The renovation!

[Furby]

Well it seems everyone has a thread about the work they are doing or have done to their homes.
So here's mine!
Now just so you all know up front, I'm not doing anything even close to being as fancy as Jeff, Ck, or Norm & Patty.
Here are the before pics:


The South side.


The North side.




After:


 ;D
All done!  ;) ;)

[etat]

  8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D



My wife's exact words,........"I'm glad he didn't do anything too fancy!!!" ;D

Myself, I'm totally speechless, (can't quit laughing) :D :D :D

[sprucebunny]

Good one, Furby!!   Does the guy that lives there know you'll be moving in soon?

[chet]

Don't be so hard on yurself dar Furby. I think ya did pretty good for your first try.   ;D   :D   :D

[Furby]

Nah sprucebunny, I figured he'd get the picture when I pulled up with the mill.  ;D
Glad ya like it CK!  
It's not my first Chet, so I knew to keep it simple! ;)


Ok, here's the real thing.  :
You can see the frame of the back part, it more or less broke free from the house during the demo.



The new addition will go across this whole wall and come out 30'. It will be a one story stick frame, with a full basement.

[EZ]

Ya got alot of work ahead of ya, Furby, but when its done it will be well worth the time. I myself have done a few of them jobs, pretty cool how they use to build some of them old houses. Have fun and be safe.
EZ

[Patty]

 Furby. Nice place you've got there! Keep us informed with photos. It is alot of hard work to remodel, and I know you'll do a fine job.  ;)

[Furby]

Well it rained the whole week. Not hard rain, just a on and off drizzle. Worked in the rain Mon, gave up Tue. and Wed., worked in the rain Thur. and Fri.
Here's a pic of the slopped together floor joists.
The joist that were in the lower part of the pic fell out when the floor boards came off.

All the wood is now out, except for one beam that needs to be cut free.
It was getting dark when we stopped for the night, so I'll get some pics of the old foundation later.

[beenthere]

Furby
I admire your courage to tackle that job. I sure hope it goes well for you (and that you don't slip and fall into the abyss -er basement).  Good luck.  

[Furby]

I think courage is spelled S T U P I D I T Y! ;D
Yeah the abyss thing has me worried. I don't think I have used the front door more then a handful of times since I bought the place. Even if the front door is open, I'll go out the back door, and around the house to get the mail.
Had to start useing the front door last night and it isn't fun. :-/
I figure sometime in the next week I'll forget, step out and ................

Here's a pic of the basement. Everything stone or concrete in this pic will be removed, not that there is really much left of the stone wall. :



Still don't know why that footing on the right runs out on such an angle. I'm thinking there may be a few surprises under that patio.  ;D
I did find a 10 karat gold ladies pocketwatch back and "most" of a green teacup, as well as some other odds and ends.

[etat]

Be on the lookout for the missing two thirds of a map.  AND, don't fall in that hole!!!!!!  That first step on yer way down is gonna be a dilly!

[Furby]

2/3 of a map? What map ???  ;)
2/3 might just be enough to find it myself, huh? :
Yeah, the drop is only 6', but that's STILL gonna hurt!

[OneWithWood]

Do I see the top of a cistern in one of those photos?  If so be very careful around that thing.  The tops cave in and there is no way back out.    If it is a cistern you might place a ladder in it so if disaster strikes you can get yourself out.

[Gilman]

Where's the cistern at?  I can't find it.

[Furby]

Nope! There is no cistern in any of these photos.
There WAS an old septic tank that I belive may have been a cistern at one time. But you can't see that any more and the tank no longer holds much of a threat, and that's all I'll say on that!  ;)
You can't see it in any of these photos, but there is a big pipe under the patio. I started a thread on it a while back, and I'm now about 98% sure that it was indeed a water storage tank. The pipe will be coming out real soon, and I want to get some pics of it when it's out.

Been finding more and more stuff, but no maps. There was a horseshoe with the nails still in it under the old steps. Today I dug up an old milk bottle with the hoe. It was just behind the basement wall, and came up with the wall. It's still in one piece, but I did crack it a couple of times.  :-/ Found a piece of dinner plate with gold inlay. Also something that may have been an old coal chute. There was a bunch of coal with wood under and on the sides. It was along the basement steps and all the way down at the footing.
Lots of misc stuff.
My dad came over and went metal detecting again and found about $1.50 in change and a 1949 silver dime. Also 1942, 1941, and 1927 wheat pennies. The big find was a 1900 indian head penny in good shape.
My brother and I removed the small section of field stone wall and found some petrified wood that they had used in the wall.

I finally figured out that the North wall is NOT 2' thick. The back part of the house was built with a stone foundation, but only about a foot below grade. Then at some point they added the basement and poured the concrete wall for the basement. We had been thinking the concrete was to stabilize the failing stone wall, but that's not the case.
Everything I've been finding out about this place points to the back part that I took down, being much older then I had been thinking.

The big down side of the day was driving the backhoe into the basement and being unable to get back out. I guess it WAS really funny, but I sure wasn't laughing at the time!
After a LOT of work, we did get it out. It's hard to see, but this is where it was stuck. The ramp was, I thought, an easy grade and packed enough, NOT!!!!

You can see some concrete that we had to bring BACK into the hole to get some traction. There is even more that you can't see.  :-/

[leweee]

Furby  looking at that last picture the words that come to mind are"I just love what you've done to the place". :D :D :D. when you get more experience with that new toy you will be amazed how you can get around by  curling the bucket and pulling with the hoe. Takes a brave man to do renovation work in the rain.... my hats off to you... and keep up the good work  ;D


PS no cussen when your stuck ...ya hear ;D 8)

[Gilman]

Furby,
You need to get the wife more involved with the camera so we can get action photos of you getting stuck.  We really don't require a movie but it would definitely be appreciated by the entire group.  I know I'd watch 3-8 times  :D

Just don't teach my Kathy how to take movies of me!!!

[leweee]

I'd pay good money for that video.... maybe we could raise enough money from the video to help with the renovations.    Lights ,Action , Cameras...weres that  # for "this old house"...nationwide...we  can even have a family version (with the cussen edited out). Furby you ready for prime time. ??? 8) 8) 8)

[Furby]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D
No wife to take the video. ;) ;D
Did have my dad and brother over, but we were more interested in getting it out before the rain moved in.
I do know how to curl the hoe, and did it a lot. The trouble was after I'd pull it out a couple of feet, I'd have to set it back down to get a new reach. The brakes need to be adjusted, and the sand was so soft that it would roll right back down, pushing the FEL through the sand. Finally got it out by curling the hoe and tossing the concrete under the wheels and blocking them.

I do have video of the porch roof coming off with the hoe and also the removal of the timbers of the frame being removed with the hoe. I did that part all by myself, with the hoe.  ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Haytrader]

After ya pull with the hoe, tilt yer bucket down and push her down till ya get another grab with the hoe.
 ;)

[leweee]

Haytrader.... you done this before  ;D
Furby you will get that baby moven like a sand crab  in no time. :D
practice ,practice, practice 8) 8) 8) Good Luck



P.S. just for clearity when we say curl the bucket(we mean the front end loader bucket) turn the bucket down,lower the loader till you have down pressure(enough to take weight off the front wheels)asyou pull with the  hoe you curl the front bucket, now hold your position with the hoe& reset the front bucket...... the words" repeat if nessicary "come to mind.......hence.... moven like a sand crab ;D  no brakes required for this tecknic. Good Luck

[Furby]

Actually I did both, and a couple of combinations I can't describe!  : I just couldn't hold ANYTHING with the FEL. I could have just kept curling the FEL until I had a big hole, but I wouldn't move.

The big equipment will be here in a day or two and this will all be gone so I won't be able to practice anymore.  :-/
Untill next time that is!  ;D If I'm stupid enough to get myself into this once, ya better belive I'll do it again!  ;D

[leweee]

Furby hang in there ,,, as Red Green would say "we're all in this together. and keep your stick on the ice" ;D

[Bill_B]

Looking at the photos and reading all the posts bring back memories of the work I did on my house in 88. It will be a lot of work. Also it will be very nice when you get it done.
Keep up the good work.

[Furby]

Another looooooooooooong day!
First thing this morning was a phone call saying they had rushed my grandpa back to the hospital, packed in ice, with a temp of 108. I guess a nurse at the rehab center checked on him at 4:30 am and he had a temp of 106, but she didn't do anything.   Someone checked him again at 5:30 and he was at 108 so they called an ambulance.

A few minutes after that call, the guy that is doing my basement showed up.
Good news is the hole is dug, and the footings and walls will be in on Monday.

Under the patio we found an old cistern filled with sand. The pipe we knew was there, and what I thought at first was an older smaller cistern. A couple of feet down we hit bottles!  ;D
The top several layers of bottles had been smashed by the hoe, but he moved off to work on the other side so I could dig by hand.  ;) ;)
Well it turns out it was an old well, about 2 - 2 1/2' in dia, brick lined with no mortor. The new footing was going to go right over it so I wanted to get out everything I could. I had a 10 -12' high pile of dirt next to the well, but I really wanted to see what was there. I dug about 8' of the well total, before giving up. I tell ya, it takes a heck of a lot of nerve to be 6' down a hole, with 12' of dirt above the hole, heavy equipment working nearby, having the stuff you are standing on constantly settling and not knowing how deep this well really is. Oh, and I DON'T like small spaces! My knees were really shaking when I got done! After it was all said and done I came out with over 120 bottles that were in one piece! Two insulators, and only one ball canning jar.

We ended up taking out a "little" more of the old foundation then I'd have liked, but as long as there are no big winds, the house will be better for it. Of course the new hole is big enough to dispose of the house in, should a big wind blow.  ;D

After 9 hours of digging, the equipment was loaded up and headed out. Nothing left the jobsite by way of concrete and dirt, so the piles are TONS bigger then planed. I was planning to lay blocks myself, but after looking at the piles of dirt along the hole and seeing rain coming soon, the walls will now be poured. That'll save me a bunch of time, but I have a lot of dirt and concrete to take care of.


The well.


Where the old basement wall was.


One of the piles of bottles. A lot of milk bottles, and some junk bottles, but I'm hoping for a few GOOD bottles.

I'll get a pic on here Monday of the whole back of the house. The basement wall in the one pic, got cut back another 2' on each end.
Oh, and I'll get a pic of that pipe also.