It's Pouring

After some more digging and nailing up cement board...

...and some dismantling...

...the garage was ready for some cement.
The guys from Prestige leveled the floor...

...added some rebar and forms...

...and started pouring the cement.  It will set over Thanksgiving, and then we will enclose the front temporarily until the new door arrives.

The outside of the garage is shaping up nicely!  (The yellow is the color of the Hardie board, so it won't be the final finish.)

Our Aching Backs

Before all the digging began in the garage, we worked on framing and strengthening the interior of the house.  Russell finished the hangers on the rafters and the skylight cutouts, then closed up the old kitchen door and moved the old door to the deck over a few inches, where it will serve as the entrance to the addition/master suite.

Meanwhile, I re-nailed all the boards of the sub-floor to the joists and learned just how quickly you can strain your lower back and hamstrings.  I was still hunched over a few days later...

Can You Dig It

Russell spent a very productive week working on the garage, digging out the old cement supports, pouring new footings and stem walls, and rebuilding the walls with fire-resistant Hardie board.

south side of the garage removed

 

south side rebuilt

Russell's latest backache

digging out the northwest footing

Russell on the mini backhoe

my turn -- so much fun!

the cement hose

Russell's homemade forms for
the garage's new north stem wall

finished north stem wall

Hopefully we will pour the garage floor this week so that there's a clean, secure place to store materials like the kitchen cabinets, which arrived last week!  More supplies are on the way: bathroom vanities, toilets, faucets, and the kitchen sink...