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.