Monday, June 21, 2010

Home Project: NEW DRIVEWAY!

We've poured so much $$ in this house, it is crazy, but will be worth it in the long run. In the last few years we've (I use the term "we" loosely because everyone knows it is Nick with the gumpton and know-how in this relationship)....


~ gotten all new windows
~ replumbed the whole house
~ installed sewer / filled in septic tank (forced by county)
~ got new furnace
~ redid the front porch and back deck
~ put insulation into attic
~ blew insulation into kitchen walls
~ redid front half of roof that was 2 different types of shingles thanks to a 2002 tornado
~ and latest project: 100% replaced the driveway


Why redo a concrete driveway that has no visual defects? IT DRAINED TOWARDS AND INTO OUR HOUSE FOUNDATION! Yeah, not good! Crumbling block in our basement is not a good thing at all. Nick is lucky to have a cousin-in-law-by-marriage-who-knows-how-he's-related in the concrete business so we got them to come and break up the old drive and pour the new one. Deconstructing the greenhouse and moving it was neccessary for the project so Nick had to do that with no one around to help but me (someone should tell Nick that making a pregnant chick help move 300 lb greenhouse walls is not that nice).

Here's the finished product! Sorry the pics are backwards LOL.

Nick had to dig trenches by hand to lay drainage pipes for the new drive:
And while he was at it, he replaced our old cast iron sewage line with PVC pipe.




Cleaning out the well area that is under our driveway. He had to build a wood platform for them to pour the concrete on top of!


4 comments:

Caitlin said...

Maybe you should also build a brick fortress wall in the front to keep stupid drivers from ruining all your hard work. :p I'm super impressed by all the work you guys have done!

Lanny said...

Wow. Hard worker! You and Nick will certainly stay young that way!

Kari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kari said...

That looks like a huge project!! It's kind of hard to help too much when you're big as a house(that's how I feel anyway!!), but it looks like your husband did an awesome job!! Sounds like our pregnancies are pretty similar, glad to finally have someone else who isn't having all the symptoms the baby books keep insisting I should have. I'm not constantly peeing, contracting, or not sleeping-I'm thankful for those things but feel kinda freakish as every book insists I should be feeling those things. Good luck to you and I can't wait to hear your birth story!! It should be real soon!!