Foundation Sealing Project

This week we saw one of our high-priority projects get completed: The foundation was sealed.

A few weeks ago we had contacted a company, Weber Insulation, to come out and seal the house foundation @ 702. Our hope is this will reduce the level of cold air (and warm, humid air) infiltrating into the house, making it more energy efficient.

Weber Insulation arrived yesterday, April 21st, to do the work. (Early morning, 7:00 a.m. That hour is a bit early for us these days.)

There are several steps in the sealing process:

Dig a trench around the foundation, making the trench about 4 inches below ground level.

Spray the existing stone rubble foundation with polyurethane.

I removed some boards so even the house foundation located under porches could be coated. One of the young [and thin] workers got the task of going under the porch opening,

Grind down the high spots.

Fill in low spots and do final sanding.

Last step involves spraying on a layer of glue and adding the topcoat finish.

Finished foundation looks good!

The crew started shortly after 7:00 AM and was finished by 2:00 PM. Now I have to put back the rain gutters, hose holders, and east porch railing, all items I had removed in preparation for this work.

I’m very pleased with the way the foundation work looks and how quickly it went. Now to see if it helps make the home more energy efficient.

For your edification and enjoyment, I am working on a video of the project and will be posting it shortly on my Videos page.

The foundation was not the only bit of news from the last week, although it was the major story. We had our first spring flower bloom. I am not sure what these are called but pleasant to see it happen.

For the first time this year, the next week’s forecast has no below freezing temperatures. Let us hope that continues to be the case!

Elma seems to be home to a large variety of birds. We have numerous robins, finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, and sparrows. The other day this bird was feeding under one of the bushes in the yard. (Photo was taken through our front window which is early glass and added some distortion.)

We will have to get a bird identification book so we can give these birds their proper names.

On other fronts, Bob the Builder came by and will be giving us a quote re: adding a bay onto the existing two-car garage. I expect the addition, 16 feet by 30 feet, will be in the 15K – 18K range, not counting the cost of cement work.

We should be hearing from the electrician we spoke to earlier in the year. At that time “Jake” indicated he was scheduled about 3 weeks out, so we should be getting closer to the top of his work schedule.

All in all, the improving weather means more projects can get underway. It will be a busy spring.

Photo Archive

This week’s photo was taken at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in 2002.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

The foundation guys (three in all) kept their “social” distances pretty much, except for Fields standing too close to them and insisting on shaking hands. The dogs had their potty breaks on leash the day of the foundation spray – woo-hoo, that was exciting.

Happy (socially distanced) Trails.