French Drain

While we love the French inspired designs at cotedetexas.blogspot.com, our next French addition won't be noticed.  Our house is on a sloping lot, and the existing landscaping did not remove water from the front of the house.  Furthermore, Emily's office is below grade (the only portion of the house below grade) and we don't want to take any chances with water getting into the house. 

So step 1 is to dig out a drainage ditch around the house.  We will then Mel-Rol the concrete block wall in front of her office to waterproof it.  Next we put in gravel and perforated pipe in front of her office, connected to a drain pipe that goes around the house and exits downslope.  This turned out to be more time consuming than expected due to the solid limestone that was 3 feet down and had to be chiseled with a Bobcat jackhammer attachment for days to get the correct slope.

The ladders below are resting on the window sill in Emily's office.

The drainage ditch continues around the master bath (the tub is inset in the bay window below).

And after installing the French drain - gravel, perf pipe, and drain pipe....



And in the front of the house the grade was too high on the slab.  So we added a couple of levels of concrete block to the garage, reframed the wall above it, and then put Mel-Rol on the block to waterproof it.  After construction is completed we will further grade the front of the house in this area.

The added benefit of the French drain was that Pete the Bobcat operator removed all of the nandia and forsythia roots from around the house and the front yard, and they were disposed of with another call to the CE Bar.

Concrete!

We have a few "hard" changes to make. We are adding two bedrooms and a bathroom above the existing garage. Unfortunately the bedrooms would be 10x12 if we used the existing garage footprint. So we are extending the garage by 5 feet and cantilevering the addition over the backyard 3 feet to provide the kids roomier bedrooms and a full bathroom. Also, as we change the interior we are moving toilets, sinks, and the kitchen - all of which requires jackhammering the slab, moving the copper water lines, and re-pouring concrete.
We did encounter 1 unplanned surprise - the existing garage was sloped. Since we plan to eventually turn this space into a living room and add a 3 car garage, we need to level out the floor. Here's the garage prepped for the pour:

And with the new floor:

The backyard sidewalk was a foot away from the house, with dirt and shrubs between the sidewalk and house.  We decided to pour the sidewalk all the way to the house to help with water penetration issues.  The new sidewalk is great - 6 inches below the interior floor, and sloping down and away from the house.  We demo'd out the existing, here's the sidewalk pre and post pour.

And finally, here are a few before and after shots of the reworked interior plumbing.  These first photos are for the kitchen island which will have our sink and dishwasher.



And since we have opened up the kitchen/dining room/living room into a large connected space, the old wall has been removed and we are putting in a step that runs the length of the new combined area.  Here's the mold before pouring the step.  The lower kitchen/dining area will be chipped, unfilled travertine in a versailles pattern and the living room will be Lauzon engineered hardwood in aged brownie maple finish.

Buena Vista

Using my new Stihl MS 362 with the special order 24" bar Dad and I removed the two large crepe myrtles in the front yard. Check the prior post to see the front yard before. Here's the dramatic after photo. And with a call to the CE Bar Volunteer Fire Department to notify them of an outdoor burn, nothing remains of the wood.