Major House Plan Changes and Montague Days Celebration(July 8 - 14, 2019)
Real Estate may be Location Location Location but house reconstruction is all Budget, Budget, Budget
Monday morning we got the heating/cooling quote for the house we had planned.... $25,000. There are some slightly cheaper options however with the house as compartmentalized as it is, they wouldn't work too well. We had budgeted $15,000. This isn't the only item coming in higher than planned and we had also recently been thinking the foundation was not as sturdy as it should be long term.
It was time to took another serious look at the whole project.
It was a beautiful day and we literally spent it sitting and walking around outside going over all the options. Tear it down, keep moving forward with the current plan, change the plan, build a new house altogether. The work we had done so far was mostly tear out so only meant a tear down would be quicker. A new house guarantees equals a new foundation but we'd still need to tear the current one down and we don't like the idea of giving up on the original house.
We came up with the idea of taking the current kitchen / mudroom off the house (it is the single story section which sticks off the side).
To make it work, we loose the 4th bedroom (main floor). Redesigning the main house took me all of Tuesday and we ended up with an open concept main floor including kitchen, dining and living areas, a mudroom, laundry and half bath tucked in the back. Upstairs would retain the 3 bedrooms and now have 2 full bathrooms rather than 1 bathroom/laundry combo. In place of the kitchen we would add a screen room and deck which was originally going to be added on the front of the kitchen anyway. Overall costs would reduce significantly and we loved the open concept main floor even though it means moving the stairs.
All that done, the foundation was still a huge concern. The east wall of the house is barely sitting on the foundation and the foundation wall was bowed inwards from the frost pushing on it. Although there are other areas of concerns this is the worst wall.
One option is to have the house lifted, redo the foundation and set the house back in place. That would mean a new house would be more economical so Scott set out to fix the foundation on his own to make sure we could go ahead with the new plan.
I was busy getting years of dirt out from between the blocks inside and out in order that they would move more easily and hopefully backed in to place.
We took a huge load to the landfill on Thursday and I put too much pressure on my back again picking up bags of plaster (note to self... stop... let Scott pick them up) so I was out of commission on Friday. Scott got the bathroom gutted out of the main floor. The tub is a cast iron tub weighing a few hundred pounds. He managed to flip it over using leverage but it we'll leave it until the kitchen gets taken down and a machine can pick it up. Unfortunately we don't have room for a tub and wouldn't be able to drage it upstairs anyway. The drop ceiling was home to some larger animal droppings (raccoon probably) and all the walls really stank. Gross but he got it down and we were reading for a fun weekend.
Monday morning we got the heating/cooling quote for the house we had planned.... $25,000. There are some slightly cheaper options however with the house as compartmentalized as it is, they wouldn't work too well. We had budgeted $15,000. This isn't the only item coming in higher than planned and we had also recently been thinking the foundation was not as sturdy as it should be long term.
It was time to took another serious look at the whole project.
It was a beautiful day and we literally spent it sitting and walking around outside going over all the options. Tear it down, keep moving forward with the current plan, change the plan, build a new house altogether. The work we had done so far was mostly tear out so only meant a tear down would be quicker. A new house guarantees equals a new foundation but we'd still need to tear the current one down and we don't like the idea of giving up on the original house.
We came up with the idea of taking the current kitchen / mudroom off the house (it is the single story section which sticks off the side).
To make it work, we loose the 4th bedroom (main floor). Redesigning the main house took me all of Tuesday and we ended up with an open concept main floor including kitchen, dining and living areas, a mudroom, laundry and half bath tucked in the back. Upstairs would retain the 3 bedrooms and now have 2 full bathrooms rather than 1 bathroom/laundry combo. In place of the kitchen we would add a screen room and deck which was originally going to be added on the front of the kitchen anyway. Overall costs would reduce significantly and we loved the open concept main floor even though it means moving the stairs.
All that done, the foundation was still a huge concern. The east wall of the house is barely sitting on the foundation and the foundation wall was bowed inwards from the frost pushing on it. Although there are other areas of concerns this is the worst wall.
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| It's hard to show how much the wall has been pushed in but hopefully this gives you an idea |
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| Looking through a hole in the main floor you can see the foundation either side of the basement window is pushed in 4 inches |
One option is to have the house lifted, redo the foundation and set the house back in place. That would mean a new house would be more economical so Scott set out to fix the foundation on his own to make sure we could go ahead with the new plan.
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| View from outside with support cables for some measure of safety |
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| Another view down through the main floor |
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| Cables are attached to posts inside Should give us time to run LOL!! |
Scott began by lifting the weight off the foundation on that wall. Jacked it up and put blocks in to keep it there. Worked very well the the sill (would supporting house and supposedly resting centered on foundation wall) was lifted off the wall enough to see light on the other side.
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| Good strong jack lifting corner of the house |
I was busy getting years of dirt out from between the blocks inside and out in order that they would move more easily and hopefully backed in to place.
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| Notice almost the entire sill (in the shadows) is NOT sitting on the foundation |
At first we applied pressure with a car jack and knocked the stones closer to straight. The first section complied easily. The second did as well until the pressure was too much, gave way and the wall bounced back... luckily we had the safety cables. Next, Scott built an system in the basement allowing us to push the walls back in several spots along the wall and keep the pressure on. That seems to have worked. We're leaving it for a few days to settle and will go from there. Looking good!
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| Looks much straighter from the outside too |
We took a huge load to the landfill on Thursday and I put too much pressure on my back again picking up bags of plaster (note to self... stop... let Scott pick them up) so I was out of commission on Friday. Scott got the bathroom gutted out of the main floor. The tub is a cast iron tub weighing a few hundred pounds. He managed to flip it over using leverage but it we'll leave it until the kitchen gets taken down and a machine can pick it up. Unfortunately we don't have room for a tub and wouldn't be able to drage it upstairs anyway. The drop ceiling was home to some larger animal droppings (raccoon probably) and all the walls really stank. Gross but he got it down and we were reading for a fun weekend.
We headed to the Montague Days Parade Saturday morning. Sadly it was a bit lacking this year. Only 2 actual floats, the rest was trucks and fire engines... Seems the community is losing interest in the parade. The activities and entertainment at the waterfront is another story though. We have a great time. Free hot dogs and water at noon put on by the Rotary Club. The 50 + club was offering strawberries, shortcake and ice cream as a fundraiser. Naturally, we needed to support them.
Emily and her two friends placed 3rd in the talent show with an energetic and athletic dance routine. They were extremely excited to place and won $100 gift certificate to Grecos. Congratulations!!
Dominic, Kayla and Emily all got airbrushed tattoos.
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| Not crying.. Dom is making a bear sound to match his tattoo |
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| Kayla is roaring like a bear |
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| Waterfront view |
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| Emily's tattoo matched her dress |
Several great performers played the bandstand. I really enjoyed "Muddy Buddy" ...
rock covers you could sing along with. We took a walk over to the Bogside Brewery for dinner and enjoyed the ribs. Hadn't been there before, will go again.
The festival continues today and we look forward to the fireworks tonight.
I'm also going to record a couple of thing which didn't happen here for my own memories. Evan had his tonsils out and a deviated septum corrected on Thursday. It is strange not being close by but I realize he could handle it particularly with the Hope's help.
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They kept us posted with pictures. Having fun while waiting. He came through the surgery very well. Doctor says Evan had huge tonsils and it was the easiest deviated septum he's ever done.
Hope and her mother took care of Evan for a couple of days at their place before sending him home. Thank you for helping my boy and keeping me in the loop.
On a sad note a very good friend of mine's mom (both of whom I've known since I was in grade nine) passed away Friday night. Love you Debbie.
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