Tor woke up before me today, which rarely happens, and got started to work right away.  He rented a concrete saw and began cutting the doorway into the crawlspace.  He said that the block "cut like butter" given that the block is so old and not made with the same psi like it is now days.  He did a two-hour rental and had the saw back early.  Some people may have waited to do this process until the crawlspace was enclosed, but we thought it best to do it early to keep the mess out of the house as much as possible.  It is already hard to keep the house clean given we have to walk up dirt piles to get to either of our doors.   

 

 

This is Tor slicing through the wall.  He looks so tough and manly right now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is cutting the wall more.  It got kind of tricky towards the bottom of the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is cleaning out the discard from where he cut.  The saw makes two thin lines.  The gap is what comes out between those two lines so if anything gets stuck it still needs to get pulled out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our basement is disgusting quite honestly.  The previous owners had put a steam room in there with very little ventilation, which made the basement nasty with mold etc.  We gutted the whole basement when we first bought the house, but the walls and floor still have stains from the water damage.  We only use the space now for storage and laundry so it has been fine for our needs thus far.  Eventually there will be a bedroom, family room, storage, and utility room down there.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the block was cut all the way through, Tor chiseled some concrete that was between the window and header to make the knockdown easier.  He didn't want to cut horizontally because he felt the block might tip onto the saw and damage it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Tor is taking out the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our good friends Tristan and Jill will be happy to see the sledgehammer being used.  They got it for us on our wedding.  We registered at Home Depot.  You can see that the bow still hanging from the handle.  5 years later and it is still there!  The entrance to the crawlspace is finished!  Brin has been very intrigued by this all day and keeps sneaking to the basement to check it out.  I let her be down there for a little while unattended.  When I went to check on her, she was outside trying to scale the wall, which is nearly 5 feet tall.  We will be hanging plywood to cover the space later today, but wanted to let the floor dry up from the saw water. I helped with a lot of random stuff today (mostly picking up stucco), but I did hang my first joist hanger so I am no longer a virgin at that.