That Went Downhill Fast!

June 06, 2024

That Went Downhill Fast!

October 11 (This will be a bunch of pictures, if the page will support it.)

Where were we? Oh that’s right, the foundation was like “hold my splinter!”

Day 3, the guys took things to the dirt. From this day forward, we were walking inside the house, in the literal dirt. This was once the spare bedroom. You can see some of the rocks the foundation sits on. You can see damage.

Looking back toward the hallway, that my grandma used for a closet. There’s a peep of the original clapboard siding. At one time, a porch ran all the way through the house. Then, it was closed in as they needed more rooms.

You want to know what sad looks like? Imagine watching them rake the seals out with their bare hands. Imagine getting a call from your lead contractor saying he’s sorry that the foundation is in so much worse shape than we thought. He didn’t say they couldn’t fix it, though!

A better shot of one of the foundation rocks. We eventually removed every single rock, the foundation was sitting on. I have them stored for a later TBD project.

Larry is working on getting the wall out between the kitchen and dining room. That was one of my requests. I wanted an open concept space for those 2 rooms. My grandparents used the dining room for their living room, but I asked for an actual dining room.

This little area between the master and the dining room was like standing on a wave so I think it was maybe Chad, who got curious to see what was going on in that area. We are extremely lucky that none of us, much less my grandma, fell through the floor. It was nothing but carpet. The floor was completely gone. Thank goodness the carpet was stapled down very well!

This is the exact spot where Abbie shaved about 10 years off of my life, one Friday night. Mom was exhausted and dad was going to stay with Abbie all night, but he wanted to take a nap, first. Keep in mind, this was mere days before she became completely bedridden. I relieved mom, until dad got there. Well, around 11pm, I kept hearing a noise. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Finally, I went to investigate. I had been sitting by the window, watching tv. I rounded the corner & there stood Abbie. White nightgown, pale as all get out & she was in a dementia fog. She looked so much like a living ghost & I don’t think I will ever forget it. Y’all she got stuck in that spot, and wouldn’t move. In her mind she was convinced she was falling. It took me forever to get her back into the bedroom. The whole time praying that floor held the both of us. This pic shows just how lucky we were, to have such strong carpet.

The guys placed the boards over the hole so they and I could navigate through the house.

There is the original hallway opening. Let’s open that back up!

A better pic of the old siding

The hallway from the bathroom

Looking into the spare bedroom, from the hallway

Dirt and damage everywhere. I’m sure there’s a country song, waiting to be written about this!

More kitchen & dining room demo

Dining room fireplace

Chad smiling as he rips up original hardwood floors. Our goal was to salvage them, if possible. The reality was you could stick your finger straight through them. By the way, he wasn’t smiling about the floors. I baked for them. He was happy I gave him treats. I spoiled them early on and did so the entire time they were working. Believe me, they deserved it!

Joists in the living room

You can see a little bit of hardwood left, for a little while anyway

Another view of the living room

That’s quite the stack of foundation rocks

So much rot!

It’s time to remind you guys that I put my house in the Lord’s hands and I did not even once shed a tear, during the entire process. I firmly believe the Lord intended for me to have this house. He intended for me and these guys to save this house. That is exactly what we are going to do (and did!)