced the old sill with a treated 4x4 and bolted it to the new foundation. I sealed th hole in the side of the house with plywood so not to draw much attention from the road. I have to tear out some of the kitchen so the foundation does not have a break under a load bearing wall. I got the floor torn out and the rest of the form work done. I also had to do this so I could complete the bedroom floor system before tearing out the kitchen floor. We went to the ASU game on Saturday and got to stand on the 30 yard line with the team courtesy of Dr. Derrick and his wife Liz. The leaves are at their peak and it was about 60 degrees.. perfect. Despite the partially destroyed kitchen, Maranda and Daisey still found the space to slice and dice the garden spoils into homemade tomato sauce. We were able to can both red and a low acid yellow sauce for my Grandma.

Still Diggin

I got the sill plates removed from the back of the bedroom. The porch slab that backs up to it had lots of rocks and debris that caved in when i pulled the plate out. I cut out some siding to dig the footer but hit some solid rock fast. I think it was an old cornerstone so I formed over it in place. I found some old Listerine bottles and other trash in the rubble. Maranda and I formed the footer and poured 25 bags of concrete after coming home from the ASU--Gardner Webb football game.

Tribute

Not much to do this week because we lost our little Divot on the 11th. He was hit in the driveway and did not make it. He was the best little dog...he loved to chase butterflies and he loved his daddy Chewy. As if the house was not broken enough, we had to add two hearts to the list. I am off th NYC for 10 days for a job at the New York Botanical Gardens.

Master Suite

We spent the last week ripping out the floors in our old bedroom. There was an awful bounce in the floor at the bottom of the stairs which turned out to be some serious rot. Because the back of the house was originally built on the dirt all the old sill plates and joists were shot. I pulled out six of them without using any saws. Most of the floor pretty much collapsed when the hardwoods were taken up.

I am losing square footage

Spent as far as Thursday this week gutting the downstairs bedroom. We tore out the stairs and all the sheet rock and poplar paneling and hauled it to the dump with all the other crap that has been there since last October. I was able to salvage some of the yellow pine T&G and some chestnut studs but not much else. We discovered an old date written on the sideboards of the old house. It read C.C.L. November 17th, 1917. Not sure what to make of it yet. I got a drop in from Dan Sheffey from ST. John and Brian from work...two very different perspectives.