House update

"What's going on with the house?" "Why is it cracking so badly this year?" The answers to that varied over this past week. It's the weight of the snow on the roof. It's the ground freezing and heaving. It's because the house wasn't properly built to begin with.

The solutions changed day by day. The front stairs need to be detached from the house. The snow needs to be shoveled off the roof. We need to heat the downstairs intensely so that the ground will warm up. We need to brace the outside wall.

And now we have a final answer. We need to rebuild the wall, both inside and out, as soon as possible (like YESTERDAY), and rebuild the roof in the spring. So that's what is currently happening. The contractor who looked at it on Friday started today, is pushing off his current job, and working on our place this week.

And although it is stressful, Dave and I are pleased that this is happening because the cracking (and insulation mess) are just getting worse.

The front entry crack today. And once we moved all our coats and bags (to make room for renovations), we discovered it was cracking all the way down the wall.



The living room ceiling. I think all the insulation that can fall out has, because the insulation mess is a lot less scary today!



The kitchen. You can really see the wall bending but I couldn't get a picture of it because I can't figure out how to MAKE my flash go off. sigh.



The contractor has been removing stucco from the outside in preparation for renovating this week. It's loud Loud LOUD and I'm surprised Sam is napping through it. I'm also glad that they didn't start working on this until about 10:30 this morning. I was really looking forward to sleeping in, and Sam needed a sleep-in day too. We both got it!



So today we have been moving stuff from our living room into our basement in preparation for the wall being rebuilt this week. Thankfully I have wonderful Mom-friends who are home during the day and willing to take Sam so that he can sleep. I don't think much sleeping will be happening here. And Sam and I have morning activities most of the week, which will take us out of the house in the mornings. Yay!

And at the end of this week we should have a sturdier wall and no falling-apart or cracking house. Don't worry, I'll try to keep you posted with updated pictures as the week goes on!