How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Taking the first “bite” of our new “elephant” was a little tough for us. We spent a couple days kind of just wandering around our new house. The overwhelming task we had ahead of us had to soak in.
Once it did we made a call to a man across town who knows how to get things done.
And he did.
Quickly.
In the span of about 30 minutes all the bushes, parts of broken sidewalk, landscape edging and a bunch of dirt around the foundation were gone. It was awesome to see this master at work. Mr. Collins is probably in his 70s or 80s and works like he’s 20! He is our local home demolition contractor/ salvage yard owner/ Jack of all trades / Bobcat driver extraordinaire. We are proud to know him.
The plan was for Mr. Collins to remove this concrete ledge that had been added against the front of the house.
But that sneaky devil was rock solid and a Bobcat wouldn’t budge it.
So…
…grunt labor it was…
It doesn’t look so hard in these pictures, but this was several days of HARD LABOR in the JULY TEXAS HEAT! A casualty of removing the ledge was a section of the front porch.
Check out that totally rotted wood beam–NOT good!
While we had the jackhammer going, we decided to go ahead and remove the back steps since the back door would ultimately be moved to a different location. These steps were just as ROCK SOLID as the ledge in front.
But give a guy in a pink shirt a jackhammer and eventually he WILL be victorious. (Note also his matching pink plastic shovel. I’m sure our daughter brought that to him, since he obviously loves pink).
One thing we hated to lose… some initials scraped into the side of the steps by the children of the original owners. The price of progress I suppose…
Note: This post was written by Zack.
That explains two things: 1) Why it is so wordy and 2) Why the details are SOOO much better than if I would have written this.
He is the one who put the blood sweat and tears into this operation. I just took care of the kids, swept where he pointed and brought the Sunday bloody marys!
Oh… and when I say written y’all, I mean WRITTEN. As in, on a piece of green construction paper. WITH a pencil. Bless his technologically challenged heart.
Stay tuned for more!
I love this post!! You guys are SO funny!!! The writing was superb, even with it’s humble begins on green construction paper. We also just took out massive shrubs like that from our front yard. It’s amazing the difference it makes! You can actually see the house!!!
Thanks Meredith! Yes! It really is. Of course, now it’s looking really bare as the house gets completed on the outside. New landscaping will come in time. No shortage of projects around here! Would love to see more pics of your house too!
I just love your old house…what a fun (although at times frustrating) project. Excited for your adventure….and just think of all of the fabullous things you can fill it with. Love my ZacoCreations.
Thanks so much Jen! You are exactly right about the fun AND frustration… Your tray should be arriving soon. Can’t wait for you to see it! Did I tell you we built two? 😉