Here's my house project

[7960]

Today's developments

excavator 1, barn 0.

[avsp]

its a shame theres no sound effects to go with these pics, ..., fortunately theres a 4 year old child in the library at present who really likes JCBs

in the second pic it looks as if the JCB was about to score an own goal against the house, ..., was that a sphincter tightening moment of frantic shouting & confused arm-waving?

[WickedLou9]

Awe man, that barn looked really cool. Too bad. How old was it? Judging by the foundation it was turn of the century.

[Publius]

if you don't mind my asking, how much is this whole project costing?

[7960]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Awe man, that barn looked really cool. Too bad. How old was it? Judging by the foundation it was turn of the century.

The house is 1901, the barn was approx 1927. I really went back and forth about tearing it down but the final decision was made by the bugs.......we treated for termites and powder post beetles when we moved in so there was no new damage, but the existing damage was worse than we expected. Some of the posts were nearly hollow.

.

And the powder post beetles...they drill straight into wood and turn it into dust. See the holes? They're in every piece of wood.



And this is what they do to wood. Check out the dust... and I didn't hit it that hard and it just disintegrated.

http://home.comcast.net/~a2k2wannabe...powderpost.mov (5 meg)

Originally Posted by Publius

if you don't mind my asking, how much is this whole project costing?

Too much

[WickedLou9]

Man that really is a shame. My house was built sometime before 1920, not sure exactly when. It's a ton of work but it's pretty neat. I found some crazy stuff in the attic when we moved in. Old cards from fraternity "balls" from the 20's. Some Luggage that is older than god. I'll have to find the pictures. We even have 2 of the original stained glass windows still in place and, unfortunatly, some of the original knob and tube wiring.

Originally Posted by 7960

The house is 1901, the barn was approx 1927. I really went back and forth about tearing it down but the final decision was made by the bugs.......we treated for termites and powder post beetles when we moved in so there was no new damage, but the existing damage was worse than we expected. Some of the posts were nearly hollow.

.

And the powder post beetles...they drill straight into wood and turn it into dust. See the holes? They're in every piece of wood.



And this is what they do to wood. Check out the dust... and I didn't hit it that hard and it just disintegrated.

http://home.comcast.net/~a2k2wannabe...powderpost.mov (5 meg)


Too much

[7960]

btw, if you want a building taken down, this is the tool.

[WickedLou9]

No way man, You want TRUCKASAURUS!!

reeekrrrlelelelekele

Originally Posted by 7960

btw, if you want a building taken down, this is the tool.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

No way man, You want TRUCKASAURUS!!

reeekrrrlelelelekele

[7960]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

No way man, You want TRUCKASAURUS!!

reeekrrrlelelelekele

I stand corrected But in my post is a close second.

[7960]

Explosives guy blew up a very big rock in the way of the new foundation wall. It's not nearly as exciting as "they blew shit up" sounds, but it's still neat.

http://home.comcast.net/~a2k2wannabe/barn/2_blast-2.avi .. (9.8 meg AVI)

One big rock, 3 holes, 4 sticks of dynamite in each hole, then the rock was buried to keep the pieces from flying all over.

I told the guy "I wanna see shit FLYING!!!" and he said "No you don't." At the end you can hear a guy say "Wasn't what you were expecting huh?" because I kept saying it was going to be cool to see something blown up. The rock started over 8' tall and more than 5' wide and afterwards ended up with no piece bigger than a basketball.

It measured 0.54 on the richter scale. He said legally, in the area where my house is, he has to keep it under 2.0.

[7960]

Walls are going up.





Granite stairs started........that's as far as they'll get until the first tier of the stone retaining wall is in place.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by 7960

Today's developments

excavator 1, barn 0.

Man that looks like FUN!

I wanna play with the Big Toys!

[7960]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Man that looks like FUN!

I wanna play with the Big Toys!

A friend is doing all the excavation. I asked about 50 times if I could do it but he kept saying no. My son (he's 5) came out of the house and my friend invited him up to run the excavator........I was pissed but my son had a blast.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by 7960

A friend is doing all the excavation. I asked about 50 times if I could do it but he kept saying no. My son (he's 5) came out of the house and my friend invited him up to run the excavator........I was pissed but my son had a blast.

Well, that's not fair!


Cool for him though................................

[nbiggershaft]

How'd you avoid destroying the house?

[7960]

Originally Posted by nbiggershaft

How'd you avoid destroying the house?

by using this



instead of this

[avsp]

The house seems to be wood too
If so, then what/how/when are the treatments that keep it wood-eating-bug free?

[7960]

Originally Posted by avsp

The house seems to be wood too
If so, then what/how/when are the treatments that keep it wood-eating-bug free?

Through the miracle of modern chemicals, baby! I don't know what they spray but the guy wears a suit that looks like he's going to the moon so I'm guessing it's not very healthy for people *or* bugs.

That, and the remaining house is mostly newer construction. The barn was built in 1901 and has not always been attached to the house. It was treated for bugs before it was connected to the house so there wasn't new damage......but the damage was done.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by nbiggershaft

How'd you avoid destroying the house?

Why do you think the guy running the show would not let him operate the machine?