New basement!

Due to the climate in Duluth, construction workers need to put in footings somewhere around 72 inches below ground, which is more or less the depth of a basement, and as a result, for us to add a full basement underneath our addition, it more or less costs about the same as without. So we're going for it. Somehow, they are able to connect the new basement with our existing one and waterproof the connection (this sounds crazy and impossible, but supposedly it can be done!). And at some point they will cut a hole in the wall of our existing basement and make it a doorway into the new one!

That being said, today was basement-pouring day! The masonry guys where bright and early (around 7:30ish?) and started the day by standing around the hole gawking at the swimming pool, the muddy erosion and the cave-ins around and on top of the footings. They left and returned with shovels and cleaned everything up before piecing to together styrofoam molds with weird plastic things inside that are used to hold rebar. Then the cement trucks came. It took two trucks to fill the molding, the first truck being the BIGGEST CEMENT TRUCK EVER on the face of the planet. It practically touched the sky. Well, maybe not quite, but almost. There was little hang up when the cement was too much for the styrofoam molding and it blew out the corner, but it was patched together with some boards, and the mess cleaned up. In the end, all is well, and at the end of the day, we have new basement walls! There is no floor yet though because the dirt bottom is still too wet and sloppy and they need to haul in some gravel or something to pour on it first before they can pour a cement floor.

A piece of the styrofoam molding with the funky rebar holders inside.  Surrounded by tubing used for drainage that will be buried around the outside and inside of the footing.

The biggest cement truck on the planet. It had to open up/extend the boom so that it could fit underneath the powerline that goes to our house. CRAZY. 

And just for good measure....the chair-sized boulders they found while excavating that our two favorite geologists just could not pass up....We (aka the guy with the backhoe) are going to put them somewhere for "decoration" when the work is done. Near the back stoop perhaps. 

Rain Rain GO AWAY!

On Monday the excavators came and dug a gigantic hole in our backyard, scraping right up against the existing foundation! Turns out there are absolutely no footings under our existing house, which evidently is common in older houses in the area, but now footings are required in order to comply with building codes. At some point, mom and I went outside to watch them dig, and they were listening to a weather report and decided to pour the footings the same day to avoid the oncoming rain, which is in the forecast for the rest of the week. No work was done yesterday due to the fact that it was absolutely pouring on and off all day, and it has continued to rain all day today. This morning we discovered that some of the dirt wall surrounding this gigantic hole has caved in, and it looks as though we now have a swimming pool in our backyard--albeit a very muddy one. Work is scheduled to continue once again when the rain stops and the hole dries up somewhat.

Broken Glass

As promised.....the garage. Or what's left of it anyways. Beware of broken glass...it is everywhere. A word to the wise - wear shoes when walking around it. Or if you're me and don't want your shoes to get wet in the grass, wear rainboots. Also, I think this marks only the second or third time anything larger than a snowblower has been parked on that slab in the 20 years we have lived here....

Can you guess where the windows were?!

Our garage is now contained in a gigantic, overflowing dumpster parked in our driveway. 

Commencement!

Well my friends...at long last, construction has finally begun! Thank you City of Duluth for being so accommodating on your ONE DAY PER WEEK of approving building permits (evidently every Thursday is building-permit day) and taking FOREVER to approve everything in our plans. But with everything in place, approved, and all set to go, the "boss-man," our contractor Jim, came out today with one of his guys and they tore the back porch down! Well. Deconstructed it more like, and Jeremy, the worker, told me that the thing was so well built that it was practically bomb-proof despite its sketchy appearance. Then the excavator guy came with a backhoe around dinnertime-ish and tore down the entire garage. Sadly I was at work during this time, so I was unable to catch the whole ordeal on camera, but Papa tells me he and Dori went outside and watched them do it, and it sounds like it would have been cool to see! Of all this though, I think the most exciting (?) part of the day was the fact that we now have a nice, dark green porta-potty sitting in our back yard. How lovely.

The last photo of our garage before it was torn down...an after picture will come in the next couple days, as it was dark and raining by the time I got home from work tonight. 

    

The souvenirs of the day! These were found underneath the back porch when they took the foundation out! Pretty cool! 

And last but not least....The infamous porta-potty!