Getting ready for new foundation

They delivered material to make our new foundation. The re-bar is under the plastic in front of our dirt pile. The lumber is in our old driveway.

You can see the lumber and our two dirt piles in this picture. One is in the front yard (behind the car) and the other is in the back yard. I still think it is strange to see our back yard from the front of our house.
Our contractor said they will build the forms and put in the re-bar for our new foundation next week. He hopes to get the inspection at the end of the week and pour the concrete the next week.
A plumber will fix our drain problem early next week.
Most of the dirt from our piles will eventually be put back under our house to get it level with the ground outside the house. The mud in our yard is really sticky. It only comes off your shoes after you sweep the floor or get to work.
You can hear anyone coming to the front door long before they get there.

Problems

Early Monday morning we were woke up by workers fixing a broken water main on our street. We didn't get our water reconnected until after I went to work.
Monday they didn't do any work on our house. Tuesday they dug more dirt out. The piles of dirt are getting bigger.


The sewage pipes going into our septic system are leaking now that the dirt around them has been removed. We are getting our septic system replaced after we are back down on our new foundation.

How Firm a Foundation -- NOT

We are no longer have a foundation under our house. They added tubes to the end of our down spouts to get the water to run away from the house. They are trying to get it to be less muddy under the house.



They are digging down to undisturbed soil to pour our new foundation.



We have two piles of dirt in our yard. They are covered with plastic to keep them clean.

The house next door has been sold. We need to stop using their yard.

We can see Mount Si, a local landmark, from a couple of our windows now. Our view was blocked by trees when we were lower.

A lesson from George Washington

In honor of Washington's birthday, which is later this month, our contractor cut down our cherry tree. We knew we would lose the tree, we just didn't know when. They also removed the rest of our foundation.

They started digging a trench to put in the new footings.

We have noticed that our house moves in the wind.

Plumb bob

They removed one of the two remaining sections of foundation and hauled a lot of the old foundation away. When I was looking under the house I saw something to remind me of my surveying days. It was a plumb bob hanging from a beam. I think it is to line up the new foundation with the house.

More foundation removed

They removed more of our foundation today. There is just a little of the old foundation left. They also filled in trenches and holes in the yard. There is not any grass left near the house. The space under our house is currently being used as a garage. I thought we would park our cars in the garage, nor construction equipment.

Who Needs Water?

They started removing our old foundation today. The portion they removed was the old porch, and the front wall under the living room and master bedroom. That wall is where the water line enters the house. They broke the water line.

This where they removed the foundation. You can see the old water line. It has seen better days. I think those days were before I was born.
You can see the new main water line. It is the shiny black pipe connected to the color coded pipes in the house (blue for cold water).
The new water line goes over a log and connects to the water meter.

They will bury the line later. They did reconnect our water.