Some updates!

Well, these past few weeks have been productive.  All of the block that can be finished has been finished.  Alan (along with some help from Megan) worked on the second floor.  DeVooght movers should arrive tomorrow to take out the beams from under the house and lower it down onto the block. Once that is completed, Tony and Paul will finish up filling in the block where the beams were located.  Next step:  an electrical box and underground wiring.  The neighbors (Robert and Denise) have been so gracious allowing Alan to run a giant power cord from their garage across their driveway into our yard!  Alan will continue working on the second floor-we needed to decide exactly how we wanted the roof line and have decided that the back of the house (roof) will look very similar to our home at Seven Lakes.  This will allow us enough room for two closets, master bath and the second floor stairway area.  No regular windows facing the south :-(......with the garage roof it is not possible.  So, we are opting for four skylights! 

Note:  If anyone is interested in any of the remaining boards from the roof; help yourself-FREE for the taking-located in a pile next to Subway.

Initial Destination upon official arrival on the lot-there by 8:00 a.m.!

House in position to slide to the north.

House moved over foundation.

Here the house is lined up with the basement block.

Another view of the same.

East Side of House.

South and East Side of House

South Side of House.  On left you can see an opening which will allow us to go into the basement via the garage!  Yay-Alan can use this entry when he has on dirty clothes!

East and South Side of House; need to trim the tree on the left a bit.

Starting to add block up to the bottom of the house.  Once the beams are removed, the remainder of the block is filled in.  We have received a number of comments that the house fits in well with the neighborhood-we think so too!

Footing for the garage.

Close up of block on east side of house.

Block underneath the front porch.

Block under front porch and opening onto the porch.

Starting to put the second floor back on.  Left side is the guest bedroom and the right side is our bedroom.  Windows on the second floor front will be slightly smaller than previous windows-with a different type of roof for the dormer-I'm bummed I lost to Alan on that one; but he assures me it will look great!

Close up of second floor-east side of house.

The left side is the front porch.  Alan will remove the sheeting for the opening once the house is gently placed on the block below.

West side of house.  Megan helped Alan with this side.  I'm excited because I'm ending up with a little window seat in my room.

Front steps....well-not quite yet.

Blocked area-on left is route to basement.

The garage!

More of the garage.

This is what Al does....calls and leaves messages.

Garage....and Alan's Lunch Box!

YIPPEE! The House is on the Lot!

This is what I saw when I turned the corner, all I thought was, "Oh my Gosh"!

Closer......to the house in the middle of the road!

Yes....here it is....close up!  I spoke with Don at this point and he reassured me everything was going well and that they just needed to back the house in....."just"-WOW.....it's old hat for these guys!

Here the house is on the lot.....next step:  slide it over the foundation!  Too bad it is suppose to rain tonight-that means probably no work on it tomorrow.

Front view of house....the house will slide forward on those beams; just opposite of how they slid it off!

Well....what we have all been waiting for......the big move!   The house began it's journey last night at 3:00 a.m. and was on the lot before 8:00 this morning.  This morning, I ventured over to see the progress; at about 7:15 a.m..  I decided to drive from the east and enter Ninth Street south of our lot.  As I turned the corner.....there it was.....my house in the middle of the street; just a bit south of the intersection of 9th and Pine!  Everything went well.  One tree was damaged during the route; however this was a tree that apparently needed trimming.  One of our neighbors caught about three hours of the move on video camera-so I am looking forward to seeing that!  It was neat to see so many people out watching....and of course had their coffee cups in their hands!  We had some well wishers stop by this evening to chat....what a nice neighborhood :-)!

If you are interested in seeing the route of the house move, check out the link to my map to see the path.

No more roof!

Alan and Tom enjoy a well deserved beer after a long day!

It was crunch time this week and Alan and Tom successfully completed the removal of the roof on Thursday!  Yippee!!  Skippy!!  Troy the Dominator brought his crane out and Tom Madson brought out a trailer for the debris.  Take a look at the pictures....they speak for themselves!!!

The Roof is Coming Off!

Future Guest Room

Future Entry to the Laundry Room....no toilet :-)!

Future Master Bedroom-Alan needed to add this temporary wall so the roof wouldn't fall down!

Future Guest room-there won't be a door here anymore; instead a window-Alan is placing a pitched roof here-no more flat roofs-too much of a chance of leaking.  To the right will be a walk in closet.

Current bathroom.....Future bathroom!

Steps to second floor....

One pile of moulding completed....all moulding will need to be stripped and painted.

Second Pile of Moulding....

Future Master Bedroom-this window will face the north...

Not a bed of nails....a drawer of nails-my accomplishments!

Boards safely set on top of the roof with nails sticking out....

Roof of dormer is removed....I believe this is the scaffolding that someone climbed to talk with Tom.

Taking the front part of the roof off....scary looking!

Look at what will be the south end of the house-brick will remain as is and we will add shaker style siding to top portion.

Another view of what will be the south side of the house.

It was a gorgeous day on Sunday!

Alan and has brother Tom have spent the last week and a half tearing off the roof.  I've spent the last few days removing nails from some more moulding from the second floor.  I have almost all of it finished-I spent all day on Sunday working on the project and I did a little "cleaning" inside.  I'm getting super excited to start the fun part of the project-putting it all together and deciding on exact room placement, paint colors, appliances and possibly a surprise in the basement!!!  We have had some very interesting people stop by lately!  One gentleman decided to climb up the scaffolding to ask Tom some questions.  Another person told us that we would have been better off building a new house.  Someone else reminded us that we won't have any yard (yippee....I am so excited about that)!  We met one of our new neighbors-he is really nice and told us what a great neighborhood we are moving into-he has lived in the neighborhood for several years and is a retired teacher (he also mentioned bonfires and beverages in the backyard-YAY)!   We are super excited about all of the neighbors we have met-everyone is so nice!  Also, some old family friends-friends of Alan's parents stopped by and we had a nice chat....Oliver and Ruth.  Lastly, a man from Australia stopped by to ask some building questions of Al.  He has been in Milwaukee/Harley Davidson training-and wanted to get out of the city; so he drove up and saw the house and wanted to know what we were doing,  about the type of windows we are going to use, roofing materials, insulation, etc. as he has plans to do some work on his own home.  It was really nice to talk to him!  We are recycling the copper, aluminum and any other metal from the house; it will be interesting to find out if we make a little bit of money!  The move is going to be very soon!  It will happen during the night....