Another Day, Another Dirt Pile

This is what the front "yard" looks like right now because they are digging up the sewer pipe.

Rob says it looks like we have police tape. Yes, that mess is certainly a crime. Ugh, when will it end?

Get This C?@P Out of Here!

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.

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...

Keeping Us High and Dry

The city required our contractor to dig around the entire new foundation, water proof it and put in a french drain. Luckily we knew this from the beginning, or it would have been a pretty expensive shock.

Even though we abandoned the idea of sistering the foundation after the collapse, there are two parts of the house where we still have some of the original foundation. Here, they have to dig under the old foundation and support it with posts so that they can get to the new foundation to waterproof it.

And if that isn't crazy enough, he still has to figure out how he's going to dig under the front steps and under the old chimney in order to waterproof the foundation in those areas. Fun!

Our Farm

Rob has succeeded in digging out a decent chunk of the front yard. We call it our farm. We have tomatoes in so far. Peppers and basil got trampled by the dogs, but we're trying.

Crab grass is a bear. I'm having a hard time keeping it out of the parkway and the farm. Damn, that sucker is persistent.