Now Where Was I?

DAY TEN
Ahhh yes...the back fill is complete! We no longer have a trench surrounding our house. Everything is no ready for the concrete to be poured and then on to the framing! I love how it went from a giant pile of dirt to a lovely smooth sandy surface...

DAY ELEVEN & TWELVE

Saturday and Sunday went by without a hitch, mainly because there was no work scheduled. We did, however, get a couple of really nice racks from Joe's Sports as they were going out of business. We have installed one in our garage already and are planning to install another. They are very sturdy and we hope they will help our garage stay a bit more organized!

DAY THIRTEEN

Hooray, June has arrived and so did the cement truck. But instead of pouring cement, he ended up taking it to another job. It was at this point, sadly, that we realized that the existing slab is going to have to go. It had too much slant to meet the footer surrounding it. Again, Jim gets to be the fill-in- guy and break up another 300+ sq. feet of concrete to keep the job going. Luckily the excavator pitched in and they got it done quickly. At first it felt like a major set back, but in reality, it only put us off one day. We also had the siding removed so it looks like some serious progress is being made.

DAY FOURTEEN

Two weeks has flown by and wouldn't you know that it rained today. They poured about 70% of the concrete and will finish it tomorrow.

Got to keep the air conditioning working somehow!

Can't go outside today...

DAY FIFTEEN

All the concrete and the flat work it done! It looks amazing, especially the fire pit. We would have loved to leave our hand prints, but alas, all the kids were at school. Our name will be our mark!

Framing starts tomorrow (Thursday) and I forgot to mention that they don't make our color of siding...so now we have to decide how to monetarily deal with that...Sigh....I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it!

Addition - Days Two through Nine

DAY TWO:
No pictures - although I should have taken some of my great husband being a stone cutter. Because of all the issues yesterday we had to cut additional concrete away and because of the additional expense that would be incurred Jim decided to take on the project himself. He did an amazing job of getting it ready for the next guy to take over!

DAY THREE:
No action at all....Sigh

DAY FOUR:
The back hoe comes and we have a trench. It's just like a war zone. The kids thought it was great to play World War One in the trenches with the air soft guns. It was really quite amazing to watch the back hoe in action. It's like an extension of his arm when he moves. It's such a huge machine, but Juan operated it like it was not big deal. He could get right up next to the concrete and not touch it at all. It was interesting to see how much effort went in to cutting the concrete and how little effort the back hoe used in destroying it.

DAY FIVE:

Sunday. A day of rest, but such a mess!

DAY SIX, SEVEN & EIGHT:

Labor day, but the foundation contractor was there bright and early ready to work. He poured the footers, which put a damper on the "war" reenactment, but we moving along. Tuesday we finally had our first inspection and we could then start building the stem walls. Wednesday the stem walls cured. We're back on schedule...

DAY NINE:

Here we go again....

Foundation contractor here

Insulation contractor MIA

Inspector comes, but the insulation isn't ready so we missed the next inspection. Our foundation contractor really pulled through for us and found someone to do the insulation so that the back fill can start and we can pour the flat work. We called the inspector and he said it was OK to continue with the back fill, but he would still have to come back Friday to inspect.

The excavator comes, but doesn't think he can back back fill, so he starts to prep the side for the patio. A day late and dollar short. The story of our project!

The Excavator is supposed to be here bright and early Friday morning to start the back fill and finish the prep for the flat work. Hopefully we'll recoup some time tomorrow!

Stay tuned....

Addition - Day One

We have been going back and forth about adding on to our house for about a year now. We just haven't felt right about moving to our land, but as our kids get bigger it seems as though our house gets smaller! We finally decided to take the leap and add another 600 sq. ft. to the back side of our house.

Simple, enough, right? We aren't adding any plumbing and it's basically a couple of big squares...it looks so easy. Everyone keeps telling me not to get my hopes up that nothing we be on schedule and that it will take twice as long as I expect. I hope that's not the case, but I'm going to chronicle this jouney on our blog as we add this extra space.

I hope that all goes as scheduled. Our end date was scheduled to be June 29.

Alas, here goes day one....
Excavator...here on time and ready to go
Foundation...here on time and ready to go
Framer...here on time and ready to go
Sprinklers...here on time ready to go

Sounds like a good start. The first inspection is scheduled for this afternoon. The excavator is supposed to have the holes dug for the footers, the sprinkler guy is supposed to move the lines for the excavator, the framer is putting up braces to support the exitsting patio trusses and the foundation guy is supposed to put in the footers.

Foundation starts to cut the concrete, as we are using the existing slabs and adding footer to it. Jim and Greg downed the tree last night so that it all taken care of and Jim and the boys removed the basketball hoop. Excavator pulls the tree stump and framer braces the trusses....

Wait! Problem with the foundation. There are cracks under part of the patio. We won't be able to get enough concrete removed so the excavator can dig around. Excavator has to leave to another job, so we can't get the hole dug and of course, it's going to cost a bunch more to remove more concrete. We called the inspector to tell him not to come, but it's too late, he's already here.

He give us some insights on how to proceed.

Foundation contractor gone...
Excavator gone...
Framer gone...(although his work got done!)
Sprinkler contractor gone....

Leaving Jim to cut two feet of concrete of the perimiter of the patio for it all to work. He's going to be sore tomorrow.

Hopefully day two will be better...

Our Television Debut...

We were so blessed to have Maggie O'Mara from KTVB come to our office and do a story about how we let the kids come to work with us. Last Wednesday she spent a couple of hours at the office getting ready for the story. It couldn't have been better! Then they went and saw Krista at the hospital to tie the story together. I have to say, I was very pleased with the end results.

Maggie is an amazing woman. She was so very genuinely friendly. She fit right in with our office. The camera guy, Tony, was great too. He really got some great shots of the kids and made us all feel very comfortable on camera.

If you haven't had the chance to see the story you can check it out here.

Our Office On KTVB!

Talent Show

Preston performing "Fandango"

Brenden performing "Christopher Columbus"