Kitchen Project: Prepping the groundwork

The first part of the project — through the end of the year — is external. In extending out the basement, we also want to make it a walk-out, for convenience and for house value. The basement is currently about 3 feet below grade, and even though the property slopes downward that means a fair amount of excavation and shaping of the side yard.

After that, then the basement and kitchen extension above it need foundation, framing, etc. The idea is to have that pretty much all dried in before we break the walls into the existing house. That provides both security and weather protection.

So that's the first thing going on, and in prep for that we spent some hours in the back yard getting things ready:

– Picking up miscellaneous things from the ground that oughtn't be there anyway, as well as the various green men on the fences.
– Chopping back the climbing roses from the sections of fence that will need to be removed to get equipment into the back yard.
– Picking up the brick edging we had around the grass in the back yard, where it would be in the way of construction or in areas being excavated.
– Removing the memorial stones we have for cats passed on from an area that will be impacted by the construction.
– Digging up some roses and some irises that might be munched by the process.

So, some good exercise, and a bit more "Oh my God, this is actually, finally happening" reality checking.

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