Finally, after many sleepless weeks, the crew showed up on Saturday (two weeks ago) to lower the house down on to the new foundation.
After the foundation was poured it was suggested to allow the concrete to cure for at least a week before setting the house back down. It was an extremely cold and windy day but the crew from Victor Godin House Movers did not let that get in their way from doing their ''thang''. Super professional bunch of guys. After it was down and the beams removed, another seperate crew set in to put in the drainage around the foundation and ready it for the backfilling.
What a crazy few weeks! Later that day, I took Margot and Sarah down to Moncton for a quick two day trip; as Monday was a holiday for us, for some shopping and get-away- time....they deserved it for putting up with my hysteria during this part of our adventure.
Enfin, après quelques (longues) semaines notre maison allait redescendre. Il faisait tellement froid pendant toute la journée, mais l'équipe de Victor Godin était concentrée à la tâche....une chance ! J'ai seulement pu rester quelques minutes pour voir la maison redescendre. C'était un peu dur sur les nerfs...penche par en avant...penche par en arrière... !
Finalement, tout s'est très bien passé et oui, on méritait une belle fin de semaine à Moncton ! :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Vraiment...un ouragan...vraiment !! Really....a hurricane...really!!
C'était déjà assez stressant de voir sa maison se tenir debout sur des petits blocs, trop semblables au jeu Jenga. Il a fallu que quelqu'un creuse tout le tour et surtout en dessous pour préparer le terrain pour la fondation. Comme une cerise sur le sundae, on ajoute l'ouragan Sandy qui se dirigeait vers chez nous et surtout qui rencontrait une autre tempête...question de redoubler, voir même «retripler» notre niveau de stress. Deux semaines de nuits blanches : les vents vont-ils faire tomber notre maison ? La pluie torrentielle va-t-elle causer des glissements de terrain ? La pluie et les vents...
Finalement, Sandy aura été bien sage pour nous. La fondation pouvait donc être coulée avec un peu de retard, mais quand même coulée. C'était assez impressionnant de voir les gros camions se promener sur le terrain (très, très vaseux) tout près de la maison qui semblait si fragile.
Malheureusement, on a dû sacrifier quelques arbres pour les deux gros camions de ciment. RIP mes deux beaux lilas en arrière de la maison. Ça m'a fait de la peine, mais entre deux arbres ou pas de fondation, le choix n'était pas trop difficile...je me suis fait dire : «y'en a trois autres des arbres de lilas dans notre cours» !
En quelques jours, l'aspect de notre nouvelle maison a beaucoup changée...
Take one very old and heavy house, lift it five feet in the air, place it on blocks to play ''Jenga'', excavate all the earth around it to essentially make it ten feet in the air, now add one post tropical hurricane Sandy and what do you get.....about two weeks of constant worry and very little sleep!!
After the wow and cool factor of lifting the house, the realization of having our house supported on just a bunch of blocks of wood becomes all consuming; every other thought, morning, noon, and night....especially the night! I kept waiting for that early morning phone call....''Mr. Perry, there seems to have been an incident with your house...''. Now throw in for ''fun'' some post tropical hurricane Sandy winds and drenching rain for about three days! Talk about good timing to jack one's house in the air.
Two days after the initial lifting the footing was poured. We were hoping that the foundation would follow a couple of days later but there was a conflict in timing with our concrete guys. This is when Sandy rolled into town. They were able to put up the forms during the storm but running the concrete was impossible. That Wednesday night (Halloween), right after work, as the storm was fading, I headed down to the house to try and pump some of the three feet of water out of the hole and the forms. Stayed there into the night to try and ready it for cement the next morning. Everything went well except for a major house fire that I was called out to with our fire dept. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to choose your priorities in life; so to all my brothers and sister in the Charlo Volunteer Fire Dept.....I am sorry for not making it to this one.
The foundation was poured first thing the next morning.
Finalement, Sandy aura été bien sage pour nous. La fondation pouvait donc être coulée avec un peu de retard, mais quand même coulée. C'était assez impressionnant de voir les gros camions se promener sur le terrain (très, très vaseux) tout près de la maison qui semblait si fragile.
Malheureusement, on a dû sacrifier quelques arbres pour les deux gros camions de ciment. RIP mes deux beaux lilas en arrière de la maison. Ça m'a fait de la peine, mais entre deux arbres ou pas de fondation, le choix n'était pas trop difficile...je me suis fait dire : «y'en a trois autres des arbres de lilas dans notre cours» !
En quelques jours, l'aspect de notre nouvelle maison a beaucoup changée...
Take one very old and heavy house, lift it five feet in the air, place it on blocks to play ''Jenga'', excavate all the earth around it to essentially make it ten feet in the air, now add one post tropical hurricane Sandy and what do you get.....about two weeks of constant worry and very little sleep!!
After the wow and cool factor of lifting the house, the realization of having our house supported on just a bunch of blocks of wood becomes all consuming; every other thought, morning, noon, and night....especially the night! I kept waiting for that early morning phone call....''Mr. Perry, there seems to have been an incident with your house...''. Now throw in for ''fun'' some post tropical hurricane Sandy winds and drenching rain for about three days! Talk about good timing to jack one's house in the air.
Two days after the initial lifting the footing was poured. We were hoping that the foundation would follow a couple of days later but there was a conflict in timing with our concrete guys. This is when Sandy rolled into town. They were able to put up the forms during the storm but running the concrete was impossible. That Wednesday night (Halloween), right after work, as the storm was fading, I headed down to the house to try and pump some of the three feet of water out of the hole and the forms. Stayed there into the night to try and ready it for cement the next morning. Everything went well except for a major house fire that I was called out to with our fire dept. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to choose your priorities in life; so to all my brothers and sister in the Charlo Volunteer Fire Dept.....I am sorry for not making it to this one.
The foundation was poured first thing the next morning.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The big dig....after the big lift....
Now that the house is in the air, the next step is to dig underneath and around to prepare the area for the forms for the footing and the foundation. The day following the lift the crew showed up with the shovel and the bulldozers to get the job done. Luckily the ground underneath was dry and just that; ground and no rock.
Sorry for the delay with this update but life has been very busy the last two weeks, but do not worry, there will be more to come very soon...thanks for following!
Enfin la maison est dans les airs ! Mais il y a tout un autre travail à faire : creuser sous la maison pour pouvoir installer les formes pour la fondation. Pas mon genre de travail du tout...oufff ! On était (et les travailleurs aussi ) bien content de savoir qu'il n'y avait pas de grosses roches, mais seulement de la terre.
Les dernières semaines furent très occupées, mais tout devrait entrer dans l'ordre...les autres photos devraient suivre plus rapidement...merci de nous suivre !
Sorry for the delay with this update but life has been very busy the last two weeks, but do not worry, there will be more to come very soon...thanks for following!
Enfin la maison est dans les airs ! Mais il y a tout un autre travail à faire : creuser sous la maison pour pouvoir installer les formes pour la fondation. Pas mon genre de travail du tout...oufff ! On était (et les travailleurs aussi ) bien content de savoir qu'il n'y avait pas de grosses roches, mais seulement de la terre.
Les dernières semaines furent très occupées, mais tout devrait entrer dans l'ordre...les autres photos devraient suivre plus rapidement...merci de nous suivre !
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