We are putting in a bathroom in the basement and they have to dig under the foundation wall to connect the basement plumbing to the sewer line. Luckily, our sewer pipe is 9 feet down at the curb, so we can use gravity to do the deed and save on a sump pump.Our poor contractor, though, had to move steel and the sand and gravel he'd put down for the basement floor. Sigh. Some things are just destined to be done twice.
This pile of dirt is just from the trench on the left side of the porch. It's so big, it started spilling over into our neighbor's driveway (the cranky one on the north side of our property, of course!) so the workers had to brace with really ugly sheets of plywood. We get more white trash every day.Anyone want to play king of the hill?
To get a backhoe into our backyard so that it can dig out the rest of our basement, our contractor had to cut off the corner of our garage and rehang the door that Rob and I struggled with this summer.He also had to cut off part of our back steps, so now there is only one way into the house.I guess this is progress...
Now that the siding is off the lower part of the house, you can see how it actually sits above the foundation on stem walls. This will all be recovered, but in the meantime it gives a pretty good idea of how our above ground basement will work with the existing house.It's a little eerie seeing what actually supports us. And man, the house does sway when Rob does laundry and the washer hits the spin cycle!
We are putting in a bathroom in the basement and they have to dig under the foundation wall to connect the basement plumbing to the sewer line. 
This pile of dirt is just from the trench on the left side of the porch. It's so big, it started spilling over into our neighbor's driveway (the cranky one on the north side of our property, of course!) so the workers had to brace with really ugly sheets of plywood. We get more white trash every day.
To get a backhoe into our backyard so that it can dig out the rest of our basement, our contractor had to cut off the corner of our garage and rehang the door that Rob and I struggled with this summer.
Now that the siding is off the lower part of the house, you can see how it actually sits above the foundation on stem walls. This will all be recovered, but in the meantime it gives a pretty good idea of how our above ground basement will work with the existing house.