Digging and Demolition

The tree inspection passed, although our contractor had to replace a lot of the mulch after a giant rainstorm washed a bunch of it down our gravel driveway, which also eroded into the street! Luckily he got it fixed just in time for the inspector's visit. The next phase was to dig holes around the existing piers to add footings, and holes for the new piers for the addition.

Digging New Footings

New pier holes

These holes were dug for the piers that will support the Living Room addition.

The next step was to add reinforcing steel in the holes before the concrete pour. We had our crack structural engineer Staci come inspect the steel before the concrete pour, and she made sure everything was in place according to the drawings. Also, the tree inspector had to come out to inspect the holes to make sure we didn't cut any major roots of our pecan tree.  Sometimes I feel like the tree is getting more attention from the City than the house itself, but there you go... After the steel was fixed, we had to wait a few days for the inspector to show up, so the contractor used the time to demo some of the interior spaces that are being altered. It was great to see the house opening up once some of the interior walls came down.

Interior Demo

This is from what used to be the Living Room looking into what will be the Kitchen.

Preparing for concrete

The contractors leveled out the tops of each pier to make sure the concrete will be poured to the correct height for the addition framing.

After waiting for a few days, it was finally time for the concrete pour. An army of workers and a concrete truck descended on the house for a day, and the concrete was done! The house is still being supported on concrete blocks until the new footings cure, then it will be lowered down onto the reinforced piers. I think we may have overdesigned the foundation a bit, but at least we'll know we're on a solid foundation as we go up!

New piers!

These guys are going to be taking the weight of the new addition. Now for the framing...

So now that we have a foundation, the framing of the addition and the second floor can begin in earnest. The lumber is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, and we should see the house taking shape over the next couple of weeks. Exciting!!!