Another hot humid day but we can't stop or we will never finish.  We try to take breaks and drink lots of water.
Sad as Graham went back to Montreal today.  He has work to do there so we had to let him leave.  He ended up taking the Whitezda because there are no great options for busses from Belleville.  Leaves at 9pm gets to Montreal at 5am.  Really? We had hoped bussing to and from here would be easier, but nooo.

Had Bill the plumber stop by again.  Just checking our progress and offering advice on where he will run the plumbing and what to keep clear for him.  As for taking down the block wall in the basement to make room for a door and stairway he says don't rent a saw just get a sledge hammer and make a hole then keep at it till it's the size you want.  Brian was a little sceptical.

Then Gerry the concrete guy came by to see what was happening and made some great suggestions on where to go next.  So we now concentrate on the wall around the garage/workshop so they can pour it first and then we can backfill.  They can then use that space to pour the basement on the other side.  He also told Brian to just take a sledge hammer to the wall and remove the blocks you don't want.
I guess we will try taking a sledge to the wall.

Back to work as we might get some rain, good or bad I don't know.

We were moving along quite nicely but have now stopped this bit and moved work to the front of the garage.

At least there is some shade in this spot.

We know we have made progress since the piles of forms are diminishing.

This is not a great space to work in since both the water and sewer lines go through the forms here. Still in the shade though.

E/B

This system has the guys smiling.  It is not simple but sure is easier than stick build or cinder block.
They have gone off to Sandbanks for a swim and picnic.  Brian was quite willing to take a break from work for a swim in the lake.

More photos tomorrow.

This is the bracing and scaffolding system the boys were unloading.

  lovely and fast.

 bending the iron to put in forms and to hold down the braces.

E/B

Today is the day we get our Fastform guy to help with the first level.  Freeman was here very early so he must have left Orangeville at about 6am.

They are moving very quickly with the four of them out there.  It is stinking hot again though so lots of water.
The boys are finding unloading the truck hot work so they will be glad when lunch comes around.
We are renting from the company the scaffolding needed plus a steel bender and cutter and one day free (HaHa)with Freeman it makes their system work better if they show you how it works.
It took a long time last night to go over the measurements and levels again.  It is such a large multi-leveled space to work with.
Will post as the wall goes up.

This was done within an hour of Freeman arriving.

What is that saying about "Many hands make light work"

It is always better to work without that yard being wet clay.

We continue to edit the trees here, the trailer full of brush.

Two hours later this much is done.

E/B

A quite day today with more visiting than working.  There is something about a small town friendliness that is heartwarming.
Today Mark the guy who operated the rock slinger stopped by to see if the rain caused too much damage.  It took us a minute to figure out who he was since he was on his Harley and you know the outfit the helmet,  phone headset and big glasses
Talked to the lady behind us as we sat and watched the Poker Run boats pick up their cards.  She was sad since one of her Burmese Mountain dog died this week.
Talked to the woman next door as well and finally met her husband.

We did get some mud removed from the pit and Brian and Graham have most of the centre lines done.
There are just a few places we just can't wash the mud away so we will wait for it to dry a little.
Evan taught us an interesting thing and that is spraying clear lacquer on your string line and it won't wash away.  Very true because it worked.

I love Evan's painting which he did before we found out from the daughter of the woman who owned it before it was renovated that this house used to be yellow but with black trim.  Pretty neat for a before picture.

It won't be quite this bright of a yellow but some sort of yellow.

The poker Run boats lining up.

A new use for a fishing net.  Not many of the boats were decorated like this.

E/B

Wow what a lot of rain here yesterday.  The farmers will be very happy but we have had a few landslides that will have to be dealt with once the stuff dries a little.  Problem is we are supposed to get more rain and it is hard to see some of the footings now.
It gives one some appreciation for how the big ones start.  Just take away any ground cover and roots put a lot of water on clay and it just moves.  We have lived with clay before but I forgot how slippery it is when wet.

The boys are off for a few days, Brian golfing, Evan and Nat unpacking boxes, Graham seeing some friends.  I stayed as security for the pit and materials lying around.  Really it was so I could have a few days by myself.  That big bathtub is meant for bubbles not just showers, and my nails needed to be pink again.

I'll go for a walk and  see if I want to dig out the trenches or wait for help.  I'm really glad we inherited rubber boots from children there is no other way to walk in this stuff.

You have to understand that there is four feet between those posts .

I think we always knew this would be a problem because the tops were so unstable.

This pile has a rock in it that was just hanging at the top. Too high to dislodge before.

E/B

This is quite the operation and it is again so nice to have the boys with us.  B/G is finding out that there is value in letting other people do some of the work.  Like these photos with them putting the rock where you want it and not saying "it's okay we can move it".

This concrete company sure has a lot to offer someone building a home.  They move rock, pour concrete, provide steel, will grade the property.  Nice dealing with one company for so many things.

Here is our very appreciated help, just checking out the truck.

Brian in the green vest making sure he understands what is going on.

This is so much easier than us trying to wheelbarrow it over a wooden bridge.

These guys really work hard.

Brian operating the chute.  He loves being this involved.  Happy Happy.

I'm just staying out of the way for a while and will let the boys play.  Instead I'm making clay beds and mushrooms for Faida, Emerson and Esther to make Fairy house vignettes or miniature villages.  Faidas Oma gave her a book that has fired all of our imaginations.  I just hope the clay does not crack as it dries.
E/B

So......B/G and I took a gin and tonic down to the harbour and dream about the boat we will buy once the house is finished.  B/G really likes the Albin.
Except for the price of most of them they are a nice looking water craft.  We have a whole year to decide on one anyway so just looking.

But when down on the dock there is a major one sided fight going down.  A man in a sailboat is screaming(yes screaming) at 8 people in a very large yacht.   He says that when they pulled in the power outlet they wanted to use was not working so they asked him if his worked.  He said yes it did.  When he got back from dinner they had unplugged his boat and plugged in theirs.  Yes he was justified in being pissed off but the way he handled it was embarrassing for all.  He yelled, pointed fingers and would not stop.  The people in the yacht just apologized agreed with him and did nothing but try to make him understand it was a mistake.  In the end with the harbour owner also on the yacht they all shook hands.  Good G&T entertainment.

Today is more rock and I keep hearing "16 tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt."  and think we need a working cd of chain gang music.

He had such little room to get in there but he did.

This is where the dust flew and so did rocks, right across the deck.

Base of family room looking better.

I should have rotated this but this is what we call the goat-path to the backyard.

E/B

Just moved about a couple of TONS!!!! of stone with B/G.
My god of the 18 tons that were thrown in the pit we still had to move a lot.
The stone thrower is cool but man the dust on everything near and stones landing quite far from the conveyor.
More to be delivered tomorrow.  I hope the boys are back to help.

I have definitely earned my drinks tonight.

Just have to go get some groceries first then I will sit on the porch and lament the fact we do not have a hot tub yet, or cry in my wine never mind just lamenting.  It would be nice to have one when we are working so hard.

One good thing is I have cut my nails really short so I don't get upset at breaking nails doing this work.
E/B

Everything went well yesterday and today I am busy watering the concrete.  We really thought we might get some rain but it went by us again.
Today is looking like rain with many dark clouds and it surprises me to see the number of gliders still going out.  They are much braver than I would be but they may be from the army base near here so maybe they have to go out in this kind of cloud.  I can hear thunder and the planes taking up someone else, idiots.

We are hoping later today to get a rock slinger in and fill the base of the dig with 8" of rock.  It would be better to have it done before we start the walls so we have a cleaner surface to walk on and we don't want to try throwing rock in once the styrofoam walls start to go up.

Having a rock slinger in requires us to cut some trees down and others back.  We had hoped to do this later but the truck needs room to get to the back yard.

B/G had some grumpy moments this morning so I just walk away and let him get his tantrum over with.  Then we move on.

I should get back to work but our plumber Bill just showed up again.  He calls by every few days to see how things are going and if he can help somehow.  Mostly to see if we need anything and he will recommend someone for us to call.  It's very nice of him to want to help.

Wish all this work would parlay into a few pounds of fat disappearing, but no.

He took up most of the drive.  Should also remember that they leave the remains of the load in your yard.

Only one guy plus Brian wearing a hardhat or vest.

Quite a truck.

The kid on the left is that trucks operator. I wanted to ask whether he was allowed to drive even he looked so young. 

E/B

Concrete work is going well.  Gerry decided we were under manned and sent an extra guy to work with us.  Which turns out not to be me, I get the pleasure of bringing out water and waiting for them to finish so I can help take down the wooden braces holding up the Formadrain.
So we have the truck driver the boy who is operating the pumper truck plus 2 guys moving the hose and doing some levelling while Graham and Brian(Gramps) put in dowels and do a finer screed.
The bill may be large but It is worth every penny especially in this heat.
To think that B/G wanted us to move it all by wheelbarrow that was a foolish thought but I get a cute red wheelbarrow out of it.
I was hasty in my criticism of the boys as they both came in and helped with cleanup and made their own dinners.  That was a good thing because we didn't finish doing a final level check until 9pm so eating when you felt like it was great.
About the level we did learn that even though they give you a target that is supposed to make finding level in the sun easier it is not so.  We were better off to wait until the sun was lower and it took us 1/3 of the time and no swearing either.  The frustration that comes with trying to find the line in sunshine is probably 11 on a scale of 1-10.

This should be done within the hour and only took two trucks for the footings.

I will have to change my name here as I read  the meaning of Hause Frau and don't like it.
Maybe just
E/B

Today is site and house clean up to get ready for the footings pour tomorrow.
We are working with a 40% chance of rain.  I just hope it waits until afternoon to rain and we can get the trucks in the yard.  It is a really difficult pour because most of the the yard is inaccessible so we will have a pumper truck and it will try to get it over the house.

Drew is coming at 6:30-7am to clean up some of the dirt so the trucks have level ground to park on.
The cement trucks arrive at 8am.  Our neighbours are used to the mess by now and noisy trucks being here so early.  It appears there is no by-law against working early in the morning.

We may lose the chimney but we were going to take it down anyway.  I hope to get some good photos of the hoses over the house.

Gramps has got 2 wheelbarrows all set up just in case we need to move some concrete by hand.
I tell ya I'm getting quite a set of muscles on my arms and legs.  It will be nice to have them started so when everything is finished and we have the exercise room we can continue to keep in shape.

It is amazing that being the only woman on site there are still things that get left to me.  Even if I keep up with and work alongside the men they will turn to me at lunchtime and say what's for lunch. Same at dinner.  I get to go to the Laundromat and get the groceries.  They help clean up some but it is mostly me who does dishes and cleans the floors.  Even if I get mad things don't change and the place just gets so dirty if I don't do what I do.

Annoying but such is life.  I still get an awesome home in the end and then I can send Gramps to work in his workshop and keep the dirt out there.

Bye,
HF

Pretty tired today.  We drank a fait bit last night to celebrate getting our permit for footings.  I'm not sure how much of this we should do.  If we continue celebrating every permit and every job well done we'll be drunks before we finish.

It was nice to let loose last night since we did work very hard.

I still can't believe we got done so quickly since we had a few setbacks along the way that cost us four days.  With one weekend in between we still finished 300' of form work for footings, levelling the ground, levelling the forms, making everything square in a ten day span.  Started the dig on the 10th and got the permit on the 20th.  Not bad for one son, mostly full time, who has no experience in building or using saws and hammers.  Although he sure does now, he is a quick learner. We have done some work like this before but find it a lot harder now that we are older.  Still up for the challenge though.

Anyway I am taking today off to nurse this hangover and see if I can convince myself to change my ways.  Not likely!

HF

So here is a HILAROUS tale.

We ordered half of our Nu-Dura panels because we would have no yard left if they were all delivered at once.  After many phone calls and much confusion we finally got a time for the truck to arrive.  It should have been about 9pm.  Of course the truck was late leaving so arrival time here would be well after 9 and we would be losing our help to unload the truck.
There was a promise made by the company the driver would help us.

At 10.45 pm the 18 wheeler arrives on the major road near us not sure what to do as he is looking for a loading dock and can't believe he is delivering to a house.  Not only to a house but with just 2 people to unload this 53 foot trailer.  He was under the impression that it was all for us.  After much bantering about that not being the case and we were not unloading the whole truck at this time on night we look and there is a neighbour coming up in just a nightgown wanting to know what was going on and how exciting it all is as she had never seen a truck so large on our small street. Lordy Lordy! or OMFG go to bed.

There was no time for small talk though since Gramps(62 years old) and Frau(59) had a half a truck to unload.  The driver had a 15 min. break and then came and helped us which was great because there was no ramp on the truck and it was a 5' drop to the ground.
I think the driver was the best entertainment of the night he really thought he was delivering to a company which was why in previous calls he wanted to make sure receiving would be open so late.  To pull up and have an older man and woman waiting with no extra help floored him.  I think he thought he would be here all night but we were done just a little after midnight but then had to have a drink to calm us down enough to fall asleep.

A little lesson in how to have things delivered and now making sure we know what size truck is being used and making sure they know to use the other end of the street for deliveries.

We are thankful for the driver though he really did help us and in the end said he respected us because a grandmother was doing this work.  Even though there was a bit of language issues he really was sweet.

My crew who are amazing.

The sewer finished 

Part of the midnight unload.

The rest of the load which was only about 70 bundles not the 300 the driver thought or the 189 Gramps thought.

Hause Frau

We finally got the hole for the footings dug.  It took four days!
One of the guys working the machines left on day two of the dig because of heat stroke.  He never did return and that put us back a day with only one guy for a day of digging and driving the truck.

I was so disappointed at how much we still had to dig out of the trenches.  Clay is not light or easy to dig.  We were lucky to have one of our sons here to help.  When the thermometer is in the 30c (one day 35c) mark and no wind it takes a lot out of you. At least it did not rain on us as the clay would have been slippery and stuck to everything.

We had large jugs of water with lime slices to keep us hydrated.

Having these guys here allowed us to help out the neighbour behind us by using the dirt from the hole to level her back yard.  They were so happy to have doubled the size of the yard.

It is nice to almost be out of the ground we have the concrete guys booked for monday morning.
The city inspector was here today and okayed the work so far.

The next part will be very messy though as we have to put up the NuDura and put a barrier on the outside in place(the %$&*(# trench )  The next level will be so much nicer to do. I won't feel so much like a mole or gopher digging, digging, digging, pushing that dirt.

House Frau

This is just not where I would stand. I also don't think a hardhat would be of help.

Very annoying half walls and steps.

This is fabric to help with clay if it rains.  This is also the forma-drain foundation.

The floor under the workshop/garage.

We found out that our sewer line was not only plugged but in places where it wasn't plugged it was broken.

AHHH!!!!!

More money and time to have the line dug up and replaced at our own cost right to the street.
These are old clay drains that were certainly original.

The worst part is we had to pay a fee to replace it as well.

This puts us back in our foundation work and on the positive side we now know what we have for sewer and water into the house.
Yeah

Hause Frau

Sewer line had to be replaced

Some town employees making sure it is done right.

This is our retirement dream home.  Looking for something in a smaller community we fell in love with this house and could see the potential for making it a true family home.
There will be lots of room for children, grandchildren and guests.

Once we bought the home we have discovered all the perils of buying a home more than a century old.
Like how everyone here knows about knob and tube wiring but fail to disclose.  Fixing that problem took us over a month of pulling the old and putting in new.
We were lucky enough to find out our home inspector was a drywaller and he came and repaired the damage to walls and ceilings for free.

We then began extending the drywall in the bedrooms to below the baseboards.
When the house was re-done in the eighties they found the window and base trim to hard to remove so a simple answer was to cut the lathe and plaster at the tops of said trim and put up drywall.  This left either large gaps at the top of the trim or no top of the baseboards showing.  Ugh!!

This repair led to replacing all outside drywall, replacing the vapour barrier  and putting in proper insulation.  While doing this we took off all the baseboards and scraped and primed and repainted them.
We did try to save the the window trim but it was to fragile and split so we will have to have new trim milled later.

While doing this we found a lot of wood rot around some of the windows.  This is quite extensive and we will repair it when we redo the outside walls.  Mostly to find out how far the rot has travelled on the outside walls.  Such a poor window replacement job as the windows were placed too far in and drained inside the wall. IDIOTS!!!!

We have re-claimed most of the wood floors.  This was no easy task and cost us a lot before we took over and finished it ourselves.  There was a personable contractor who would look after some jobs for us while we were still in our other home.  He charged per hour per man and material. I would not advise anyone to do that especially if you cannot be on site to monitor the hours they put in.  He started with three men and decided he needed to add another man and still our son and I got more done than his crew did in the same time frame.

Contractors can be your lifeline or your bankruptcy find someone you trust to give you advice and don't go by personality alone.

So far we have discovered wonderful neighbours.  People we were told were unfriendly or rude have turned out to be such a treat to have around.  One supposedly cranky couple found out music we liked and play music every night for us.  Including giving us a John Prine cd to listen to, so sweet.

This is the beginning and I hope to keep a log of our journey,
Hause Frau

Before

The front porch we fell in love with.

That ugly lean-to will be gone

The back of the house which will be torn down.

Our very large back yard.