And So It Begins...

Just to keep things interesting, we've decided to start a major construction project in the middle of the holidays, when we're expecting a new baby, and just as it's starting to get cold. We're finishing our basement -- adding a bedroom, full bath, living space, and storage area. We're hopefully turning what was a scary place Jen hated to walk into, into a great living space.

These are pics taken after the first week.

One of the things they're doing is digging out part of the dirt area that filled 1/2 of our basement. This is the first part they dug out so they could poor a concrete footer to support the top floor and a possible 2d story in the future.

They're also digging the floor down about 4-6" to give us more ceiling height. We're thinking it will be 7' 1" floor to ceiling after it's all finished.

This pic was taken at the bottom of the stairs looking into the bump out area. This area is directly below our current dining room. You can see the current 1/2 wall and dirt behind it that will soon be dug out.

Also from the bottom of the stairs. They built a temporary supporting wall to hold up the house as they poured new concrete footers to support the upstairs.