The Days Are Busy & The Weeks Are Short

What a complete whirlwind of a month!  September has now come and gone, and we cannot believe how fast time is flying.  So much has happened in the past few weeks and we are excited to catch you up on what we have been up to!

Basement Progress

On Thursday September 1^st our basement came to life!  The crew set rebar and poured concrete footings for our basement walls.  Everything went well, except for a minor hiccup with the location of our built-in safe room.  The footings for that room were poured on the opposite side of the house, so we had to have the crew come back out and re-pour that section into the correct spot. At that time my dad come out with his wheel loader to lift the mis-poured piece of concrete out of the basement.  After a few frantic phone calls and some minor panicking (mostly from me), we were back on track, and everything was looking great!

Next step in the basement process was to set the rebar that would be the connecting tissue that holds together the poured concrete walls.  This process took two weeks to complete.  By September 14^th the crew had the entire basement exterior rebar set and ready to attach their concrete forms.  The forms are simply a type of thick tin material that gets set around the rebar and then concrete is poured into the middle of the forms. The concrete must then set for 24 hours and then the forms are removed to allow it to breathe and cure.  On September 20^th all the forms were finally set and ready for concrete.

We were slated to get all basement walls poured for concrete the very next day, September 21^st, but as our luck would have it, it rained that night. They could not get their concrete trucks down our dirt driveway.  There hadn’t been rain in the area for over 6 weeks, so we were not too upset about the moisture, it was much need for the local farmers…aka Grandpa Ron and Uncle John! A few days later the ground dried out and we got the basement walls poured on Monday September 26^th.  It was such an exciting process to watch.  It seemed so surreal to finally watch our dreams and plans for the basement come to fruition.

The very next day, September 27^th, the concrete crew came back and removed all their forms from the previous days pour. The walls must cure for 10 days before any more progress can be made.  The next steps will be to backfill around the exterior of the entire basement. At that same time we will be dumping sand into the basement for leveling. The basement floor must be completely level before they can pour concrete.  Once the floor has been poured it too must cure for 10 days.  After it has set, we will have the official green light to MOVE OUR HOUSE!

Exterior Home Repair

While progress was being made at the basement site, we also were getting things done at the house.  One of our most urgent projects after ripping the back and front porches off was to repair and patch the exterior sheathing of the house. This was not only a priority for keeping unwanted animals and wildlife from entering, but also a concern if it were to rain. There were areas of damage that were completely open to letting rain into the home. On September 5^th we spent our day working on the rear exterior. We used tongue and groove boards that had been salvaged from the back porch we tore down to patch in the back of the house.  When all repairs were done, we had used everything that had been salvaged. It wasn’t the most glamorous job, but we both agreed it was one of the most rewarding projects we have done to this home thus far. We were grateful to have protection from the weather and wildlife. There was a major sense of accomplishment when it was complete!

We tackled the front porch area on September 14^th. Luckily my dad had some old tongue and groove boards in a shed at my grandparents’ farm that were an exact match to what we needed to continue our repairs.  We got the front porch repairs completed on September 20^th, just in time for it to rain that night!  So thankful for getting that project done in the nick of time.

Interior projects

We spent all of September working on the second-floor plaster and lathe removal.  At this time, the second floor has been stripped of plaster and lathe on every wall, interior and exterior. The ceiling removal started a few days ago, October 3^rd, and we hope to have the entire ceiling removed from the second floor by the end of next week.  What a mess this whole process has been! But we are extremely happy with our decision to strip the house to the studs.  There is so much dirt in the walls from years of exposure to the elements. The blown-in insulation is also full of dead bugs, even a few birds, and we have found old knob and tube electrical that needs replaced. We plan to update the entire homes electrical system, as well as brand new insulation and HVAC. It will be reassuring to know that we are starting with a ‘clean slate’ when putting this house back together.

One of our more interesting tasks this month was figuring out how to get the old bathtub out of the second floor of the house. It’s a solid cast iron tub. We are not positive, but would guess that it weighs anywhere in the 250lb-350lb range, it’s a BEAST! After a few hours of redneck ingenuity, we decided to launch it out the second story window into our dump truck below.  It was quite a site to see!  And for anyone wondering why we did not save and reuse, it was in really rough shape. It was very porous and dinged from years of use.  It was also incredibly shallow and had limited standing room if we were to try to use it in a tub/shower combo situation. In the end, we decided it was not something we valued enough to reuse and would be better off starting fresh.

Family, Friends, and Fun

We not only had a very full month with renovation and demo projects, but we also had a full month of family, friends and fun!  At the beginning of the month, we were able to participate in the Lincoln County Post Rock Festival.  Its an annual festival held in Lincoln to celebrate the beginning of fall.  There are events that run all day long and we were so happy to spend most of the day enjoying everything the festival had to offer.

On September 10^th we took a break from house projects and took the kids and ourselves to Hutchinson Kansas for a day at the Kansas State Fair. During that time, we had been averaging 100 degree temperatures for about two weeks. The day we decided to go to the fair the high temperature was 69 degrees. To say it was a much-needed break from reality is a total understatement!  We had a BLAST and so did the kiddos.

A few days after the fair we welcomed a new member to our family, a kitten we lovingly named Joey. Joey became an overnight family favorite and is the first thing Lily asks about when she wakes up and is the last thing she talks about when going to bed.

One of the major reasons we decided to move to Lincoln was to be closer to family. We have been so blessed and excited to be close to attend sporting events for our nieces that are in high school.  Our nieces Emalie and Kylie are on the Lincoln High School volleyball team and we were able to go see them play in a tournament that was just 20 minutes away in Tescott Kansas. We are loving that our kids are getting to see their cousins more and we are happy to be more involved in their school activities.  On September 30^th our niece Emalie was on the Homecoming court for her high school. It was a blast to see her having so much fun, seems like not long ago we were enjoying our own homecomings! 

We are excited to tackle the next phase of projects on our to-do list and we look forward to keeping you posted!  Until next time!