The Cellar- Part 2

It's been a busy week at the farmhouse again. There's not much we can do in the main part of the house until the contractor starts in a few weeks. So we've been focusing on the basement. The ceiling is now completely removed  and all the subsequent sawdust swept up. Phew! (Achoo!)

We had decided that we wouldn't work on the basement until after we've finished the main floors and had moved in. But we need to get a cement truck out anyway to pour the concrete for the new basement section under our addition. So they might as well pour the floor for the old basement at the same time. And Sindre is in the city today for a course and will be picking up the in-floor heating cables on his way home. So if the ceiling and floor are getting done, well, we might as well do the rest and have the basement available when we move in! I'm excited about that. However, that means we have to remove the floor that is there now and that's what we've been doing this week.

 *Disclaimer* When I say "we" I mean Sindre and his dad, Roy, and his brother, Markus. This week's work is far too heavy for my finicky back to handle.

The concrete floor is in bad shape and extremely uneven. Removing it requires slamming it to pieces with a sledgehammer. The concrete also sits on top of a layer of rock. So that means while someone is pounding away, another is putting all the pieces and rock in a bucket and lifting it out the window, while another person stands outside the window, takes the buckets, empties them in a wheelbarrow and wheels it all down to a section on our property where we need some fill and dumps it there. So, in other words, hard, back-breaking labour. I'm sooo thankful Sindre has lots of good help from his family. We're very grateful and don't take it for granted.

See the boards over the window? Well, it's not easy throwing concrete and rocks out a window without smashing said window. Doesn't matter. We're getting new ones in a few weeks anyway. *grin*

Rebecca trying her hand at smashing concrete. She could barely lift the sledgehammer! Hehe!

We found this old New York license plate behind the old concrete sink we removed. Cool! Definitely a keeper.

And we finally got an answer back from the "county conservator" about whether or not our blueprints and plans for the house are approved. It wasn't a straight forward yes. They want us to do two changes. They don't want the addition we're building to be flush with the western wall of the existing house. We need to move it in a half a meter. I totally don't get it as the existing (much smaller) addition is already flush with the wall. We're just tearing it down and making it bigger. I swear, they just make this stuff up so they have something to do.

And they also want us to reduce the height of the addition so it's slightly lower than the dormer on the front of the existing house. *sigh* So nitpicky. This means we have to get new blueprints drawn up and reapply. *doublesigh* It's not really a big deal but it just makes this process longer when we just want to get our approval so we can break ground for the addition. Winter is coming on and we would like to have everything done and weather proof before the nasty(ier) weather sets in. *triplesigh*

Still LOVING this project though!! Here are some interior inspiration pictures I've been drooling over lately.

 Happy Wednesday everyone!!