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Emmy (9 years old) is playing soccer. When we get a schedule, I usually scan it and send it out to the familia in case they want to attend any of the games. 

Well…I just can’t send out a schedule. I have to “jazz it up” from a Proud Papa perspective. So my wife took some pictures of Emmy playing and I just “jazzed up the schedule.”  

A new logo with the schedule and my daughter right in the thick of things – she’s the Blue Blaze player – amongst those pesky yellow Blast Stars.  :-)

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Today the workers dug 22 holes out of the 33 needed. The rain yesterday pushed back our schedule just a bit so now I’ll be heading back to work on Monday and coming home on Tuesday when they start to “raise” the house.  An engineer will be here to validate the “levelness” of our home.

The workers started to cut through the concrete on the sidewalk on the front side our home and on the driveway then they can dig the 5 other holes needed. Then they will go into our sun-room and pull back the “astro turf” and cut through that concrete as well for the other 5 holes.

click on picture for larger view

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It was pretty interesting to see the four guys start to dig around our home on Wednesday. Funny thing was that before the men started, they used a grinder to sharpen up the shovels! Only time I’ve ever seen that was in a horror movie. So when the guy looked up at me I just nervously smiled and closed the door.

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Man, this is a lot of work for these guys. They are basically doing it by hand. They just start digging. When I came out to check on them the lead guy asked me, “Was this built on a quarry? There are a lot of rocks.”

Yup – it’s rocky over here. This is why we build planters ABOVE ground. Too hard to dig.

So as I mentioned, they have to dig 33 holes to raise the house. They started on Wednesday after the plumbing test but only got to half of them in two days until the thunder, lighting and rain started so they just covered up everything and then left.

They will be back on Friday (early) to start more digging. They will have to break or cut the concrete on the sidewalks so that they can dig there too. Then they’ll drive concrete cylindrical blocks into the ground to shore up the foundation.

We’re hoping they can raise the house by Monday if the weather cooperates. Because we have to get the house raised before we can do any of the carpet or construction inside needed from the water leak we had.

I’ll try to post more pictures tomorrow but my son has a baseball tournament so it may not be until Saturday.

Beto

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Okay so I’m a little far off on the headline but I wanted to throw an interesting twist to my post.

Yes, we’ve decided to have our home foundation leveled. It’s an expensive homeowner cost but well worth it. We love our home, love our neighbors and the area.

We had seen some cracks form the past couple of years and knew the 18 month drought was not helping either. We wanted to get in front of this problem before it got worse and we are glad we did.

I lined up the contractors got our bids and found one that we felt very comfortable with and he even gave us some pointers. He suggested we call the insurance company to make sure we didn’t have a water leak underneath the slab. Funny – we had one later.

The insurance company came out and scheduled a plumber to test the lines. Good news, we had no leak – Bad news, we’d have to foot the entire bill for the foundation. But again – we love our home. We’d just have to do without a vacation this year (or a flat panel TV *sniff*) but all in all – it’s the right thing to do. Turns out we’ll need to do the entire home, 33 pillars. And guess what? You’re charged by the pillar. Of course…

I wrote a check for 1/2 up front and scheduled the construction work which would take 5 days. Then we had a water leak…rats. This complicated matters but we’re pressing forward.

So, I will update my blog with what’s going on with pictures to show you how it’s done. Plus keep a visual record for me since this is my first time getting a house leveled.

For day 1 – I’ve included some “before shots” of some cracks and also the orange spray paint the contractor used to mark where the holes will be dug. It’s gonna be hard work I know. 

I’ve posted some images below that you can either click on for a larger views and you have three options:

• click on each image
• Show as a slideshow
• or the larger PicLens – pretty cool. 

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[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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When my boss heard about the water leak we had – he mentioned you could purchase some sort of “shut off” hose. Today while the workmen are digging holes in my yard (foundation) I went over to Home Depot and looked through all of the replacement hoses for the toilet. Ever since the water leak  - we kept the water shut off at the toilet and it was time for me to replace the hose. 

I looked at all the hoses and a white label with blue lettering “FloodSafe” caught my eye. The hose “shuts off” if it detects a sudden flow of water –  you know – if the plastic cap to the tank happens to break. 

It was about $3 more expensive but that is such a small price ($7 each) to pay for some additional peace of mind. I bought two and installed the first one and will put the 2nd one on the other bathroom toilet later. They even sell some for faucets too. I’m sure I’ll be going back to Home Depot to see if they have any for the washing machine hoses as well. Every little bit of insurance helps. 

So I’m passing this along to all of you reading this post – check your hoses to see if they are “FloodSafe” hoses – $3 dollars additional is such a small cost.  

I’ve included a picture below and here is a link to the manufacture’s site - you can see the difference on the hose connector that hooks up to the shut off valve. 

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