House Construction Project ... Phase 1

Ahhh, yes ... house construction. If you've seen our fixer-upper, you know we need lots of it. We're very excited to get started, although it's going to be a while before it's finished. Good things come to those who wait, right??

This is the backside of our house. Bard put in a couple of windows and it's been covered with Tyvek since then. We're eventually going to reside the whole house after the addition is finished. As you can see, the windows were covered with plastic from last winter. The wood siding you see on the second story is the original siding ... well, not exactly ... there is one more layer of something underneath that. The people who lived here previously felt it better to just layer new additions to the house right on top of the old ones :) There was a originally a chimney in our bedroom that came out of the roof here. Bard removed it way back when.



So, phase 1 of the addition is to build a new wall on the backside of the house on which the second story will be built. At the same time, they laid this foundation at the front of the house. The room seen to the right, used to be a porch which had been enclosed. We use it as a study/storage room right now, but it's very narrow. We didn't redo this room when we originally gutted the house, although Bard did put in electricity in the half we use as a study. You can see the front door, which we've never used, covered in Tyvek also. Oh the lovely Tyvek house :)


Mathis absolutely loved having the "worker men" here. On the second day, he comes bouncing down the stairs at 7:00, asking, "are the worker men here?" This from a boy who wakes at 7:30-8:00 and happily lays in his bed for another 1/2 hour just waking up :) Big machines (which he called the excawator), dirt, and power tools, how could a little boy not be happy!


Mathis was thrilled when Grandpa let him drive the excavator.


You can see him in action here:




As if all that wasn't enough ... Grandpa showed up in the tractor! Here Mathis is checking out the fold down seat.



Preparing for the concrete truck to arrive, Travis rode the tractor up into the tree and cut down some branches.


Mathis watching the concrete truck. One of his favorite days.


Little guy, big truck.



Here you can see the front corner of the house. The new foundation was laid along the front and side of the house.


Mathis working with a friend from church who was helping Travis out in exchange for some horse lessons. His name is Keanu but that was a little tough for Mathis to say. Not long after they arrived, Mathis was best friends, and he told me, "Mama, I know what his name is, it's Cantaloupe!" And so it is ... he and Mathis are great friends now and we all call him Cantaloupe :)


The cornerstone.


I love this face ... dirty and definitely happy!


Travis taking a "break."



Kate, on the other hand, was not so happy about all the noise. She prefers to stay inside on days when she even hears a lawnmower. So having all the machines, trucks, hammering, destruction, etc. was not her idea of fun. This was about as close as she came to the excitement.




Remember this post from last year (scroll down to see the video at the end of the post)? Kate's still at it ... sneaking around, picking berries :)