Quite a bit of progress made in the last 9 days. The first priority was addressing the foundation wall experiencing the buckling effect, while simultaneously managing to keep the house from collapsing.
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| Balancing Act |
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| New Footer |
To do that, the foundation wall was removed in its entirety, with five temporary supports put in supporting the first floor under the corner of the house. A wide footer was then poured under where the wall used to be, with the new wall to rest on top of the new footer.
The removal of the foundation wall made the basement floor of the house look like a giant mouth about to eat the backyard. We were trying to decide whether the corner post dangling in space looked more or less scary than when it was supported by a pile of old bricks in slow-motion collapse. Either way, it was quite a sight.
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| Window Wells |
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| Hole for Basement |
With the wall braced and the footer for the interior wall poured, the project moves into a quicker pace, at least visually. The foundations for the window wells were poured first. The crews don't waste much time, they were able to complete the wooden forms and pour the concrete in the same day, with the concrete drying to the point that the forms could be removed the next day and they could proceed to the next part of the foundation, forming and pouring the basement walls.
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| Forms Go Up |
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| Basement View |
Just a few days ago, a giant truck full of forms pulled up in the driveway, and over 2 days the forms for the basement walls were hammered into place. Much of the basement will be above grade, so the hole is only 5-6 feet deep. As the forms were put in place, sections of styrofoam were cut and inserted inside the forms, which will set the brick ledge for the above-ground brick veneer.
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| View From 2nd Floor |
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| Pouring Cement |
Around 4pm today, three giant cement trucks hovered in our street and started pouring concrete. By the time the sun set, the pour of the basement walls was completed and left to cure over the weekend. Next week the forms come off, a ton of wood shows up and framing begins.
