Let's Build A Foundation!
No, I didn't document the cracks in the foundation, or how the workmen took saws and cut out what they could and epoxied what they couldn't. Or how they squared the foundation and discovered a big chunk of it was really crooked and had to be completely redone. Suddenly I'm discovering that there are a bunch of things where there are no pictures because I'm just not fast enough. If you're really curious, go build your own house and you'll see all these kinds of things I'm sure!
I can, however, share the lovely story of Tree and Portypotty (as told to me by Noah, more or less):
Tree was very lonely once they tore down the house it lived beside for so many years. Portypotty was far away, all the way at the back of the driveway by the garage. Tree didn't have any friends and wished it had a friend. One day, Portypotty was moved right up under Tree and Tree was very happy.
"Do you want to be my friend?"
"Yes!"
"My name is Tree!"
"My name is Portypotty! Let's be friends!"
"Okay!"
So Tree and Portypotty became friends. They were very happy. Then they fell in love and then they got married. Later they had kids, but neither Noah nor his friend (who was in the car with us at the time the tale was told) could give any clear definition to what the offspring of a tree and a porta-potty would be like.
Lovely, isn't it? Now back to the house:
Once the foundation that was being preserved was fixed and the foundation that wasn't useful was removed, the next job was to dig a bunch of ditches and holes and build the molds for the new parts of the foundation. This took several days and we held our breath because this was the part that had the potential to damage the botanical protagonist in the lovely story above that we were rather keen on preserving.
As you can see, the foundation work proved to be rather extensive. In the front, they had to make foundation where there had previously been porch, add a bit for the new bay window, remove the corner near the driveway in a desperate attempt to give us a little more room to back out easily (it can be a tight squeeze when our next-door neighbor has a car parked under her window as in the picture above, not that she's to blame in any way---it's just a skinny, shared driveway). Down the center of the house there was a lot of reinforcing to hold the weight of a two-story, and then a large chunk of the back had to be redone because it was so crooked.
(The replacement foundation at the back.)
One of the cool things about the molds is that they ran steel bars through them, and below them, so the concrete will be really nicely reinforced when it's done.
In the "Gee, I didn't know you could do that!" department, they took the remaining wall off the foundation to level the foundation out a bit. One piece has been removed entirely and placed on the lawn. The other portion has been shifted about six inches toward the inside of the house.
Here's our pretty new bay window:
...and a lunch order by the crew.
Next: What's big, and has four wheels, and spins, and is a truck, and has concrete?
I can, however, share the lovely story of Tree and Portypotty (as told to me by Noah, more or less):
Tree was very lonely once they tore down the house it lived beside for so many years. Portypotty was far away, all the way at the back of the driveway by the garage. Tree didn't have any friends and wished it had a friend. One day, Portypotty was moved right up under Tree and Tree was very happy.
"Do you want to be my friend?"
"Yes!"
"My name is Tree!"
"My name is Portypotty! Let's be friends!"
"Okay!"
So Tree and Portypotty became friends. They were very happy. Then they fell in love and then they got married. Later they had kids, but neither Noah nor his friend (who was in the car with us at the time the tale was told) could give any clear definition to what the offspring of a tree and a porta-potty would be like.
Lovely, isn't it? Now back to the house:
Once the foundation that was being preserved was fixed and the foundation that wasn't useful was removed, the next job was to dig a bunch of ditches and holes and build the molds for the new parts of the foundation. This took several days and we held our breath because this was the part that had the potential to damage the botanical protagonist in the lovely story above that we were rather keen on preserving.
As you can see, the foundation work proved to be rather extensive. In the front, they had to make foundation where there had previously been porch, add a bit for the new bay window, remove the corner near the driveway in a desperate attempt to give us a little more room to back out easily (it can be a tight squeeze when our next-door neighbor has a car parked under her window as in the picture above, not that she's to blame in any way---it's just a skinny, shared driveway). Down the center of the house there was a lot of reinforcing to hold the weight of a two-story, and then a large chunk of the back had to be redone because it was so crooked.
(The replacement foundation at the back.)
One of the cool things about the molds is that they ran steel bars through them, and below them, so the concrete will be really nicely reinforced when it's done.
In the "Gee, I didn't know you could do that!" department, they took the remaining wall off the foundation to level the foundation out a bit. One piece has been removed entirely and placed on the lawn. The other portion has been shifted about six inches toward the inside of the house.
Here's our pretty new bay window:
...and a lunch order by the crew.
Next: What's big, and has four wheels, and spins, and is a truck, and has concrete?
posted by Tanya Klowden at 10:54 PM
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