Garage and Porch: Day Two

One step forward and two back sums up today.

The carpenter braced the garage this morning. Whew! No more worries that it will collapse.



For awhile it looked as if we were going to have to demolish the front porch and forego the screw piles. I was so disappointed.

As we knew, our sewer and water lines run under the porch. After all that is why the porch is sagging. In 1999 when we had, what I not so fondly call, " the ditch from hell", the crew did not properly support the porch wall while they excavated under it to replace the sewer pipe.

Because of the way the footer and wall were rebuilt and the location of the lines, the screw piles were not a viable method to raise the porch to move the sidewall back into position.

Ken and Ed, the two ditch diggers, opined that they would have moved the lines instead of digging up the old ones. Of course, if it had been done that way, the porch would never have dropped the way it did.

So my Sweetie said, "We should move the sewer line. Then you guys can dig without worrying about the old lines and Jim can use the screw piles." Jim, the boss, looked a bit stunned.

So that is what is going to happen tomorrow morning. But only after we move all the stuff that is in the way in the basement. Yes, the very same stuff we moved there about a week ago to set up a rudimentary kitchen. We will empty the 7-foot armoire that holds our dishes, small appliances, cooking supplies, and foodstuff.

Plus we need to relocate two four-drawer filing cabinets that we felt certain would not hinder any tradesman.

After tomorrow we will have chaos on every floor except the third. There can be no problems on that floor or I will go to Tahiti where impatiens grow like weeds.