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The beginning of every castle is the foundation upon which it is built. And, in fact, castles used to be build essentially by hand, so this story fits right in (even though our abode is a tiny cottage). The first few weeks have been focused on digging, moving earth, and discovering.
BARELY enough space between the current house exterior and the 7 foot setback to the property line on the north. And on the east side of that is a large deck, that we built when we first bought the cottage, and it's going to stay. The deck goes right up to the setback line. On the west side of the addition is a gorgeous fence and trellis that we built many years ago, and it's now covered with mature Halls Honeysuckle. The scent of those blossoms will be wafting into our new kitchen soon(ish)! So, there you have it. There is no choice but to hand dig the foundation (and also for the Whiskey Porch extension going up out front - more on that in a separate post). And here's the story of how a 2-day excavation became a four week slog... ~ post continues below, click on "Read More" ~
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 A small dent in the clay after one day. | Just to make it more fun, we are blessed with crazy hard clay soil in these parts of Arizona. Here's the result of one long day of digging by 4 (four!) guys. Oh, but that's not all! Along with the rock hard clay we have surprise deposits of 100 year old concrete mixed in for good measure. |
| Seriously, we've been discovering and removing tons and tons of concrete all over the property for 9 years now and every time we think we've cleaned it all out... we find more. Truly it must be that concrete was really inexpensive back in the day! |  Mystery concrete everywhere |
clay and cast iron pipes
While the decision to hand dig caused this step of the process to take weeks and weeks (vs a couple days) we also were able to carefully expose the old pipes and drains without any damage. Because, of course, we had no idea where the old plumbing ran on the property given that there are zero plans or historical documents.
Turns out we discovered the original clay sewer drain that was installed 100 years ago and right nearby the newish (not sure exactly how old) cast iron drain.
This allowed us to easily tap all our new plumbing into the sewer line without having to dig another trench to the street or do more exploration. And we were also able to add the proper clean-outs and trace the line all the way back to the carriage house on the far east end of the property. This was huge.
So less than ideal situations can sometimes lead to better than planned-for results.
Turns out we discovered the original clay sewer drain that was installed 100 years ago and right nearby the newish (not sure exactly how old) cast iron drain.
This allowed us to easily tap all our new plumbing into the sewer line without having to dig another trench to the street or do more exploration. And we were also able to add the proper clean-outs and trace the line all the way back to the carriage house on the far east end of the property. This was huge.
So less than ideal situations can sometimes lead to better than planned-for results.
Old pipes everywhere
Without a way to move this huge volume of dirt off the property, we decided that it would be best to just stock pile it in back for now and see if we could utilize this material for future landscaping perhaps.
It won't be too much we thought... ha! Really, way off the mark.
We now have our very own "Mt. Fuji" in the back yard which Ibis-the-yellow-lab is really happy about.
 Mt Fuji - a paradise for Ibis the dog |  Original foundation appears. Rocks with mortar. |
we couldn't have planned this
Funny how these things work like this sometimes, in a totally random but perfect way.
Whilst we were tinkering away with our excavation, at the same time the City was heavy into renovating the street in front of our house. First time in about 100 years. They were making an epic mess starting at the bottom of the hill, one and a half blocks away. This one year long process would result in new water, sewer, drainage, curbs, sidewalks, and finally brand new paving.
They'e been working for six long months now. Mass chaos everywhere.
At the exact moment that we uncovered our sewer line the City was attempting to make the new sewer connections out in the street. Literally, the next day they knocked on the door telling us that they were amazed to find not one, but three, sewer lines coming from our property to the old line. And, they needed help to figure out what was what to make the proper connections, and abandon anything that was no longer in use.
So our contractors jumped on it and were able to easily work it out with the City. How amazing is that?
Whilst we were tinkering away with our excavation, at the same time the City was heavy into renovating the street in front of our house. First time in about 100 years. They were making an epic mess starting at the bottom of the hill, one and a half blocks away. This one year long process would result in new water, sewer, drainage, curbs, sidewalks, and finally brand new paving.
They'e been working for six long months now. Mass chaos everywhere.
At the exact moment that we uncovered our sewer line the City was attempting to make the new sewer connections out in the street. Literally, the next day they knocked on the door telling us that they were amazed to find not one, but three, sewer lines coming from our property to the old line. And, they needed help to figure out what was what to make the proper connections, and abandon anything that was no longer in use.
So our contractors jumped on it and were able to easily work it out with the City. How amazing is that?
 Simultaneous street construction. Is this even remotely safe?! |  Can't even see the street anymore |
a puzzle comes together
About 5 or 6 years ago we did some major landscaping work in the front yard (which had been essentially just a steep, dirt pit). Again with lots of mystery concrete. And in the process we discovered that unfortunately our water main was leaking a slow leak and probably had been for decades.
Honestly, this was not surprising since it was the original water main and was then almost 95 years old.
We took the extra step to run a new water line from the street up to the house, not knowing that the City would be coming in five years later and replacing the entire system in the street.
So, really this is all coming together in the most perfect way.
We will now have not only new plumbing inside the house, but a new water main and sewer lines along with brand new City infrastructure in the street. Yes!
This makes us feel comfortable with all the effort and investment going in to such an old house. Hopefully, all systems will be "go" when we get to the other side!
Honestly, this was not surprising since it was the original water main and was then almost 95 years old.
We took the extra step to run a new water line from the street up to the house, not knowing that the City would be coming in five years later and replacing the entire system in the street.
So, really this is all coming together in the most perfect way.
We will now have not only new plumbing inside the house, but a new water main and sewer lines along with brand new City infrastructure in the street. Yes!
This makes us feel comfortable with all the effort and investment going in to such an old house. Hopefully, all systems will be "go" when we get to the other side!
Finally. Ready to pour. Looks like we're gonna build a skyscraper!
Next up
Stay tuned for the next installment... Bottoms Up: Gettin' it Done. Pouring the footings, stem walls, and slab for the kitchen..
Just in case you missed the prior posts and videos and want to catch-up, you'll find the first one and the most recent here:
And if you want to follow along, might I suggest that you join our mailing list, if you haven't already. That's the best way to make sure you don't miss anything. You will only hear from me about once a month with links to new installments as well as all the other new content we've published to help make your bungalow and garden dreams come true. Here's the link to join:
And if you want to follow along, might I suggest that you join our mailing list, if you haven't already. That's the best way to make sure you don't miss anything. You will only hear from me about once a month with links to new installments as well as all the other new content we've published to help make your bungalow and garden dreams come true. Here's the link to join:
You might also like some of our other resources on living a smaller and simpler lifestyle on the Dragonfly Journal.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments below.
See you on the porch,
~Miriam
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Author
Hello! I'm Miriam and this is the story of our tiny historic cottage and it's complete renovation.
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