Ecola Inn

Another busy week The weather has been mixed, but we are chugging along.

Work on # 8 is proceeding. Actually it is a little further along than these pics, and will have more this week. The floor is in, which is nice, and the bathroom is being framed in. As a trade off for the windows with the City, we have agreed to make 8 an ADA accessable room. So the bathroom will be bigger, and arranged so there is a 5′ circle in the middle to accomodate a wheelchair. We still have the tub/shower combo, but there will be a fold down bench and hand held shower in addition to the regular one. The doors are wider also.

 We have the holes filled in 12 and 13, and our house has become habitable, if not perfect. (Actually it’s quite a lot cleaner than it has been for years!) The guys came on Saturday to estimate the carpet and tile and vinyl. And tomorrow we will get started cleaning up 12 and 13 to prep for the drywall guy to fix the plaster. He is due to start on the 5th and the carpet guys on the 13th.

The most exciting day was on Thursday. Darryl re poured the deck on the west side. They used a REALLY BIG pumper truck and came over the building.

 Washing it. They are doing a brushed finish. Still pebbily, but not so sharp on bare feet (mine anyway).  

The finished product. Not sure how he is going to do the posts and chain, so that should be interesting.

 In the process of cleaning up on the east side of 8, they discovered quite a few voids where the sand had sifted out. Those are filled with gravel, and the broken parts removed.

Some much needed drainage in front of 9:

  This week should see quite a lot of interior work, so stay tuned!

Last week was a busy week! I didn’t realize all that went on til I looked back at the pics.

We began the week with a snow day!  Well, it wasn’t actually snow – more like a 1/2 inch of tiny ice pellets, but it was pretty….  

Preparations began for re pouring the garage floor. They laid plastic and brought gravel:  

Had to move the rose bush..

FINALLY! They spread gravel around, and the “moat” is gone and we can get in and out easily:  

They began pouring concrete in the rain:  

And we have a beautiful new floor in the garage and the boiler room:

McEwans also graveled in the deck on the west side:   

Some of our windows arrive – even with snow all over the Sunset highway. The holes are filled in #9, and we stored them down there:  Sorry this pic is blurry:

Progressing with the plumbing and the floor in #8. Steve hopes to get the plumbing inspected today, so they can close it up:

Still holes in #10 and #11:

This is Dave, he installed two additional access points for the wireless on Sunday:

Looking forward to another busy week. More to come…..

Whew!  this was another busy week.

On Monday the guys from Terra Firma were here briefly to do a walk through with the engineer. Everyone is really pleased with the job, they’re saying we won’t go anywhere now. Sopko Welding, from easide also came on Monday and joined some of the beams in our house.

On Tuesday, the concrete fellow came, and began preparations for re pouring the sub floor. Steve finished up the sewer pipe going into the garage, and Coaster began preparing  to cover the holes in the floors. This is the progress of one of the biggest sink holes in our dining room:

      This is basically how all the holes will be covered. This one should have decking this week, and then YEAA! we won’t have to worry about falling in the holes anymore!

Here is #8′s new subfloor:

       Special thanks to Steve Blumenstein who got down and dirty in 8 to get these shots for me.  Working in 9 and 11:

Steve, the plumber, finishing things up under 11′s bathroom:

This is Darryl, our concrete guy. He is surveying the garage for re pouring. We were hoping that would happen last week, so we could store the windows there, so hopefully it will be this week.

On an interior note, we sent out the dining chairs, straight backed chairs and headboards to be recovered and repaired where needed. We got the first batch back this week:

This week coming up should see the holes in the floor closed up, and a floor in unit 8. maybe some framing in there to. We are really pleased with the way things are coming along. More next week…..

Well, this ended week 6 of our project. I wish I had more photos to show you, but the weather was really nasty, and there actually wasn’t too much to see from the outside.

Thr Terra Firma guys arrived again on Sunday evening, and got to work bright and early on Monday lifting the building.  They did take a break to watch the Ducks win the Rose Bowl! In some spots they lifted as much as six inches. Even with that, there has been relatively little damage. You can see a fair amount of space under the garage door now:

No windows have cracked, but a number of the seals have been broken, so they are foggy. We had a little leak around the chimney in 7, as I think the flashing has seperated a little. There is the most damage to the plaster upstairs in the center of the building from 5 on over to 3:    Unit 5

Upstairs laundry room

 

#14 Doorway

    #3 Wall & bathroom

 

# 1, 2 and 7 are relatively unscathed, and I have not yet seen any cracked tile.

Outside, Terra Firma originally piered the east wall of the garage from the inside, lifting it  opened up a big crack and kicked it out some, so they had to go back out (in the pouring rain) and re pier the outside.    They were also able to get the big dip out of the overhang right above this area:

There are also still some jacks around and things are shimmed up waiting for permanent support:

Even though today was Sunday, Steve the Plumber (you all met him before), came to finish up the sewer line. It still has to get under the foundation wall of the garage, and into the ground floor rooms. He has to get this finished up because this week – WAHOOOO! we are going to be pouring concrete.   I think they will be pouring the garage floor soon, as the windows have been ordered, and Coaster wants to store them inside when they arrive. They will also be pouring the boiler room floor which means a couple days without heat and hot water (ugh!). It is looking like another steller week weatherwise, and we are feeling so blessed. Now I am being greedy, and hoping for dry weather to do the concrete AND the windows. Should have quite a few more pictures for next week.

Also , for those of you who don’t get the local papers, Doogers , here in Cannon Beach has closed.  They will still remain open in Seaside and Warrenton, so hopefully many of you will go over to visit.

 

Things started off a little slower this week. Our steel 20′ beams were delayed until Tuesday, so things didn’t really get started until then.    After they arrived Coaster quickly dispersed them into the parking lot and out into the yard on the west side.    It was a rainy day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent cutting beams and placing them under the floor joists. Unfortunately, I don’t have too many pics, but you can see these beams under our laundry room, with a close up of the “smart jack”. These can be adjusted up to 3″.

   It didn’t take long for the beams to turn color from the rain.  The very best picture of this process, was one I couldn’t take. On Tuesday or Wedsnesday, it was pouring rain and 70 mph winds, and the guys were cutting steel beams in the front yard after dark. The sparks looked like the Fourth of July!!

On Thursday, what everyone was waiting for: Terra Firma began to lift in #8 and #9. This is one of their hydrolic jacks:   On Friday:

On Thursday and Friday work continued and finished up on the sewer line.     The white pipe is the water line, it is not hooked up yet.

We were hoping to get the torn up area graveled on Friday, but it took longer than expected, so Troy will workcontinue work on that tomorrow.  

Work began in earnest installing the sewer line. It is piered as well, so it cannot settle again.    

Since the pipe cannot just sit in top of the piers, Terra Firma cut up some “c Channel”, like you saw in the last post, galvanized it, and fixed it to the piers, to create little saddles for the pipe to sit in. 

Originally, our pipe came in too far down in the manhole, at the same height as Surfsand, so we were able to drill up a little higher, and our pipe comes in about 30″ above now.  

This is Steve, the plumber, laying out the pipe to make sure it has the correct ‘fall’. Steve has just done a fantastic job keeping us going over the past year, we are so grateful.   Work also finished up on grouting, piering the garage and the boiler room.    Ran out of concrete and had to get some more.

Well , Monday came under the heading of “just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse….” In addition to working on grouting/concreting the piles in our home      , Terra Firma was finishing up some work on the west side. The foundation is weakened in front of 9& 10, because of so much settling, so they installed “c channel”. This stabilizes the area so it can be lifted. The hoses that were in a picture last week, are indeed attached to hydrolic jacks, which will do the lifting. I will attempt to get some cell phone video of the actual lifting this week, to put up on next week’s post.  

Then the big mess. McEwan began excavating for the new sewer and water lines. The sewer had collapsed, and the water line is brittle. We are checking into the phone, cable and power. They are 30 years old as well, but in conduit.  

We hope all of you have enjoyed a blessed Christmas holiday. This was different for us, no lights, mistletoe, big tree with the family ornaments, but it was still nice. We had yet another week of fine weather. We have been so blessed. The crew finished up all the piers last week, and are expecting to begin leveling and installing the steel beams under the floors this week coming up. Good thing it is mostly inside work from here….

On Friday, Terra Firma finished up on the micropiles in our house. McEwan began breaking out the garage floor.        This is in preparation for the new sewer line to be run next week. They will be digging a trench through the middle bay of the garage and out to the manhole in the street. Terra Firma has built a ‘cradle’ for the pipe, and it will have piers under it. There will be concrete piers in the garage to support the slab, like the square topped ones on the west side under the deck. After the sewer is in, we will get gravel, and it won’t be so messy (REALLY looking forward to that!) We are also going to run new wiring while the trench is open. Cable, phone and power are 30 years old.

Finishing up for the week, it is nice to have the equipment out of the yard:

  I am not sure what the hoses are hooked up to these piers, but will ask and report back next week.