Wednesday Workout

It was another very busy day, starting around 7:30am and finishing around 4:30pm.  Completion of the pit was the goal and was certainly accomplished.  The only thing left to be done is to build the tops for the two access points (although this shouldn't be needed for many years to come) and then cover the pit to allow for future parking.

Finally got a picture of the dividing wall

Building the framework for the pit top

The support boards are almost finished

The rebar is in place and just waiting for the concrete to arrive

I tried to video tape the concrete pouring with my GoPro camera and had wanted to post it here, but the video didn't come out too well.  I need to practice more and get it perfected before putting something on the blog.  So, no pictures of the actual concrete pour, but the following photos were taken after it was done.

Tony floating the pit top

The last load of concrete will be used for the window-well walls

The top sections of the end walls in the window-well were built, then filled with concrete.  At the same time, the back door landing was formed and concreted as well.  Once the window-wells have been covered with metal grates, it will be safe to use the back door again.

Luis pours concrete into one end of the window-well wall

Chris pours concrete into the other end of the window-well wall

Jason "supervises" from inside the house

Kari decides to make sure the job is done right

The finished landing outside the back door

Johnny continued work on the remaining portion of the outside foundation and it was finally cleared by the afternoon.  Shouldn't be too long before the master bedroom walls start to go up.

Jack hammering the outside foundation

The outer foundation is now gone

A very productive day finally came to an end.  One machine was parked next to the pit in order to keep anyone from driving on it for now and the "beeg machine" was parked in the master bedroom area for the night.


Later, while I was preparing my dinner, I looked out the kitchen window and spotted one of the cats up in the wooden bucket of the "beeg machine."  She had jumped up from a load of concrete blocks nearby and was trying to figure out how to get back down.  Kari and I went around to help her and she finally figured out what to do as we approached.

No Parking on de pit!

The "beeg machine" ready for the next task

The electrician didn't stop by tonight, so I've been able to get this blog update done earlier for a change.  But, it's still already after 9pm!


Until tomorrow.........

Busy Tuesday

All hands on deck first thing this morning and much was accomplished.  The remaining rubble was removed from the pit and the dividing wall was built.  I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get a picture of the completed wall, but the following pictures show how it began.

Chris (in machine) and Tony transferring block into the pit

Tony stacks the block for easy access

Luis and Tony build the center wall

Since this is a fairly large project, the guys always multi-task throughout the day.  Before focusing on the center wall of the pit, the guys were forming up the two end walls of the window-well and poured concrete for support.

The lower foundation form work in the window-well

At the same time, Johnny was jack hammering the remaining outside foundation where Jason and Tina's master bedroom will be located.

Jack hammering the back edge of the outside foundation

Troy, the electrician, was here again this evening to get a few more things put in place.  Every few days, he and I seem to start the evening off by trying to remember how many pieces of conduit we have to run out of the main box in my office to get cable tv, internet and phone lines where they need to go before the ceiling gets installed.  I think we're up to 8 lines already!

There are six 4-plug electrical boxes for my radio equipment - no more extension cords!

Just a few more electrical lines to the panel box and we should be done

Well, it's 10:20pm now and time to call it a day.  I'm expecting tomorrow to be busy again, so be sure to come back and see what happens!

A Quick Monday Check-in

Nothing major to report and no pictures to show today.  The guys are working at the new hospital building today and will probably return here tomorrow morning.


They did stop by on Saturday morning, but not for too long.  Just a bit more plastering was done in the stairs and some concrete was added to the doorway between the radio room and office.


The electrician should be here at the end of the day and we'll probably continue running more conduit and put a couple more outlet boxes where needed.


Hopefully, I'll have something more interesting to post by tomorrow night.

Friday Features

Today got off to a loud start!  Luis jackhammered the outside foundation by the garage and Johnny began to dig the pit.  My current office/radio room is located right between where both guys were working, so the noise quickly sent me cracking upstairs where I could hear myself think!

Jackhammering the outside foundation

Beginning to dig the pit

The pit starts to take shape

Digging deeper - still haven't found oil!

Covering the pit for the night

More plastering was done in the stairs area.  Tony and Chris started back in the storage room, then began to work on the outside wall of the lower steps.  Luis formed up the walls and poured the concrete to the doorway between the office and the radio room.

Storage room and lower steps

Doorway between the office and radio room

I should mention the construction company we chose to do the renovations.  They have done a superb job so far and I know the end result will be great.  All the guys are friendly, efficient and work hard from the time they get here until the time they leave each day.


The owner of the company is John Carreiro.  He's been in the construction industry for many years and is very knowledgeable about all aspects of the business.  In fact, all of the guys on the job can do just about anything that is required for any project.


The following picture shows the sign that is mandatory to be placed on the property, as required by the Planning Department.  Usually, only the Planning Permit Number is shown on a job site, but Sea Link shows their professionalism by also displaying their company name, contact phone number and website address as well.

Required Planning Permit sign

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, but the guys told me they'll be here first thing in the morning to keep things moving forward.

Thursday Update

It was a much quieter day than yesterday, but progress continued on the renovations.  First thing to be done was the removal of the formwork on the top of the new stairs structure and also the top of the window-well wall.

The concrete top of the window-well wall

Luis patching up after the formwork was removed from the top of the stairs

Johnny operates the "beeg machine" to get Luis to the top of the stairs structure

This will be the outside entrance to my 'dungeon'

There is a nice little storage area under the stairs, which was plastered today.  It was too dark to get a decent picture of it this evening, so I'll get a shot of it tomorrow.  The closet in the downstairs bedroom was also plastered and turned out great.

Downstairs bedroom closet

Here's the 3 inch PVC pipe that we installed last night.  We just have to add the final sections to either end of the pipe and can then feed my ham radio antenna cables through it.

The longest section of PVC pipe

The PVC pipe leading to my radio room

The electrician arrived this evening and ran more conduit to various locations in the "dungeon."  We determined where the electrical outlets will be situated in my radio room and marked them out within the wall frames for later installation.  I decided to place the outlets above my desk for easier access from the radio equipment.  After years of having to crawl under the desk to plug or unplug the equipment, I figured it would be easier to just reach across the desk from now on.  A few other outlet boxes were put in place in the radio room, which will be wired up next week.


Be sure to look for tomorrow's report!

Wednesday's Work

Lots of activity on the property today.  The first load of pre-mixed concrete was delivered before 8am and transferred by the "beeg machine" to the top of the new stairs structure to create the foundation of the new roof.  Another delivery was made in the afternoon to form a top foundation on the window-well wall.


There will be a series of metal grates on top of the window-well so we'll be able to walk on them from the back yard level.

Pouring the first load of concrete

Bringing the concrete over to the new stairs structure

Shoveling concrete to form the roof foundation

A view from the driveway

Our contractor, John, operating the "beeg machine"

Chris thought he had booked a seat in First Class!

Loading concrete in the transport box

The concrete support for the outer window-well wall

This evening, the electrician installed the main section of 3 inch PVC pipe above the ceiling.  This took longer than planned because the pipe had to be heated in order to bend it around a couple of points that were in the direct line of fire.


I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow.  Perhaps the roof structure will be built above the new stairs and the windows put in place.  Stay tuned for further updates!

Tuesday's Tale

A very productive day and the renovations continue to move forward steadily.  The winds died down quite a bit, but it was mostly cloudy and cooler than yesterday.


The work day began with a delivery of block for the construction of the outer wall for the window-well.  The "beeg machine" was used to transfer the block from the truck to the back yard and I held my breath while it was being done.  Check out the following pictures to see what I mean.

Unloading the truck

On the way up

Only a couple of inches to spare

The block is safely on the ground

The outer window-well wall is built

The guys got the "dungeon" walls and ceiling framework completed today, so now the rooms have begun to take shape.  Because the windows haven't arrived as yet and the holes are boarded up from outside, the following pictures are a bit dark.  But, you should be able to get an idea of what the rooms will look like.

This will be a bedroom.  The doorway is on the right

A closer view of the bedroom

The bedroom closet

This is where the wall between the bedroom and my radio room will be

The electrician arrived at the end of the day and we ran flex conduit for the cable tv and internet access points up above the ceiling framework.  Tomorrow evening, we'll run the 3 inch PVC pipe along the inside of the walls.  This is where my ham radio antenna cables will be brought in from outside to the radio room.  We'll also try to run another piece of flex conduit to bring the telephone lines into my office from the back yard.