Step On It

This is the staircase that was built on the side of the house where the leak was.

Basically, they dug the dirt down, away from the foundation wall and then built stairs from the front of the property to the lower level in back.  I call the little ledge on the side a "smooch bench" because it's the perfect place to get a kiss!

 
And yes, they are the same bricks from the original fireplace that we've been using for this and this and this and this!

Digging Out

We have decided to excavate the ground on the side of the house with the leak.  Even though the foundation wall has been resealed, the contractor is concerned that water will slowly break through the new seal if there is wet ground next to it.

The plan is to level out the dirt and build a set of stairs from the front yard to the backyard out of the bricks from the old fireplace.

The Source

Our contractor thinks the leak in our basement is being caused by the cold joint where the old foundation meets the sistered foundation.

They've been excavating and are going to reseal it.  We'll have to test it to see if that does the trick before doing any of the finishing work in the basement...

Uh oh...

We got quite a bit of rain over the weekend and now water is seeping through the foundation wall on the one side where the foundation is sistered. Sigh. I'm glad this happened now and not after we had finished everything off downstairs.

I talked to the contractor and he thinks we will have to dig up the dirt next to the foundation and re-seal it.

It's always something, right?

Our New Shower

Our kitchen sink sprays out the front of the faucet. Redoing the kitchen is not on the immediate -- or even far -- horizon, so we've been trying to make do.

We had plumber's tape on it, which worked for a while. When that stopped working, I traded up to some saran wrap and a rubber band. Classy!

The saran wrap is starting to fail, so it's time to think of what to try next. Condom, anyone?

Oopsy!

Our sewer pipe is made of clay and one of the seals has cracked, possibly when they were digging out around it to figure out where it goes.

It was going to have to be moved (and partially) replaced anyway, but this just moved it up in the urgency column. We've got a little bit of seepage going on, but so far nothing too unseemly...

Our Inner Ghetto Just Grows and Grows

The former owners put a new roof on the house...on all of the house but the bump out I love in the dining room.

With all the rain we've been having, we sprang a leak. Luckily, our contractor was on his way over and was able to seal it off for now with a little trusty visqueen. That stuff is my new favorite thing!