Big and little diggers

A lot can happen in 10 days - we now have a nearly 9 foot hole in the back yard! More photos of that later! It has been entertaining for us (and kind of noisy for the neighbours) watching the digging. My second son couldn't resist getting some photos of a lego technic digger in the tracks of the bobcat doing the job...

Disappearing deck

This bottom picture (I still seem to be mixing up the order I mean to do) was taken June 16 - Timothy's 12th birthday, coincidentally. You can see where the shed used to be, and some boards have been removed.

The top picture was taken yesterday (June 19) - just the deck joists left! Today even those are gone. And the middle picture is of the south side of the yard - the concrete pad is poured and waiting for the shed to be reassembled there - maybe next week.

Also next week, the gas man cometh! Once the gas line is moved the digging will begin!

Talking to our builders today, when it comes time to pour the footings and basement walls, there isn't enough room to get the equipment into our back yard, so it will be in the front driveway and PUMPED over top of the garage into the back - and all positioned and controlled by remotes. See - playing video games may have important vocational training purposes...

When the time comes, I'll see if I can capture some of that on video!!

Meanwhile, I am very happy the process has begun, and extremely happy that the builders are people we feel we can completely trust! I can't begin to describe what a blessing this is!

Tree Moving video

 This is some video of Spruce Hill Tree company moving our elm tree to its new location out of the way of the new addition. This step happened back on May 7/08. I suppose it's just a job if you do it all day long, but I found it pretty exciting and fascinating to watch!

I don't have a new photo yet, but our shed and the concrete pad underneath it are gone as of yesterday, and a little less than a quarter of the deck has been removed. I guess I'd better move the BBQ before the workers come back next week to finish removing the deck!

It has begun! Not construction, exactly, but the necessary DEstruction to make way for construction. Work has begun on taking apart the shed at the north side of the yard (it's eventual new home will be on the south side) and dismantling the deck. Once the shed and deck are out of the way and the concrete pad under the shed has been broken up, they will be ready to dig the hole - likely next week!

I have tried to post some photos taken before anything happened in May, and a couple taken 2 days ago, to show the shape of the back of the house before the addition.

They came out in the reverse order to what I intended - so the bottom 2 photos are form early May, just after the last snow melted. Notice the young elm at the left, and the pine at about the midpoint of the deck in the view from the tree house. The next view up looks down on the brick patio from the balcony of the master bedroom.

By the third photo up from the bottom (taken June 10), you can see the elm in its new position at the right edge of the picture, and the pine tree gone (sad, but there will be a wheelchair ramp there eventually). The photo second to the top shows the brick patio area, most of which will be addition when it's all done! All those stones and bricks had to be moved out of the way. This was done by a fellow staying with us this summer while he waited for a "real" job to come through (he has got a job now). I was impressed by the artistic and creative flair he showed as he finished this task - he built a Prince-ly castle (top photo)!

I'm still trying to find time to learn the necessary video editing software so I can post The Moving Of The Elm Tree epic...

June 4, 2008

Our fourth child, Timothy, has a plethora of special needs. At nearly 12 years old, he is non-verbal, non-walking, and tube fed, with a lot of autistic features and severe developmental delays. Despite that, he is mostly a very happy person with his own sense of mischief, and well loved within this family and his church community.

 We reached the point - a year or more ago - of realizing that he was only getting bigger and we were only getting older, and carrying him up and down the stairs to his bedroom and bathroom, and lifting him in and out of the tub just can't continue indefinitely.

We spent a fair amount of time with wonderfully patient real estate agents (Eden and Chris Hampson - ReMax) over the last year, looking for homes we could move to in a somewhat inflated local market. On a parallel path, we started talking with a barrier free design architect, Ron Wickman, about ways we could modify or add to the house we live in.

In the end we have gone with staying put and building a barrier free addition - a Timothy bedroom, fully accessible bathroom, and guest room on the main floor, and full basement underneathe (not barrier free in the basement).

The purpose of this blog is to document, episodically, the renovation process - frustrations, fascinations, and, if I can figure out how, pictures and the occasional video clip. (I have a great video of a tree moving service moving  a young elm from one side of the yard to the other to be out of the way of the hole that will be dug soon...I hope. I'll try to post that next week, once I've sorted out some of my video software.)

Right now, we are waiting for final permits, but the pre-construction phase (destruction of the back deck and hole digging) may begin as soon as next week.

(nancy)