The Home Stretch --- For Phase One

The contract we have with Deitz House Movers consisted of disconnecting natural gas, plumbing and electric; lifting the house; excavating the basement; building the basement walls; building interior structural supports; setting the house back on the new foundation; backfilling the excavation; and reconnecting the utilities. I've considered this major effort Phase One. We will have a lot of future "phases" with roofing, insulation,  heating and air conditioning, interior finishing [drywall and floors], and so forth.  But, Phase One is by far the most complex and the foundation [pardon the pun] for the entire project.

After yesterday's "break" in the work, today was truly the beginning of the home stretch for Phase One. It's end is in sight. Three team members worked today. They were all at 3283 at the same time. But, I'll talk about them individually. 

B.F. Masonry was on site to finalize their portion of the work. They made a few stress relief  saw-cuts in the basement floor that was poured on Friday.  And, most notably, they finished the concrete block work by filling in the openings in the back wall.  Just before lunchtime Fred handed my his business card, told me to call if I had any questions or if the smallest problem popped up....and they headed home.

Brian [the "B" in B.F. Masonry] works to fill in the south opening.

The small opening under the end of the back porch needed three block to close it.

OK, I did make him pose for this picture.
But Fred [the "F" in B.F.] is actually setting the final block in the foundation wall.

Patrick and John from Deitz also spent much of the day at 3283. They moved more sand from the stockpile out in the woods and backfilled the excavation around the addition.  Once these "holes" were filled they spread more sand to bring the grade around the structure to the proper level. This is the final 'rough grade' that will be where Phase One ends.  Final grading will be part of a future [yet un-numbered] phase.

Patrick is filling in next to the west wall of the addition.

Backfill along the north wall of the addition was difficult due to the narrowness of the lot.

We will eventually terrace the slope down toward the basement door.

The front even with only rough grading is looking pretty good. 

We wondered how the slope toward the tree would work.
Seems like landscaping will work well here.

The back [east] side rough grading was done today, too.

The third team member at 3283 today was Bob Tolsma Plumbing. who began to reconnect the plumbing. In fact, the re-connection is substantial replacement of drain and supply lines throughout the cottage.  Before the structure was lifted it became obvious that plumbing was not salvageable and that it would be more efficient to do replacement up to existing 'fixtures.'  We also have included a new bathroom in the addition and are providing connections for a washer and dryer in the new 'hallway' to the addition.

Out with the old.
The toilets and the porch bathroom sink were in 'less than ideal' condition.
New ones will be installed.

Bob is feeding the drain line up to the washer location.

Ben is working on the main drain line that will collect flow from:
all three bathrooms, the washing machine, and the kitchen.

The drain lines are nearly complete and some of the first water supply piping is in place.

The most 'wall removal' was required behind where the washer and dryer will  be.

It was a very busy and very good day today. It wont be long before the Deitz Team moves off the site. Right now I couldn't be happier with the progresds thsat has been made and the quality of the work that has been done.