Elijah got started renovating the boys’ bedroom this winter. The project is moving slowly because he works five days a week, but he’s making progress. About the time he started putting the new closet together in a corner of the room, James decided that the piles under that side of the house should be replaced before Elijah went any farther, so that the house would be level! So, the boys devoted a Saturday to replacing nine or ten of them.
The first order of business was to put a jack beside each original pile, and then adjust it until the house was level with whatever point was highest. James borrowed his boss’s jacks and laser level for this part of the job (sure is handy that his boss lives right across the street and is happy to let James use the tools!). Then, they cut off the old piles some of which were supported by the house instead of the other way around, and jiggled them loose. When they had the old piles out of the ground, they dug the holes out a little bit. You can see here how much headspace there was. Rather challenging! I did not go under the house.
To get the dirt out, they used a square 5-gallon oil jug cut in half, with a rope tied to each end. One person stayed outside, pulled the full tubs out, and dumped them, and then they were pulled back under.
When all the holes were dug, they put the new piles in the holes and fastened them to the underside of the house. Then, they borrowed James’s boss’s cement mixer and poured concrete around the new piles. They got the concrete under the house the same way they got the dirt out, with those little tubs. The grass beside the house got torn up pretty badly, especially since it started raining halfway through the afternoon, but that side of the house is now level!
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