Friday, December 21, 2007

Yup, that's mud!






Doing foundation work in Western Oregon in winter means working in mud. Lots of it! The guys doing our foundation are covered in mud from the waist down. One of the guys complained that he'd accidentally knelt in a mud puddle and when he stood up the muddy, cold water drained into his boot - ugh!! The third photo from the top shows the wood sill that the house was standing on - very well rotted! We constantly wonder what's been holding the place up!!

But this means we're within days of having a new foundation. That's exciting news! All the demolition is done on the inside, so now we start putting it back together. The interior walls were so water and time damaged that we wound up stripping most rooms down to the siding. One friend compared it to lifting the radiator cap on an old car and driving a new car under it! That's not far from what we've done. Some of the interior demolition was also due to a city requirement for earthquake supports.

We're also pretty far along with the addition on the west side. The gravel
for the floor arrived today, so pouring the concrete floor isn't far
off.