Sometimes it doesn’t feel like we’ve made a lot of progress in a day. The extent of the remaining work makes the little steps in one day feel like only a couple drops into a hundred-gallon barrel.

Pictures help us remember that yes, we are making progress!

We installed temporary support for the roof/second story and the wall, in order to continue removing rotten structural beams.

Here is the side-by-side comparison of the old structural beam and the new:

Meanwhile, our oldest son was put to work cleaning out all the excess dirt from the lower crawlspace bricks, in preparation for reinforcement with mortar in the cracks.

The lower bricks were pressure washed so the mortar could stick.

Mortar bed all ready for the new beam to go in!

The mortar job might not be the prettiest, but it is so much stronger than before. Parts of the the crawlspace wall had to be rebuilt as they went.

And a huge delivery of wood arrived!

Those are for the floor joists and plywood subfloor!

It was a lot of weight to carry. The kids who chose to help were excellent sports. Teamwork for the win!

Tuesday evening, Matt and his brother-in-law started installing the ledger boards. These attach to the structural beams that rest on top of the crawlspace/cellar wall, and the floor joists will attach to the ledger boards.

As we prep to put joists on, it’s a good feeling knowing that the rotten beams are gone and the crawlspace walls are good and strong again.

On to the joists!