So what happens when you jack a house up 3 inches on one side? Well for one thing you get some cracks in the plaster. Chris and I went on a hunt for things that had broken/cracked and it was weirdly satisfying. We had expected some damage and seeing it really made it feel like we were moving forward. Weird huh? The last pictures shows something I had not expected, none of the doors would shut afterwards. It makes sense to me now but it was a little disconcerting to walk away from the house and leave everything open! Next time we went by they’d been fixed though.

As part of our FHA loan we had to plan for some repair to the plaster, so hopefully this will not go beyond the scope we laid out.

Since I’ve been so slack about posting (honestly I always think about posting but never actually do- I blame the fact that my iphone app isn’t very good.)

So we went by the house one day to find the beginnings of a foundation had been put in place. This was about a week ago and was very exciting (warning: we’re at a stage where everyday something exciting is happening!)

So then we go by the house 2 days later…

Can you see it? There is a layer of bricks sitting on the cinderblock that wasn’t there in the first 2 pictures. They raised the house 3 inches on this side. Chris is posing to show how level the support beam under the door is, unfortunately my camera was not level so it doesn’t look good at all. In person it’s looks quite level and is a huge improvement over the slant we had before!

So I was posting about the backyard for awhile but haven’t update anyone on it lately. Basically by the time I got a decent chunk cleared out the sections I had already did had grown back up. This completely killed my motivation to continue so I left it alone for a few weeks. Ultimately we decided that the little saplings were stronger then we were. Our new plan is to cover the entire backyard with a tarp and cook everything living for the summer. Then in the fall we’ll rake everything up and put down sod, which will hopefully choke out everything that survives. I used 2000 sq. ft of tarp and missed 3/4 of the perimeter so I’ll have to buy more tarp and return tomorrow. I’m not 100% confident this will work but we’re going to give it the old college try.

More progress, today was the first time I’ve been there while people were working on it. Seeing them work Saturdays definitely makes me feel better about the schedule.

I got Chris two little presents this week to help liven-up his office. I googled some of the best indoor plants and this little jade came up as #1, however I apparently used the wrong list. This is what I should have been using: NASA’s top picks for air-filtering plants. It’s pretty interesting and most of them are from the rain forest floor so will do just fine with indoor light. Their recommendation that is making me think is that an average 1800 sq ft house should have 15-18 good sized houseplants (We have 3000 sq ft!) These 2 wouldn’t count because they’re tiny and I’m not sure where I would possibly put 15+ of them! I’m going to have to think about it though, because clean air is definitely a strong motivator.

There are lots of times during renovation projects when you feel like you’re moving backwards. I imagine new builds are really exciting since you never have this stage. The latest moving-backwards feeling is motivated by the disappearance of our windows. They’re taking them off-site to restore them.

The weights are significantly bigger then I was imagining, but the windows are heavy so I guess they have to be big.

This one is my favorite:

I think this was my favorite part of the work right-up. Mainly because I definitely wanted to get it done but probably wouldn’t have gotten to it very quickly if we didn’t have to.

Our garden is producing! Well really we’ve gotten one blackberry and the birds have gotten 3 or 4, but things are going well enough that I am optimistic that they’ll make it through their potted stage long enough for me to transplant them.

Here’s a house in worse shape then ours. Chris was pleased as punch. I woke up on the way back from VA beach to Chris doing a U-turn so we could take a picture.

What our house does have is masonry piers! You can see in the second picture that the house isn’t actually supported by them yet, and I’m not 100% sure how they’ll connect in the end. I am sure that I’ll feel better about the house’s supports once they’re connected though. I think there are 12 in all.

Here’s a picture of the couch where you can actually see it, since I was not attached by ghosts while taking it. I’m so excited about it because we’ve lived without a couch for the past year. Even though we affectionately referred to our camping chairs propped up in front of the tv as “our couch,” it’s so nice to have somewhere to lounge. I did break it in with a nap the other day and it did quite well! 🙂