Demolition....and Salvage

Alan built a ramp to use to shovel the debris from the second floor to the dumpster.  We spent some time breaking the plaster off of the walls and removing some of the slats.  I particularly enjoyed using the sledge hammer-it is a great way to get rid of some stress.  We are saving all of the trim from upstairs to reuse; so I removed some of the nails from the moulding that will be painted later.  The picture above is some of the moulding that needs nail removal.

Topsoil is removed!

Kevin Madson cleared the topsoil from the lot today and also placed all of the roots and brush into a pile in the corner of the lot.  I was happy to see that the soil has great drainage; considering all of the rain that we have had-the soil was not wet in the least.  The soil looks very fertile-it should be easy to work with and great for growing flowers, shrubs and a garden!  There are very few rocks-which is very different from our previous yard!

Building Permit!

Tomorrow we pick up our building permit and Kevin Madson will begin digging!  Also, the dumpster arrived at the current home of The Little Brick House-so the demo of the second floor can really begin.  Alan and I picked up some siding samples for the gable ends of the house-we are having some difficulty in deciding the color for the siding as well as the trim colors.  We are fairly set on cranberry colored sashes....but we will have to wait and see.  We took a look at some appliances today and a beautiful dining room table and chairs.....

Clearing and Cleaning the Lot

Last week Alan took time to cut down some of the pine trees from the lot to make room for the house.  A couple of trees needed to come down because they were in such poor shape.  He cut down five trees and trimmed some of the branches from the remaining trees.  We were happy to give away about 60+ two foot long chunks of the pine.  I put an add for free logs on Craigslist and within minutes Alan received a call!

July 14th Update on Moving the House

Yesterday Alan and I went to talk with Jim, the City of Manitowoc Building Inspector.  There are a few permits that need to be completed before we can receive our building permit.  Our mover needs to provide the City with a route plan and performance bond, Gary (the person that we purchased the house from) has to complete a demolition permit, our financial institution needs to send an irrevocable Letter of Credit (in case we decide to move the house and then flee the country the bank will agree to bury the whole property), and an up to date foundation plan.  We are a little behind with our project as the closing of our house was delayed nine days.