Getting It Done

There is slow but steady progress being made on the house.   We're hoping for completion before Christmas.  Fingers crossed.

Here is a pictogram of some of our progress to date.

The Kitchen.

BEFORE

 

DURING

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING THERE !

All the lower base cabinets will be the same arctic white as the base cabinet by the refrigerator.  The door with glass inserts to the left of the counter by the frig is where our new pantry will be.  It used to be the door leading to the garage.

 

 

The Fireplace.

 

 

BEFORE

DURING

DONE!

We removed the poorly done river rock facing and too small mantle.  We've replaced the the rock with stacked stone and the mantle with a large slab of three inch pine.  During this process the gas fireplace insert had to be removed entirely while the interior of the "fireplace" was rebuilt correctly.  We were told it posed a fire hazard the way it had originally been constructed.  We were fortunate that we felt large drafts from the fireplace last winter and had it inspected.  Just one of many items done improperly, poorly, horribly wrong in this house.

The Wet Bar.

The wood paneling on the bar front is the wood flooring from the dining room.  We are trying to repurpose as much as we can from the materials that we have removed throughout the house.  The back counter top will be cutdown from the old kitchen solid surface counter.
 

 

 
 I have no before pictures of Jeff's wet bar in the lower level because all that existed there before was a wall and a door into our furnace/mechanical room.  If you recognize the cabinets, kudos.  They are the upper cabinets from the kitchen. 

There are other projects still underway, including the mudroom, installation of the new bamboo hardwood flooring in the dining room, living room, and foyer, and completion of the front porch and installation of the new "cedar" shake siding surrounding the front door.  More pictures to come.

Hope everyone had a outstanding Thanksgiving!

Playing Catch Up

 Good bye Fredmoor home, hello Evart.  This photo seems like a life time ago.
 

Moving Day

So our tidy brick tri-level in the suburbs sold and we closed July 3rd.  We moved the majority of our worldly possessions up to Evart where they have since become causalities of construction dust and grime.  If we had only known, we would have put everything in storage. They will require a serious washing with soap and water. 

 I'm sorry, I digress.  Back to early summer.  Here is our home in Evart before the construction began.

I had forgotten how nice it looked.  The remainder of the summer involved digging a 10 foot trench around the entire perimeter of the house.  There was big excavating equipment and dirt and mud.  The foundation was re wrapped in 6 mil plastic and a tile drain was added around the exterior.  The basement had a trench broken through the cement floor to run a tile drain from the west side of the house to the east side.  Also a septic pump was added.  Then the outside trenches were back filled with pea gravel and sand.  The downspouts were all redirected away from the house.

The cautious exploratory excavation.

Okay now it's beginning to get serious.

Our excavator Scott skillfully maneuvered this behemoth within inches of the foundation without causing serious harm.  Amazing to watch.

It was a monster.

Now you can see how deep the excavator had to go.

The basement trench running from the bedroom on the west side.

The basement trench on the east side with the new sump pump inspection by Linus.  See the blue lines on the floor.  They are where the new walls will go for Jeff's wet bar.

 

No more front porch.

No more front yard!

Order is restored.  The beginnings of the new front porch.  Note the absence of the yawning gap between the house and the sidewalk.  Progress.

We've added stairs off the back deck.

Sadly it is a true construction zone.  Don't those stairs look lovely, though?

The east side of the house.  The air conditioner was returned to it's rightful resting place and reconnected.  The retaining wall was removed. 

Several fresh loads of soil were spread, along with grass seed and straw.  A month later we have green shoots peeking through the straw.  Just in time, for winter is knocking on the door.

The remaining photos are a montage of the summer.  It was gone so quickly.  Farewell!

From the back of our property looking towards the house.

A neighbor cut and baled over 100 4x5 round bales off of our fields.  He came back and did a second cutting at the end of the summer and probably cut another 40 bales.  That is a lot of hay.

This friendly doe was a frequent visitor.  On this day she was intrigued by an unusual disturbance in the grass.  By the way these photos were taken right off our back deck.

Hello?  What is that?

Oh, I see it is the Linus cat.

This is the concrete pad for "new" shed our handy man Bob is making out of the old carport in the background.

Well, November is but a day away.  The work on the house is progressing at a snails pace.  Will it be done in time to host Thanksgiving?  Jeff says no.  I'm reserving judgement.

What do you think Linus?

 

Trouble With A Capital T

Any guesses on what's going on here?

Here's a hint.

We drove in Monday 4/21 to begin our week long farm "cation" where we were going to paint and assemble master bedroom closet systems and be efficient and productive all around.  The delivery truck was waiting in the driveway with our shiny newly purchased LG washer and dryer.

We opened the door from the garage into the kitchen and were rudely assaulted by the stench of the dead (I think, since I've never smelled a rotting corpse before, but if I had I'm sure it would have had this smell).  Hearts plummeting we headed to the finished basement where the washer and dryer were destined to reside in the laundry room.  As we stepped off the stairs and stepped onto the carpet we found it to be quite wet and squishy!  There was not a dry square inch to be found in the entire basement.  Wetness and malodorous smell ruled.  Panic, disbelief and sadness ensued.

We have since discovered that the Evart area experienced record rainfall the weekend of 4/11.  We remember there being thunderstorms all Saturday night and waking up the following morning to ponds and rivers in unexpected places where none had existed before. (A foreshadowing of the extreme weather we've experienced this summer.)
 

A river runs through it!

A new pond with the new "river" in the background by the trees.

We watched with trepidation as the water crept closer to the concrete patio on the lower level and the walkout French doors.  However, when we left that Sunday morning the water hadn't reached the doors or ventured much beyond the edge of the patio and we felt encouraged.  No rain was forecast for the next couple of days.

Three weeks later, after 25 fans, 1 dehumidifier and a destroyed lower lever, we are no closer to determining the entry point of the dreaded flood (revision, we have determined the reason for the flood; a backed up floor drain and an improperly installed wood foundation).
 

Two of the 25 fans used to dry out the lower level.

Four days later at $25/day the 25 fans were ready to be decommissioned.

The aftermath:  Two feet of drywall and insulation removed along the exterior perimeter walls, carpet gone, shower/tub enclosure trashed and base board trim in a heap on the floor.

We have determined our wood frame foundation leaks enough to saturate the entire lower level.  We have a builder we trust who determined the best course of action to prevent this from happening again.  We have five $00,000 digit dollar signs floating in front of our eyes.

To get to the bottom, literally, of the problem we had to excavate around the exterior perimeter of the house to correct the leaking foundation and to correct the drainage system and redirect it far, far away from the house.  

When we bought the house and had it inspected the inspector assured us that, number one, wood foundations are great systems that keep the basement dry and warm.  Ha!  Number two, that we did not need a sub pump because we sit high up on a hill.  Ha!  Number three, that wood foundations last for years. To be determined.

I originally began this post back in April.  To my shame I have not had time to complete it.  Fast forward four months.  Our builder, Joe, determined the foundation was in need of serious repairs.  That work has taken most of the summer to be completed and a nice unexpected chunk out of our operating budget.  We are now in the throes of phase two (which was originally the only phase) of our house modifications.  Joe, the builder, is earnestly striving to complete a mudroom, a kitchen pantry, lay new bamboo flooring in the living room, dining room and foyer, reassemble the decimated basement, add a wet bar for Jeff, reface the gas fireplace and paint the two story living room.  Also we are renovating the kitchen.  Our target date to move in was the end of September.  Sadly, I think we will be lucky to have all projects completed before the end of October.  Which happens to be the date of Jeff's retirement.  Yes, we have a light at the end of the work tunnel!  My last day of work will be October 1st.  I have turned in my notice.  The difference in dates? I have the whole interior of a house (other than the living room) that needs to be painted.

This is the master bedroom closet system that Jeff and I installed way back during our farm "cation" in April.  We are pretty proud of how it turned out.

This is Linus.  He helped.  Then he rested.











I have pictures for future posts of excavations, hay in the fields, Linus (of course), deer, and the summer that is quickly fading away. So sad to see you go.  "Summer, I swear, you just got here!"

"Spring And A Deer" 

Till next time.

D :)