I hauled the ATV down to the Aerie this morning and had absolutely no problem doing so. The trailer behaved and the straps I applied to hold the ATV in place did their job admirably.
Once back at the Aerie, Terry and I did a quick cleanup of the garage finding lots of cardboard boxes to burn and recyclables we need to haul to the dump. No problemo!
While burning the boxes, I noticed a small group of blackberry canes that were loaded with ripe berries. So, after eating Sunday dinner, I went out and picked a bunch of berries up the hill. Got a quart and a half of deep, dark ripe berries which were washed, drained and packed for the freezer. (Where they joined all the blue berries and 28+ loaves of zucchini bread.) No sweat!
Then I got the phone call from Mark. He was at the Bolt Hole. He had gone over to do some work on the porch, found the pier of blocks we put in yesterday had toppled over. (I had told him that the huge sill on the front of the house was not putting any pressure on the pier when I was down there yesterday.) He tried to put it back together but, while jacking up the sill, there was a crack, and clatter from other parts of the house. Pushing up in one spot had led to things going down in other spots and the 100+ year-old makeshift floor joists weren't happy.
Long story short. Now, instead of just replacing the porch at a cost of a few days labor and maybe $750 in materials, We could be looking at having to replace all the beams and joists holding up the house, perhaps pouring a new foundation to replace the loose stone the previous owner had simply pointed with mortar from the inside to stop drafts, and--worst case--facing the demolition and reconstruction of the old part of the cabin. Mucho dinero. And insurance doesn't cover dry rot, mildew and/or mold. All of which along with age, contributed to this problem.
I, for one, feel out of my depth.
I'm going to think over my options and let Mark talk to a couple of people in the area--both physical and construction business--and see what the options are.
Oh, and somewhere somehow, while burning the cardboard, I twisted my back funny--and not in a "HA HA" kind of way. So I'm feeling a little crippled up right now physically and mentally.
******
On the weather front: It's been hot. Not super-duper, end-of-the-world kind of hot, but in the upper 80s and uncomfortably humid. Might reach 90s tomorrow. (They said the same thing for today but the temperature fell short.) There's a cooling breeze in the shade but the sun? Man it is blistering! One little move and my shirt is drenched.
Of course the heat could finally drive my tomatoes over the edge and they might actually ripen to red in a week or so. We had some of the golden cherry tomatoes fresh off the vine today and their taste was heavenly!
4 comments:
Sorry to hear about your disaster(s).
Hope you can get everything put right quickly
I have been though replacing old beams and joists in an old frame house. If you are lucky you might be able to cut out the bad ones and scab in the news ones...I was able to do so but I was workin' from the top down instead of underneath. I found the rot while I was replacing a rotted tongue and grove floor. But it is a lot of work in any event...and scabbing will no doubt cause someone else a headache down the road. It is 'southern engineering and southern engineering usually does bite someone in the but at a later time
Hate to keep saying "Been there...done that" but you are in for a lot of work. Before we built this new house, the old 80 year old cabin was in the same shape. It was for everything you did you found another problem. Your foundation sounds very familiar...center supports were just a column of stacked rocks. Good luck and keep us posted.
You do have your work cut out for you. I've done a bit of that joist replacement, too, when younger & more daft.
Good luck.
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