What we bought 

We are continuing to work on the foundation and troubleshooting along the way. (See previous post for details.) I am going to take a brief detour into the fun part of home renovation, namely putting new things in.

Here are our new floors, the light colored ones are the new ones.

And as you can see we bought a lot of them, enough to cover our whole 1700 square foot house.  We put a lot of thought into this plan and are really happy with what we picked out.  We wanted solid hardwood throughout but we also wanted to live in the house during the renovation so sanding and sealing after installation would be challenging. We discovered pre-stained solid hardwoods and it was the perfect combination.  They come pre-stained and sealed so no need to empty your house but otherwise have all the functionality of solid hardwoods.

We also decided we wanted light colored floors.  Dark floors are popular right now but we have a small house with great natural light so wanted to keep things light and bright so went with natural light floors.  I don’t like the yellow undertones of oak as much so we went with ash for a more true blond look. And as a bonus it’s a harder wood than oak so more durable!
We also bought new appliances, they are all the same line for Steve, GE Cafe.  And the fridge has both a hot and cold water dispenser in addition to the ice maker.  I am so excited for when we can use them! 

New Foundation

After we got the reassurance that the termites are gone we set about repairing the foundation.  We got some quotes to have it done professionally but the price was outrageous. After some research we decided to replace it ourselves (ourselves=Steve). 

Here are some pictures of the process:

Old and new joists together (in process)

So for a little explanation, the black cylinders in the last 4 pictures are called bottle jacks. Steve and his Dad first built a frame and then used the jacks to lift up the wall so they could replace the foundation. To be honest, it was terrifying (Savannah and I hid in the front yard) but they did a great job and got it all done!

Our Foundation 

So here’s a little more detail on our foundation. I never thought I would know so much about foundations! Our house is pier and beam and now that we can see all of the foundation I understand how it all goes together. The concrete piers go deep into the ground and are connected by thick wooden beams. There is also a concrete perimeter beam around the outside of the house. The wooded floor joists go on top of the beams to support the subfloor.
Here’s our foundation: 

Yep, that’s what was holding up our dining room floor. Scary 

A Detour

So while we were planning our next move on the inside we turned our attention to the outside.  Steve and his Dad removed all the landscaping from the ground up (aka roots still in) in one weekend which was awesome. We didn’t like the landscaping anyways so it was a good way to feel productive in the wait.  We also got a termite inspector to come and learned that the termite infestation was about 15 years ago and there were no active termites!  We did, however, learn that the termites probably came because of poor drainage and a planter box built onto the front wall of the house.
Since the landscaping was conveniently removed, we got to work removing the planter bed and digging up the roots.

Also, during a rainstorm, we got an confirmation of our drainage issues… We found flooding in the garage and lakes in the backyard and decided we needed a drainage solution.