A Floor Beneath Our Feet, Part II

By the end of the second day, we had a floor! We can now walk out of the kitchen and dining room without plunging eight feet to the bottom of the basement.

This is Mike installing blocking.

And here is the rest of the group installing plywood.

A Floor Beneath Our Feet, Part I

We have a new basement floor, and we're well on our way to having a new kitchen floor!

The cement was poured in the basement about a week ago.

We also installed a sump pump, a feature that I simply did not want, but that Mike insisted on having. I admit to having a severe case of sump pumpaphobia after hearing horror story after horror story during my childhood about Uncle Woody's possessed sump pump. However, I felt better once I realized the device is nothing more than a trash can buried in the ground. What could go wrong?

We also spent several days getting ready for the construction of the kitchen floor. Mike leveled out the walls at the new basement entrance.

I secured a lot of washers and nuts along the addition's perimeter.

And before we knew it, it was time to start hammering!

Another Brick in the Wall

The basement walls are completely finished. They've been sealed, and Mike has added insulation on the outside so that he won't have to put as much on the inside. He and several work buddies also laid the support beam on Friday.

The basement drain has also been installed, a project that has taken a great toll on the yard.

The construction has also become hazardous to the rhododendrons.

Building the Basement Walls

A major piece of our construction began last Thursday. Concrete blocks for the basement walls were delivered to the house. To save money, we told the basement team we would move the blocks down into the hole ourselves. The following video is of Mike and Henry moving some blocks on Thursday. On Saturday, I slid 100 blocks down to Mike, and let me tell you, those suckers are heavy!

That same night, Mike unveiled the doorway into the new part of the basement.

We decided we would let the cats walk out into the new basement, if they wanted to. They're really missing their sunroom and haven't gotten much fresh air this summer.

Only Gray One decided to venture out and had a great time exploring the cement blocks and walking on the pebbles that were serving as flooring. Once we'd had enough, we made him go back inside.

A couple of hours later, we were in the living room watching TV when Mike got up to get a drink of water.

"Gray One is outside!" he exclaimed as he passed by the dining room door.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing and rushed over. Sure enough, Gray One was perched on top of a tall stack of cement blocks. He had snuck out of the house while Mike was covering the new basement door with plastic.

But the amazing part of the story is that instead of meowing outside the new door where he had exited the house, he climbed up as close as he could get to the dining room door. He must have known he would have a better chance of being heard.

Mike opened the door and said, "Gray One, you're going to have to jump."

Right on cue, Gray One flung himself from the block, which was about three feet away and two feet below the door, and skidded to a stop in the dining room. We were quite relieved that he didn't take a nasty tumble to the bottom of the hole.

Fortunately, all went well on Friday, and when we arrived home, half of the wall was up!

Getting our Footing

A couple days after the excavation had been completed, a crew came to pour the concrete footers for the new structure.

A Whole New View

We didn't arrive home from the wedding until 1 a.m. Sunday, so we didn't have an opportunity to see the progress the excavator had made until daybreak. Here's a virtual tour:

And here's the hole from another view (I warn you, what you are about to see is a bit frightening. I don't do well going to sleep after 1 a.m.).

Digging Ourselves into a Hole

Last Thursday began a new phase of our project. The excavator arrived to begin digging our foundation/basement extension. By Saturday morning, we had a sizeable hole behind the house.

Saturday was a typical day where we had way too much going on. I was running around all morning doing errands, and Mike was supervising the dig. At about 11 a.m., I came home from the bank so Mike could sign something I had to take to another bank that same morning. I arrived expecting to hear a whole lot of clatter coming from the backyard, but everything was quiet. The excavation crew was gone, and so was my husband.

As I set my purse and keys on the kitchen island, I saw a big note that said, "The crew hit the water line while they were digging. I went to the store to get parts to fix it."

My heart sank. I turned on the faucet, and sure enough, not a drop of water emerged. Given the drama we had recently gone through with our well, I should have been used to this problem, but we had to get ready for my cousin's wedding in a couple of hours. Trying to remain calm, I ate lunch and waited for Mike to come home.

He soon arrived carrying a bag full of piping and wires. He explained how he would fix the water line in plenty of time to get ready for the wedding.

"But what if they hit the water line again?" I demanded.

He reached into his bag, pulling out more piping and wires, and said, "Don't worry. I bought enough stuff that they could break the line three times, and we'd still be fine."

True to his word, he fixed the line, and the excavators promised they would be really careful (until we left for the wedding, that is.) We managed to foof and jeuge ourselves in plenty of time.

We had a great time at the wedding, which was a really nice break from all of the construction. Here is the happy couple:

And of all the pictures I took that day, this one is my favorite! That was one tired ring bearer (and that was before the ceremony even started.)