Two Full Weekends!

Conveniently, I excused myself from a work-related training on September 6th because "we're pouring concrete that day".  Plans for the pour were revised from day to day, but despite the rain of the week and despite the mud, we did pour concrete.  Thomas and I prepped for the footer/stem wall for the mud porch to sit on.  Plans changed more times than I can remember, but ultimately we dug down and laid a row of ICF blocks.  After leveling it and laying all the rebar, Thomas wheeled out the concrete mixer, and we poured and poured and poured.  The local hardware store delivered the concrete sacks - by the trailer instead of a) on the pallet where they'd be covered in case of rain or even b) by house where we would be using it.  Needless to say, mixing and pouring 37 bags was tiring enough to then add loading them up from the trailer, too.  The hero of the day has to be Pop's cement wheelbarrow, as our's had a flat tire after three bags.  Goodness knows my arms would have been dangling to my ankles if I did it by bucket!

Oh yeah, and also that day, I textured our closet - getting closer...

Sunday I had the good fortune to have company.  After church I helped Tom get the next row of ICF up and braced, but while Fr. Tom and I visited after lunch, Pop and Tom poured a few more bags of cement for the pillars.  My back and shoulders were grateful!

So this week we prepared to move the mudroom.  Like the plans for pouring cement, the plans and theory for moving and reconstructing the mudroom have been numerous.  Ultimately, this is what happened:

I finished my last load of laundry on Wednesday, and that evening the freezer, washer, and dryer were moved out to the shed.  Everything else was put downstairs in the cellar.

We demo-ed the interior wall, so as to ensure that we were not attached to the trailer in any way.  (The mudroom was never actually attached directly.)  We also disconnected the electricity and the plumbing.

 The shelf I built for wine glasses, etc was removed from the window hole and replaced with the original window (look straight though to see the other half of the window still mounted on the outside of the mudroom.

After Thomas and I unscrewed the flashing that covered the gap between the trailer and mudroom, we jacked it up with farm jacks and slid heavy black pipe under it in three places.  Using a long chain and Pop's tractor, our tractor operator slid it away from the trailer.

The trailer and jacks were used to block it off the ground, so that Thomas could attach an axle to the bottom of the mudroom.

And away we roll.  The tractor wheeled the mudroom in a large arc across the property and right up to the house!  And Pop appreciates that the feat was done without cracking any of the walls!

Using the jacks again, pallets were stacked under either side, and heavy metal pipe was laid across the concrete pillars, and the tractor just slid it into place!  All between breakfast and dinner, with a nice lunch break in the middle - thanks, Mom!

We will replace the roof with matching propanel, though we won't change the roof pitch.  Tom and Pop got the wiring done on Sunday before Sofia's third birthday party.  I've got the floor practically prepped for laying linoleum tile.  We will need to attach it to the house and weatherize it, and then hang sheet rock on that interior wall.  Oh yeah, and we need a new window where the other one came out.  Pretty wild how easy they made it look!