Don't Try This at Home ...

Unless you are neighbors with Erectors West.
The concrete floor of the garage will be poured on top of B Deck which is 3 foot wide sheets of galvanized steel that are corregated and are connected together to cover the whole ceiling of the room below. The B Decking is supported near the house by a piece of 3 inch Angle Iron that is fastened to the existing house wall. It sits on the top of the other walls of the room.
We bought the B Decking and the Angle Iron. Rick needed to put holes in the Angle Iron so he could screw through it to connect it to the house. With the Drill Press and a brand new, high quality bit and cutting oil, he started to drill his first hole. He figured he would need to drill about 60 holes. After about a half hour, he almost had 1 hole drilled. Thank Goodness that our neighbors across the street had suggested earlier that they had a machine that could punch holes through angle iron. When Rick realized how impossible it was to drill through the angle iron, he asked Nick for help. Within an hour Nick was able to punch (like a giant hydrolic paper punch) the necessary holes in the Angle Iron. Then Rick and Lee held the HEAVY piece of Angle Iron in place as I marked where the first 2 holes would be drilled. Before long, Lee and Rick had the first piece of Angle Iron in place.

Tar Baby

Before we backfil around the new rooms,

we needed to put a tar waterproof surface on any of the concrete that would be burried.

Its a messy job,

so I put on the polyester suit and gloves and shower cap

so I wouldn't get it all over me.

But it was a pretty tough job...

and it was hot

and before I knew it, I was asking Rick for help.

I would roll the paint roller in the tar....

.... and hand it to Rick so he could roll it on.

He just tried to be careful to not get in all over his clothes and arms.

Boy it was messy and sticky.

Pouring the Garage Walls (in 3 parts)

The Cement truck drove in as close to the garage door as possible

and extended his chutes as far into the garage as possible.

The cement would go into the wall midway

between the front and the back corner.

It should flow toward both the front and the back and fill the walls.

Lee called his friend Josh to help because Ron and Mike had not arrived yet.

(Josh came even though he "doesn't even like the smell of projects")




The concrete flowed to the front of the Garage very well....

but not toward the back of the garage.

We heard cracking and popping noises.

Mike went down to see what was happening.

What do you think, Mike?

The Braces were sinking into the soft clay dirt.

We needed more braces to hold the wall upright.

We should pour concrete directly into the front wall.

Lee and Josh worked on the front wall while.....

everyone else discussed what to do with the side wall that was leaning over.

Rick and Glen wondered if it was safe to continue to add concrete ...

...to a wall that is already leaning and ....

...we don't know if the additional bracing will be enough to hold it upright.

They decided to try again.

But the concrete would not flow around this back corner.

They would have to drag the concrete around the corner to the back wall.

Dragging concrete is so much work.

With a little creativity (and using our plank to the front door)

we could send the concrete directly to the back wall.

They braced the end of the plank and the end of the chute.

Yes, that is the tow rope holding the whole thing together.

The long chute and plank was not very sloped ...

and the sides were not very high so they had to drag the concrete into the wall.

So they added 2 x 4 sides to funnel the concrete to the wall.

We got Glen off the ladder and had Mike tend the chute.

They were able to pour all the walls full.

There was barely enough concrete to finish the walls.

We did not have a disaster.

The walls did not come tumbling down.

Week Three ...Maybe?

the footings for the kitchen add on.

again

the footing holes

mom holding up the board to measure the depth

Jules pointing the laser at the board.

Digging the Holes continued

The hole under the garage is getting bigger.



The bobcat drives in and digs and drives back out.

He has cut a ramp going up (or down) the driveway to get from the room to the dump truck.

The hole is mostly done.

We have to dig the footings and straighten the dirt walls by hand.

JP is holding the stick that the laser level shines on to show us if our floor is low enough.

We put a string to show us a straight line for the outside of the wall.

We also hung a plumb string to get our walls vertical.

The many different layers of dirt are interesting.





The walls are starting to look pretty good.

Introducing the Remodel

We have decided to remodel our house instead of move. The things we are going to do are:

• Enlarge the kitchen 6 feet into the backyard
• Remove the pantry and move the fridge there, build a new pantry
• New stove, dishwasher, and microwave
• New cabinets and countertops
• Repair kitchen table and chairs
• Create a door from kitchen to backyard
• Build a patio, maybe a pergola (whatever that is)
• Move the back door that goes to the garage
• Redo bathrooms
• New hard wood floors throughout the upstairs
• New rugs for the Living room
• New brown leather couch set for the basement
• New clothes dryer
• Replace the cracked cement of the driveway
• Extend the front porch, so it is wider with new railing
• Create a cold storage room underneath the porch, like Marie's house
• Fix the sinking cement of the garage
• Build a storage room under the garage
• Build a backyard shed
• Possibly new windows and shutters in the front

It's going to be a long project. But it's quite exciting!