At Least We're Not Using A Spoon

17 May 2017

The work of removing dirt from under the house continues. There is plenty of time to reflect on the stories of people who have dug tunnels out of captivity with their bare hands, or at best, eating utensils. Definitely cramped quarters, but at least I have fresh air, light, a shovel, and a garden pick. I can't imagine the fortitude that they must have had.

This past week we also had great fortune in the form of help from my daughter Sam (on the left) and her friend Becka. We moved a lot of dirt that day! Thanks ladies!

We have also started work on the ground floor back bedroom which will be a first-floor master when we're done. The floor was sagging quite a bit in this room and overall sloping down away from the fireplace. I began by clearing out the room. On a high shelf in the closet, I found a few boxes of costume jewelry and watches that the auction company missed.

Then I pulled off the bottom 3 rows of siding on the outside to see what we're dealing with. The pier of the left end has fallen apart. You can see a brick pier near the center where the wood sill beam has softened and formed itself around the bricks. I don't know when the stones are put in place. At one point someone filled the wall cavities with blown in cellulose.

 

This portion of the sill beam has been replaced before. We will repair it again and size it to match the original beam.

This part of the house seems odd to me. Every where else, the tops of the sill beams are even with the tops of the floor joists. In this room, and I assume the front room/parlor as well, the floor joists are notched on each end and sit on top of the sill beams so that the floor is about 4  inches above the tops of the sill beams. The sill beams in these two rooms were clearly set lower than all the others. I have no idea why they would have built it this way.

I pulled up most of the floor boards in this room.

Which revealed the reason for the sagging floor.

I found an old tree stump.

And an opossum. It's true. When they feel threatened, they play dead.

I cleaned up the "debris" and then replaced the broken sill beam. 

The original beams are 5" x 7". I ripped 2x8's down to 7". 3 2x's gave me 4-1/2" so I added some 1/2" plywood spacers. This is the outside of the lap joint at the SE corner.

Then it was time to start shoveling dirt again.