So the first month and a half of renovations have brought a lot of change to the new house. It's a long way from the finished product, but you have to start somewhere.
We started in the basement. There were multiple walls that were caving in due to the drainage issues...all the water was draining towards the house. First we hired cleaners to remove everything that wasn't steps, brick, or concrete downstairs and sprayed it down with bleach. Then we had a guy come dig outside the problematic walls with a backhoe. Josh and friends put up a brace to hold the house up while the wall was being replaced. After that block layers came in and busted out the bad wall and put up a new one!
Next problem we needed to address was the old cistern that was sitting below the porch. Two walls were collapsing so we needed to do something with it. Josh decided that the easiest thing would be to cut a doorway into it from the basement and have the block layers replace the damaged walls. Bam! Safe room/storage cellar/storm shelter.
Next, is to fix the problem of water drainage by regrading the land so that water no longer drains towards the house.
We have also been doing demolition to the upstairs. Tearing everything out of the bathrooms and kitchen and taking out walls between the kitchen, dining, and family room to make it all open concept! Pictured below: bottom picture is original kitchen and the top is with everything removed to see into the family room! I know it's still intensely ugly and dirty but it's a start!
DISCLAIMER: First, I'm not a construction expert. This is a very basic idea of what we did to repair the foundation. Second, when I say "we" I mostly mean Josh, John, and Tommy. They are the expert builders/masterminds. Of coarse, I give my two cents when needed, but this stuff I left in their hands for the most part. I'll have more input into finishing touches upstairs.
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