Foundation work week two

Foundation work is coming along slowly but surely.  Here you can see we have tagged the beautiful and old Alberta Spruce shrubs to make certain they will not be damaged during this process.












It is looking nice and clean under the house.  Luckily there has not been much rain to make this a muddy hole.
















That black piping is a drain for the downspouts for when the inevitable rain begins. 

Foundation work continued

Today we had the trak-hoe in for the cement and digging trench for the new foundation.

Here is a good picture of the cribbing used to support the jacks that currently support the whole house.

Specialty tool used by foundation workers in small spaces!

Here they are smoothing it out for the foundation footings.

Up in the Air

I just put all the pictures on the blog today.  It was quite facinating watching the process.

Here is a picture of the I-beam and cribbing with one of the four jacks.

This jack outside was supporting the tacked on wash room, entry way.  The rim joists were totally rotten so it was necessary to support the house above the floor of this addition.

Here is the southwest corner that left the outside support on the footing.

Second day lifting

Lovely day for working.  Here is one of the I-beams, 40 foot long and 12 inches tall.

Rolling along the house to the west end.  Since the ground is more or less even, this is done easily.  It gets tricky, they say, when there is incline or decline...

The crane is positioning the beam.

Getting it just right.

Here is the roller bar that aided in the balancing act .

A little bit more to go beyond the rim joists. 

Here it is underneath the house on top of the cribbing.  

Daylight at the end of the beam from the other side of the house.  Below photo is the next beam sliding under the house on the south side.

First day of Lifting

Here are the beams used for supporting the house once it is lifted, we think.

Here are a couple beams recessed underneath the house to make a firm base for the lifing mechanism, we think.  Below photo is the start of the process with a jack in place?  There are no lifting beams, yet, under the house.  We expect that to happen tomorrow.  So bear with me as we explore the world of lifting houses into the air!

Old photo

   Here is "Birds eye view of Farm" dated October 6th, 1914.  There must have been quite a forest that was logged, leaving those snags. 
   Below photo was taken today.  The large tree on the left was planted from an acorn brought back by Great Grandmother Andria.   I think there are two of these oaks on this property. When she was probably still living in the little house, she took the train back to Nebraska  to visit her family.  Returning here, she brought back acorns to plant.  Pretty cool, huh!

Laundry and Pantry clean out

Today we cleaned out the appliances and made two trips to the recycle yard.  The doorway to the laundry room was so small we had to take out the jambs and disassemble the washer and dryer to get them out. 

Have you ever wondered where all those missing socks go?  When we opened the lid to the washer, it was full of dirty water.  After siphoning, this is what was left!

This was a heavy, heavy, cast iron sink.  Below photo is the pantry all cleaned out.

Foundation work

Today we exposed the foundation all the way around the house in preparation for raising which will begin on Monday.  This shot is of the worst corner of the house. 

How about this?  Nothing like a rock holding up a block holding up a log holding up the house. 

1917 "Feeding the Turks"

Here is another old photo sent to me by cousin Dan.  Thanks!  The woman feeding the turkeys is probably Great-Grandmother Andria.  This is the little house she and T.K. lived in while building the big house.  At this date, July 17, 1914 (or 1917?) the big house had been built and this small house had been turned into the wash house where they heated the water to do the washing.