The Excavation Site!

  Our front yard =  home to new excavation site...wonder if they will find any fossils?? (okay, perhaps I've been playing too much Animal Crossing.....)
  So! After having so much water visit our basement after recent storms (again, since I last posted about it...) we are onto Phase 1 of fixing the situation... We've hired a landscaping crew to ensure that water is being better directed away from our house. In our conversations with the landscape peeps, it was decided that we take extra precaution and excavate down a good 10+ feet in front our house - just below our kitchen windows - and re-seal the brick down/ensure the drain tile is working out. In addition, we identified the best path for water to take through the yard, away from the house, and agreed to re-grade the earth out there....

Let's have a peek shall we?

Behold! the front of our house! The rocky area under our kitchen windows is the area where water is getting in - let's dig it on up!  {Note: New front door with frosted glass - and get this: an actual deadbolt! Oooooo! the old door was def NOT a front door, it was barely suitable to be a garage service-door...}

Leave it to landscapers and contractors to give you ZERO indication as to when work will begin. This pile showed up in the yard on a Sat. morning...so I guess work will start soon??

We had already enlisted the help of this landscaping company to help us deal with the back yard, and some areas out front - like re-edging some of our planting areas - like this: where a lawn mower had it's way with the plastic..... nice. So we've re-prioritized to start on this project first.

Before and Mid-Progress - 10 ft down and re-sealed the brick. They found that the drain tile had completely failed, and instead of leading water AWAY, it was INVITING water in. Perfect.

DISCLAIMER!! Don't just our rocks full of weeds!! We've been waiting for weeks for the landscaping project to be tacked...thus we have neglected all yard duties except for mowing...occasionally...

The hole is filled back in and the yard re-graded :)

Next Steps: Well, the remainder of the front yard landscaping is on hold until our new siding and gutters are installed - we figure the new planting beds can wait so that the siding guys don't trample plants and ruin stuff... So plenty more to come!! + we can't wait for new siding! The McBrides are saying Good-bye POOP Brown painted plywood house! Hello new GRAY siding!! (surprised?) Hooray!!