House leveling day 2

50% completed

I spent yesterday cleaning up the front yard. Once I got all the trash out of the yard I decided that it needed to be finished so I could call the yard side done. I built  a new set of stairs out of all pressure treated wood. They look odd as they are the only true level part of the house. They are nice and sturdy, secure and a foot wider than they used to be.   We had water runoff issues where it was pounding a low spot into the corner of the yard. I filled it with dirt then I attached a 4x4 and filled it all with decorative rock.  The metal bucket is half full of rock and let's the water pound down without hurting the wood skirting.  Once everything was perfect in the yard I went behind the house and started to tear out the skirt

hand hewn post

I decided to just cut holes in one section near the back porch so I didn't have to replace all of the skirting.  I did find a couple of hand hewn timbers on the main section of the building.  There were originally only two rooms in the house.  The large front room was an addition and the two small rooms on the back near the creek were additions.  The two small rooms were a kitchen with running water and an indoor outhouse.  I found the hole cut in the floor!
I jacked up the house using the door as an indicator of where it used to be.  The back addition I just kept jacking up till the house complained a lot.  I ended up having to dig about 10 inches of dust/dirt out from under the kitchen/bathroom area.  I still have more of the old concrete blocks from the barn so I am not sure where they will be used.  The 20 ton hydraulic jacks worked very well.  I have one that just does not want to go down even when you open the hydraulic valve.  There is always THAT one noncompliant thing.  

Back addition, kitchen and bathroom

I want to do a little more trimming on the bush on this side.  It had a side die last winter and it needs to be cut out.  I have started to water both of these bushes this week.  We had not been giving them any water this year.  I hope this will help them perk up.

We now have 16 baby chicks!  We went out to the coop yesterday and there was another baby chicken in the coop.  Momma must have carried the baby up into the coop.  They tuck them under their wings and move them that way.  Everyone looks good and is still alive.

I realize it is not perfect, just better than it was and it will last till I am dead now.