Still in the beginning

Dad, Eric, and Tony had a hard time getting this keyway down. Monday evening we went up on the farm, only to find that the wind had gotten under the plastic and ripped up some stakes. Eric and Dad worked hard and with the help of mom and me, the floor is ready for concrete. If the weater cooperates, we'll pour this Saturday!

In the beginning....

Here is the ground breaking ceremony. My dad is on the backhoe digging for our basement. The area right where the bucket is will be where we drive into the garage.

Now we have a HUGE hole. I'm thinking....what a mess!

With the help of my everyone and most of the digging by Eric's Uncle Clinton, our basement foundation is complete. He hit a lot of rock, which made it a little harder to dig but, the rock made a great foundation for our house. One corner wasn't quite big enough, so my uncle Ricky had to come in and make a few final digs to get it just right.

Pouring the footers went very smooth. We purchased a new system, called "form-a-drains" they are a combination of forms and drains. They are supposed to be a lot better and easier, however more expensive. The concrete yardage called for 8.5 yards. We ordered 9 yards, just to be safe. The concrete truck came from Summersville. We had 7 guys helping, so it went very fast. And when all the footers were filled with concrete. Dad had the driver to pour what was left over on to the floor.....it was about enough to fill an icecream bucket. Talking about close....we were right on for our concrete! Let's hope that pouring the concrete for the floor goes as smoothly!

Our good friend Eugene and a crew of about 10 guys laid our basement walls up in about 10 hours. The walls look great and sturdy!



Eric's friend Tony helps lay plastic, wire, and keywall....in order to get the floor ready for concrete.



Our brother-n-law, Scott helped paint tar on the outside of our block walls and cover with plastic for extra protection against water.

We have a little bit of time for play. Here's Gracie playing some tee-ball!