The beginning of April

The Flu Contractor and his men wrapped up the week I hired them for on Thursday. I went over before work on Friday for a walk through with him and we talked for about an hour and a half. He is a source of a lot of good information and he's really helped clear the way between City Hall and my house. There are a few things I might get them to come back over and do for me, but they're finished.

Today I had my demo contractor and his helper over there, cleaning up after the Flu Contractor and tearing down the back porch. They're also ripping up the floors in the 2 1/2 rooms left that still have some sort of flooring. All of my foundation piers have to be rebuilt and replaced, not repaired. And it's much easier to accomplish this without the floors down, and not even a third of the house still had floors. Plus plumbing will be easier.

A backyard shot. I'm standing at my property line. It looks like I need to pay attention to the weeds back here. But notice the porch walls are all down.

A little closer in...

And even closer. I remember when I couldn't even get in the backyard, it was so overgrown, much less on the back porch. RIP back porch, one day I'll have you back.

Another angle. I know its progress, but it was a little sad to me, today.

So, here are a few examples why the foundation piers need to be replaced. On this side of the house, they would up jacking it up a whole 8 inches! See the 4x4 running long ways? That's where this floor used to sit.

This is the corner that failed, causing all the problems in the kitchen.

It's also the corner right by the back porch. Its so... open.

This is what was my back porch. And the debris left over from Flu Contractor. They hauled a dump truck away, but remember my saga with the dumpster? We're making piles to later throw in another rented dumpster and or Flu Contractor's dump truck.

We had to move the doors and mantels to the front porch as the floor ripping up commenced. I hope they're still there tomorrow.

These next three pictures are of the Great Room. I'm trying to give you an idea of the space and light here. The demo contractors are coming back tomorrow, so this may be the last time you see a floor here for a while...

The entry door is to the left of these double windows.

The single window above, then down to the double window in the dining area.

That stuff you see in the corner is against the wall that stands here between the dining area and the kitchen.

Of course, here's my back door and back yard shot. I can't help it. I love this, even weedy.

Master bedroom, where they began removing the rest of the floor today. The Flu Contractors had to rip up some of it to rebuild the sill in the closet and move the wall out into the kitchen.

This is the view from my back porch, standing in the kitchen doorway and turning left. It's a city park, and beyond it, you see the mature trees of a large, old city cemetery. This park was badly damaged during the tornado two years ago, and they're actively replanting and redoing it.

The view a little zoomed in. This will be so pretty! And it's the same view, mostly, from my kitchen window, too.

I may have some more pictures from tomorrow's progress. I spent the whole day at home Spring Cleaning, and while the end result was definitely worth it, I'm ready for bed.