Foundations Are A Must
We shared last week our surprise news and awful realization that we were spending money we didn’t want to spend on things that aren’t noticeable ,but necessary to keep the roof from falling down on our heads. Other then the noticeable dip into our budget and some cracks being covered we literally see no change aesthetically. It is always hard to put money into the things you don’t ‘see’ is the worst feeling but a strong foundation is kinda a must have….
Front Door Cracks
If you missed last weeks Blog about our foundation problem catch up. We are spending almost 27,000 for a Foundation that will give peace of mind and hopefully stop the weird creaking you hear. This ate our contingency budget right up. Over the next week we are prepping for the changes about to happen. After the initial sticker shock of $87,000, we came to terms and moved on. The 27,000 doesn’t cover the changes needed prevent this in the future or from progressing in a different area in the house. Since the foundation issues is in the front I am designing the elevation changes which originally was Phase 3 of the renovation. We not only have to change just the exterior facade but we have to add gutters, change landscaping oh and during a monsoon a couple months ago out massive Chinese Pistache tree fell down and smashed my husbands truck & totaled it out.
Tree when we moved In
Tree down
For weeks our neighbors would sit in our cul de sac in large groups on their morning walks and stare at our empty front yard. I would get told it was there ‘‘favorite tree in the neighborhood!’ & ‘That is so sad to lose a tree so beautiful’ I on the other hand wasn’t too upset that it had fallen down……. Don’t get me wrong! It was beautiful to look at! But it was not a joy to take care of, nor was it any fun to park in our driveway. Sap & Bird poop was horrific! No matter where you really parked in the driveway you were getting it on your car. As a requirement we are to have 5 tree’s a certain species of trees on our lots at all times. This was one of our 5. Meaning we will be planting another tree coming the middle of October. Another down fall the tree has massive as that is the root system. It has taken over our whole front yard & probably a contender to our foundation problem. A blessing and also a curse is the beauty of trees. It was bound to fall as bolts and rod were hold limbs from falling.
Rock Solid
To Put in to perceptive the gravity of our situation here is the how they will lift our front side of the home. in many situations this is only a few pillars and it is not such an issue. We are adding over 10 pillars, and then injecting poly foam under the front side of the homes as wells. we are raising the home over 3”. This requires digging 15 4’x4’ holes across the front of the house and pillars drilled to 15’ down and raised the 3” to level the foundation.
Here is a great video to show how the pillars are placed!
Obviously over the last year the home has sank more and more. The cracks in the walls were hairline before they turned to larger cracks like below. We May be lifting it more than intended and may have more issues than anticipated.
With the pillars and in Poly Foam injections should raise foundation, hopefully close the gaps & prevent from further damage.
Hurry Up & Wait
In Construction we use the Term Hurry Up & Wait a lot. You hurry up to get plans to wait for approval, you hurry up to get design features pick to finalize Cabinets & tile wait for them to arrive. You hurry up to break ground to wait on materials, Concrete, Framing, Roofing, electrical, drywall, and then all the finishes. You Hurry Up & Wait.
This is more than Hurry Up and Wait. This is Hurry up and book to wait 6 months to get the work done, then hurry up & pick exterior changes to get approval from HOA, but you have to wait another 6 months after completion to even start the changes. You Hurry up to order material because it is so back ordered they aren’t taking orders to wait for it to get here 4 months and wait for the time lapse to start too then wait again for the Demo and so on and so forth. Construction at its finest.
Here is too Hurry Up & Wait.
“ ARE WE THERE YET?! “
Follow Us on Social to See all our progress as it happens! Next week the sneak Peak as the Exterior elevation changes!
