Tag: retaining wall

Basement Retaining Wall and Footing Curb

We’re still waiting on our plumbers to do the re-lining of the sewer and the new water supply line. They in turn are waiting on approval from the City, which is being difficult. Apparently the connection between our sewer line and the sewer main under the street is damaged, and City is determining whether we need to repair it to do the re-lining.

Interior footing curb forming

Interior footing curb forming

In the mean time Mario, our concrete guy, is going like gangbusters to move things along. We can’t pour the basement floor until the plumbers finish their work, but we can work on the back stairs. After I removed the back steps down from the first floor, he re-dug out the hole we had filled behind the house and knocked out the existing retaining walls. For a rare change, rapid progress was being made without me being directly involved.

Nighttime concrete

Nighttime concrete

Within a couple days, Mario got the forms in for the new retaining wall as well as for a curb around the inside perimeter of the basement, since the existing stone block footings were exposed from the digout. Then, unexpectedly, Tuesday afternoon the concrete truck arrived a day ahead of schedule and Mario and his assistant wound up working until 10pm to get everything poured, smoothed, and cleaned up. Anything ahead of schedule is rare indeed with our project!

Retaining wall, formed, braced, and poured

Retaining wall, formed, braced, and poured

The forms came off the retaining wall yesterday and soon the stairs can be formed. I need to get the drain for the landing outside the back door roughed in and then Mario can get that and the stairs poured.

Completed retaining wall

Completed retaining wall

The forms are still on the footing curb, but you can definitely get a feel for the difference it makes in the basement. It’s really starting to feel like we can get a floor poured and start putting up walls, if the city would just sign off and let the plumbers get to it.

Back Steps Demo

Back steps

Back steps

This project was a quick one, but it portends bigger progress afoot. When we took down our back porch we left the stairs from the first floor down to the ground and the steps from there down to the basement. In fact, I shored up the structure underneath it, Matt B and Dean built a railing for it, and Sarah and Matt B cut a new piece of plywood for the floor of it, all so we could have usable back steps and a way to get from inside the house to the back yard. After I took out the concrete steps that led into the basement to make the ramp, the wooden porch steps to the side remained as a safer way to get in and out of the basement. Well, this past weekend I demolished the back steps.

Demo in progress

Demo in progress

This is in preparation for the new concrete retaining wall and steps that will lead from ground level down to the basement. We’re replacing the existing retaining wall and steps because we want to put a deck on the back of the house, which means the stairs need to go to the left instead of straight or right as they do now.  It actually makes more sense to go to the left anyway, since that’s the side of the house that has the sidewalk to the front.

Steps removed

Steps removed

Once the new wall and stairs are in place, we’ll build some temporary stairs down from the sliding door, since we won’t have the deck for some time. In the mean time we’re going around to the front or climbing in and out, sometimes with the help of a step-ladder. Hopefully the concrete guy will be starting in the next few days and we can get the temporary stairs built in the next few weeks. The plumbers finally started yesterday and I met with some tuck pointers that should be able to fix up the basement door and window openings in a couple of weeks, and last night we picked up the new exterior door for the basement, so we’re making progress on a few fronts.