The Big Dig

big pile of dirt!

Well after MONTHS (around 7 actually) of waiting, construction on our project finally started yesterday.  It was quite an exciting day.  Our son Jackson loved watching the trucks start to excavate.  The dogs felt a little differently though.  They worked through the entire day and got about 2/3 of the way across.  It might be a little hard to tell but the hole is a good 10-12' deep.  I guess we could always put in a swimming pool instead.

facing the house

from the house looking out

The guys were back again all day today and finished digging the width of the house.  We ran into a few snags, like an old buried terra cotta pipe that apparently runs through our entire yard to the house.  breaking that up caused the hole to slowly start filling with water.  They also discovered that the portion of our existing basement that runs underneath the concrete back steps (shown above) doesn't go all the way down like the rest of the house.  So they had to stop digging against the wall for fear it could erode and collapse.  Oh joy.  All totally fixable but an extra ordeal none the less.

Tomorrow the architect comes out to inspect the foundation situation and if he gives the thumbs up, they will start framing out the footings.  

And so it begins...

New House

Well you have seen the old... so here is the new.  This layout includes the addition & changes (in pink).  Note the much larger kitchen and the second floor laundry.  What a dream.  And while we are adding a lot of square feet we are still being somewhat modest in order to keep the home to scale.  No McMansions for us.  So what do you think?

Also, we have a full basement that goes under the entire house (with the exception of the garage).  We will be adding a full basement under the new section as well.  We also just decided last week to go ahead and finish the basement in the new part for a fun little playroom for our son, Jackson.

Old House

I have been meaning to put this up for a while.  This is a layout of our house as it currently is.  Notice the tiny kitchen.  I hate how the sink and stove both meet in the corner.  So annoying.  There is also just that tiny strip of counter top to the right of the sink and that is it.  It is a pretty basic 3 bedroom / 1.5 bath house... but just you wait!

Construction Begins?

Well after MONTHS of waiting it looks like construction may begin as soon as a week from today.  Because we live in the Chicago area, we hit a point in December where the weather became a factor.  Since our addition involves digging a basement foundation, the ground had to be a certain temperature.

On top of the freezing temperatures, we had a horrible blizzard (which I loved!) that left us with over 2 feet of snow.  The snow finally melted and left us with ice.  Now temperatures are starting to regulate and hover in the acceptable range for construction.  Our contractor, Tom, is coming by this week to check the ground and take some measurements for the trucks - we have to use our neighbor's driveway to get the trucks to the backyard.  Then we will pick a date for the big dig!