operation "finished concrete" YEAH!!!

We finished the concrete work today!  The basement floors are done!  I will have to say it was incredible watching my husband finish the basement floor.  Amazing how the cream comes to the top leaving a smooth finish.  It took all day to pour and finish that.  I put clear block in the two basement crawl spaces while they were doing that and also hung a tire swing for the girls.  The girls worked on pulling metal out of the burn pile so we can take it to the metal man.  The rest of the day they spent riding bicycles and swinging along with  playing up in the loft.  It is so much fun to round the corner at the wood shed to hear them singing and playing up there. Fun times!  This will be the last update for a bit as David will be having knee surgery tomorrow and will hopefully sit around and relax for a couple of weeks like he should!  :-)

here comes the concrete

leveling

finishing

extra space

almost done

hanging the swing

a little too high

fun times

a great time

operation loft house gang

We have had beautiful weather this week for working on the house.  Friday we filled the block with concrete to reinforce the walls.  It went really well.  I got to guide the shoot for the truck as David and Jonathan ran the board along the wall and guided the concrete into the holes.  What a job.  Today David and the boys graded the rock and prepared to pour the basement floors on Monday.  Jonathan and I started splitting wood yesterday and I finished it up today.  A wood splitter is so cool.  I will have to admit though it is another job that uses muscles that I don't usually use.  :-)  I stacked about 3 cords of wood yesterday and today.  It looks so nice all stacked up on the skids in the wood shed.  The girls had company over for the two days we were there and they created a club in the wood shed loft.  I power-washed it for them so it would be clean and David stopped and got them some straw to haul up there for seating.  They have spent a lot of time decorating.  It looks so nice and it is very creative!  They have had a blast.  Nathan came out to help us today also.  What a blessing he has been.  Next week will come the basement floors and the window then it will be smooth sailing.  LOL

doing grade

ready to pour

log splitter



wood split and stacked

the loft

welcome

creative wreath from outdoor finds

the loft house gang

decorated loft

make a joyful noise





operation basement walls

We have not posted much in the last week because we are doing the same thing each time we are there, the basement wall block.  I can finally say that I think it will be done and filled with concrete this week!  YEAH!  I think the plan is to pour the basement floor also.  This will be an exciting end to a job that feels like it has taken forever.  Then up with the house we can go.  This week we also glass blocked in a basement window (I get to do the other two).  We also tore out a place in the foundation that had a hole and leaked water pretty bad and poured some concrete to be able to block it closed the next time we are there.  David also knocked a hole in the basement going out to the new part that we are building so it is much simpler to go in and out now.  In knocking out that wall though he found something very interesting.  There is no footing, the basement floor is the footing and the existing basement walls are two seperate walls with about a 3 inch void in between.  Think we are going to try to take out another basement window and fill the void to make it a solid wall.  INTERESTING!  We have had our son and a friends son this week and they have done an awesome job at mixing mortar and buttering the ends of blocks so that I can lay mortar and David can lay block.  We make quite a team but I know those two young men will be as glad as I am when they hand that last block up!  LOL  Good building trades class for them and good exercise for those biceps!

doing glass block for light into the crawl space

mortar man

basement repair

laying block

being a help meet  :-)

my mortar message (he was measuring while I waited)

operation help

Imagine knowing that you are headed over to the new house to help your husband lay concrete block, knowing how sore you are after putting 50 of them in the hole the day before and helping him lay those 50, that this day, your goal is to lay at least 100 and you know what you are going to feel like when you are done (you know I am just a woman). Now imagine turning the corner only to find that there are two other men in the hole with at least 100 block that they have already carried and are now putting up! WOW, talk about a blessing. All I could say was "thank you". What else is there? Thank you is really not even enough because I did not have to lay any block yesterday at all! So thank you, Derek and Drew for getting our corners up strait so we can have nice looking walls! You were a HUGE blessing! I did help David mix mortar and fill the block in the back of the house so it would be almost ready to build on. We cut our first tree down, a dead one in our own yard. The girls had fun climbing on that for the day. We got the tree cleaned up and a lot of the wood shed cleaned out. Just a little bit to go and it will be ready to split and stack wood in. I think one more day of cleaning in there and it will be done. David put up some lights so we can now see between the house and the outbuildings when it gets dark so early. By the way, we had a friend come over and lay the block in the back of the house on Thursday. He did a fabulous job and it is almost ready to build on. David continues to say that as soon as this block is done (not his trade in any way) that he will fly through getting the floors, walls and roof up (that is his trade). It is so exciting! 

bedroom addition

bedroom addition

cutting dead tree down

some one has to carry block

laying block

blessings