The house is being built on land that my parents own. They are putting up the money to build the house and I will pay rent. Eventually it will become a guest house when they build their own close by.
This is what the spot looked like when we began:
(try to remember that pretty green grass...you won't see it for awhile!)
The first order of business was to remove several stumps from pine trees that we had recently cut down and a few older ones that had been there for years. We rented an excavator for a week and my dad spent days digging up those stumps. It is amazing how deep and wide tree roots go!!!
After the stumps were gone and the holes filled in, we had to smooth the ground back out as much as we could. We already knew we were going to have dirt brought in to raise the house up slightly, but we wanted a level base for everything to sit on.
Later in the week we had 3 or 4 truckloads of dirt brought in and Dad used the excavator to dig a trench around the foundation and to pack down the dirt and even it out.
Next we began setting up the forms for the foundation. Whoever says that you don't use algebra and such after high school has obviously never built a house. Trying to make sure that everything was square required LOTS of formulas and measuring! We built the braces (the pink things) back at my dad's house as well as made stakes from rebar to help anchor them to the ground. We used 2 x 12s first to attach to the braces then went back with 2 x 6s and filled in the gap at the ground level. We also had to account for the front and side porches of the house. The porch will be slightly lower that the rest of the foundation and we had to lower the level of the top board to reflect this.
Once the form was finished we had to go back and level the dirt on top and in the trench. I do not have any pictures of this step because I was convinced I would die soon after and the pictures would not be needed.
Seriously. We start working as soon as the sun rises, but it doesn't take long for the temps to reach the 90s. Hydration and breaks are key!
So we were moving right along! We then lined the entire thing (trenches and all) with heavy duty plastic and began working on the rebar. No more shoveling dirt! I was super excited!
And then it rained. And rained. And rained.
As in deluge. For a couple of weeks. With no stopping.
And the dirt surrounding the trench just couldn't handle it.
So the wonderful plastic that we lined the foundation with is now hiding mounds of dirt that have collapsed due to the rain.
(it's kinda hard to see, but the plastic should be going straight down on the left side...not pushed toward the middle due to the dirt)
So we're at a standstill. We lost 2 days of working due to the rain (which is a LOT) and now we have to go back and repair the damage before moving forward.
I know this isn't the last setback that we'll have, but it really just SUCKS to have things out of your control.
Anyway...hopefully we'll get moving again soon!
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