Cleaning more brick and raising the house off of the foundation-320 Bricks!

Alan busy banding the brick that we worked on!

Dave works hard on adding extra support-this was after the house was moved off of the foundation!

Paul works hard adding wooden supports under the beams....Paul also wants the ladies to know that he is single :-)!

Here is the house after it cleared the foundation!

Saturday....getting ready to move the house....

The last few days have been very busy.  Alan and I chiseled away at more brick for a total of 320 bricks!  This should be enough for the front of the future garage.  We are going to save some more brick in case we decide to do any more projects or need additional brick for any other projects/replacements of broken brick.  Dave and Paul worked diligently on jacking the house off of the foundation and placing additional support/beams underneath.  They also placed sets of small wheels on the top of the beams and gently slid the house off of the foundation area.  Later tonight we went back and noticed that the tires have been put in place....we are getting close!

Preview of Moving the House....

Here is a little preview of the house moving off of the foundation.....

We made our goal of 160 bricks!

Today was very productive....we wanted to have 160 brick cleaned by the end of the day....we have 162!  It isn't hard-just time consuming.  I basically used the hammer to chip off the large pieces and then used the more powerful chisel/air compressor of the two we have to clean off most of the mortar....I then passed it on to Alan who completed the final touches with the smaller chisel.  I found it actually kind of fun and a stress reliever!  We plan on cleaning some more brick this Saturday.  The movers were out today and they added some more support to the house in preparation for the move.  Judy, Todd and Noah stopped out and Judy rummaged through the rubble to collect broken brick to use for a base for her compost bin-she plans on making a mosaic pattern of some sort-I'm glad that she can use it-as much recycling/reuse of materials-the better!  We got home about 7:30 tonight-a shower never felt so good!

Checking for the laterals to "original house"

This afternoon Madson used a mini backhoe to dig on the north side of the lot....they are looking for the connection to the city water and sewer-as Kevin found out that there may have been a house on the lot we have several years ago....

Cleaning Brick...

This afternoon Alan and I worked on cleaning the brick.  I dug through the pile to locate individual bricks that were in good shape.  There are lots of bricks that are connected to one another that we can use as well.  Alan spent most of the time taking his hammer and knocking off the excess mortar and I finished up with the power chisel that was attached to the air compressor.  We finished about 60 bricks in just a couple of hours.....tomorrow our goal is to clean about 90. 

Upstairs Demo

Tom admiring his work...he is standing in the arch of what probably was a nursery.

View;  Looking from the Master Bedroom into the hall....

This is where the chimney went through the entry closet on the first floor....we'll have a larger closet now.

Chimney removed...

Chimney removed....looking up towards the second story....

Master Bedroom....this will all be removed.....

All of this will be removed....future site of laundry room....

The entire upstairs of the house needs to be removed....these pictures show the plaster being removed and general demolition.  Alan's brother Tom helped with demolition and Megan's boyfriend Ari helped to clean up the debris....

Preparing for the Move

Alan boarded up the porch area to provide strength to this area during the move.

Alan's brother Tom provides supervision during the project....