Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Le Cotage Conversion- Go John Henry

Jake finally gets the first window opening to the point where we can use a sledge-hammer. Here is cousin Bill. I even tried it!
Here's Bub. Hey, batter, batter...
SWING!
Lest you think this is easy, that hammer is super heavy...
... and that wall is solid concrete with even more solid rock embedded in it!
Here's Porter. This is about as high as I could get it too!
Way to swing that iron!
Of course Coley has to try it.
Jake finishes it off. First window down, two more to go.
Haven't you ever wanted to kick a hole through a wall? He went clear through 2 sheets of dry-wall.
Now we're going to PUNCh the wall.
Ready, set...
Bill, telling me where Anthony is going to punch through.
He did it! There's his black-gloved hand and see the piece of dry-wall flying to the left peeling back paper with it?

This is so much fun!

Le Cotage Conversion- A neat pour is not really very neat.

Digging more trenches. There are a lot of condoly rocks here in StarValley.
Porter is watching for Dad to break through this concrete/rock wall.
Finally through! Can you spot the drill bit?
Morgan having a go at the pressure washer.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Le Cotage Conversion- And so it begins.

After spending an hour with a friend building lasagna and stealing her recipe, I triumphantly walked out her door carrying my prized aluminum pan of homemade sauce layered with noodles and cheeses galore. First, I praised the wonderful rain. Then, I heard an out of place noise. A noise I knew from past years. A backhoe!

To the cottage! (After putting the lasagna into the oven, of course.)

Step one is to dig down around some of the sides of the house for two reasons: stop water from leaking through the foundation and to take the old windows out so we can install egress windows.

The original plan was to side the outside of the basement walls with Bituthane... until we discovered a new term I had never heard before: neat-pour. They framed only the insides of the basement walls with wood and poured concrete right up against the dirt. I think this house was built in the 1930s.

So we now have problem-solving opportunity #1.

This is so fun! We loved watching the giant robotic arm breaking up the concrete driveway. Although, the robot did lose a tooth trying to crack a huge slab.

And my backhoe operator did a fine job of not hooking the water line.

The Giant Robot and the trenches are now tucked in for the night wrapped in bright orange construction fencing. It's about that time for me, too.

Le Cotage Conversion- The American Dream

We are now the proud owners of this really old, really smelly house. Don't worry, we will not be habitating in the inhabitable. We get 6 months to gut it out, bring it up to code, and transform it into a cozy little cottage.

I've only ever seen this done on TV. I'm SO excited for this adventure.

Updates to follow!