The Work Begins

We bought this cottage on Feb. 1, 2008. Since then, we have had snow, rain, ice, rain, rain and more rain. You get the picture. Well, there was finally a decent day to get under the house and see about jacking the floors up. Our "Fix-It-Man" Derrell went down in the dank, dark underbelly of the house and was able to raise the floor 2" where it was badly needed. There are still a couple of low spots but we need dryer weather to try again. The ground is quite soft now due to the weeks of rain draining through the hole in the center of the porch and running right between the crack where the inside of the porch meets the house.

There were a couple of dry days so we were able to do a little clean-up work. My 15 yr old son had not been in the house yet, so he went over with me to pull a few weeds and clean up some trash. He is a cheerful and diligent worker and was happy to help. After giving the house an initial "walk-through", I asked him what he thought. "Well, Mom, I hate to say it, but," he hesitated, leaving me hanging, "I LIKE IT!" Then he gave me a big grin.
This is in sharp contrast to the reaction of my 16 yr old daughter. What did she think? "It's depressing." 

I met with the roofer yesterday  and they are to start work on Monday. We have had rain for 3 days so they cannot start soon enough. There are no leaks inside the house, but the porch needs to be rebuilt ASAP to stop the water from running under the house.