Shake it, Shake it, Baby!

Day 2

So, if our neighbors really loved us yesterday, we expect they really, REALLY, are loving us this morning as the jack-hammering started at 7:25am!

Maybe our new student neighbor who is a DRUMMER will think twice about practicing his craft at midnight from here on out. :o) He does sound like a beginner, so our worker guys said maybe the sound of the jack hammer will teach him how to do a proper drum roll. Too funny! Luckily, our immediate neighbors are very excited to see the transformation of our house, so they will put up with the occasional bad day of noise coming from our property.

It is amazing how the shaking and noise from the jack hammer penetrates the house. The cats, bless their little hearts, are just not quite sure what is happening. First we moved all the furniture, walled off the doorways, moved their feeding location and have completely turned their world upside down. Now, it's like we are in the middle of a day long earth tremor. I finally took them down to the basement where the noise is more muffled. If they can just survive this day, it will be great. Hopefully, they won't start losing their hair because of stress (nothing worse than a bald cat. So unattractive and chilly as winter is approaching).

As the concrete porch and garage slab were being demo'd, a couple of the guys were set to the task of removing the many nails from the garage framing lumber.

A tremendous pile of broken concrete and old foundation block began to take form in the front yard. Because it freezes here in winter, the footers and foundation can't begin above 24 inches below grade, which means there is lots of old concrete to remove well below ground level.

To get the concrete loaded into the salvage truck, the guys had to build this long ramp. We are not quite sure how any of these guys will be able to move tomorrow morning after jacking out the concrete and then moving it by wheelbarrow load up the ramp. UGH! Don't try this at home.

So while all of the shaking and digging and destruction was going on at the front of the house, the insulation removal guys were sucking the old blow-in fiberglass out of the attic. You can see in the photo the big hose going up into the attic. Once the loose stuff was out, they removed the roll down stuff below that. This has to be one of the most horrible jobs in a remodel job, besides digging out a broken sewer line. YUCK! They hauled away around a dozen huge bags of insulation on a huge flatbed.

After only 2 days the dumpster is full. A sign of good progress. If they can keep up this pace, we will have that new roof on in no time. Fingers crossed it will be before the rains come.