…we turned our crawlspace into a basement?
First, Dad cut a hole in the west side of the crawlspace concrete wall so we could insert a conveyor which we rented from a neighbor.
Installing the conveyor; this was on a Saturday.
And the digging began…girls helped too.
The boys by far did most of the digging but couldn’t be bothered to stop for pictures (hence Jesse’s look of irritation).
Looking south from the furnace room into the crawlspace.
Unbelievably rapid progress. According to the date on the picture, this is a week later.
Hard to believe our basement used to look like this!
Outside, the 4-wheeler and the mower both pulled trailers which were parked under the conveyor and then hauled to the pile. There was plenty of work for all, and the kids worked HARD. We knew we faced the danger of rain caving in the walls once we hauled the supporting dirt away, so the pace was pretty frantic, with a lot of stress on Dad. The kids kept it moving great, in addition to doing their schoolwork.
Always time for fun, though!
That second Saturday, Dad cut the next hole in the south crawlspace wall. We had hired a few high school boys to help with the digging, both on a Monday school holiday (Columbus Day, maybe?) and on this Saturday. They were a tremendous help.
If I remember right (can’t say I recognize the top of this head), Kendall Fehr helped knock out this hole.
Done!
Inside crew – Drake and Wade Sinn, Kendall, and Trent was there somewhere too. The conveyor kept clogging from dirt that would get thrown underneath, so this highly sophisticated cardboard and duct tape conglomeration was invented to prevent that problem.
Removing the conveyor from the west hole…
…inserting it into the south hole.
Ready to go again.
This time the angle called for something higher, so the hayrack was employed to catch and move the dirt.
Then…it rained!!
We mounted these tarps and boards in an attempt to direct the rain away from the house, with limited success.
Despite the worry and stress of the issue, the walls did not turn to mud and the house did not fall in, thankfully. On Saturday, October 18, exactly two weeks after being inserted for the first time, the conveyor was removed for the last time, and we were ready for concrete. For most of that two weeks, we were extremely blessed with pleasant weather – much rain could have been disastrous. After building the forms, we were ready to pour footings.
Always we were glad for Uncle Jerry’s help. He taught us a lot.
Blue lines are marked where the door will be knocked out – a very dusty job so no pictures of that step. This is looking north into the furnace room.
Looking south from the furnace room. The door has been knocked out, and forms and supports are being built for the walls.
Ready to pour walls…
Look closely to see the concrete chute. All the concrete came in right there and had to be shoveled both left and right to completely fill all the forms. There was tremendous pressure at that spot, and, wouldn’t you know it, one of those support beams was weakened by a knothole or something so it gave way about halfway through. This allowed the wall to bow out right there, but with lots of determination and strength, the concrete was shoveled away from that spot and the forms were reinforced, leaving very little bow in the finished wall.
Little ones held flashlights so shovelers could see what they were doing.
Many hands were needed.
I learned that steel rods called rebar are mounted inside concrete for strength.
Grandpa Steiner stopped by and got put to work too.
Tori was the photographer, and she did a great job; Sarah and Jewel were on stools watching, if I remember right.
Nice ruts. I kind of forget, but I think this was the second loaded concrete truck, and the driver was kind of young. He got thoroughly stuck (the first driver knew how to drive in soft ground and had no problem).
Praise God for wonderful neighbors! Dave Uhlman to the rescue.
Finishing up.
Dave got put to work too. We were so thankful for his help and his tractor.
Done, November 19.
Plumbing for the bathroom…Dad and the boys did it all.
December 18, Brett and his crew, with Levi and Jesse helping, poured the floor for us.
Done.
And this is how the basement bedroom has looked for the last 2+ years. Quite rudimentary, but our boys never minded.
Also during the rest of the winter of 2008, Dad and the boys built walls for a bathroom and storage room. I can only surmise that with Christmas plans, being pregnant with Joshua, and then having him, I didn’t take one single picture of the construction progress on that part of the project. I do know that I singlehandedly did the sponge painting in one magnificent 45 minute stretch when Joshua was sleeping, so that must have been early spring, but other than that, the boys did it all, with Dad managing in the evenings. Every night he would go over the next step and answer any questions they had about it. They built the walls, did the drywall and mudding, did the priming, installed the mirror, lights, stool, shower, and sink/vanity, and did all the trim. We hired Tim Ropp to do the plumbing and wiring, but other than that, Dad and the boys did ‘er all. And they did a great job, too, and the boys learned a lot of valuable skills.
The west bedroom wall, which is also the east bathroom wall.
The bathroom -
Looking south into the well-used storage room. Tim Ropp also raised some of the ductwork for us as it was pretty low before. The boys built me lots of heavy-duty shelves (from Menards) which have been invaluable to me; I greatly appreciate my storage room and often marvel that all this baby paraphernalia, extra toys and bedframes, canning jars, homeschool records, butchering tubs, etc. used to be accessed only by the kids crawling all over the crawlspace and me trying to tell them WHICH box it was that I needed. I’m so thankful for a better way.
Which brings us to the current project of finishing the bedroom, which has already been sufficiently chronicled.
Good day!
