One Lazy Weekend

Last weekend started off slow. We took Shelby for a walk, I made a list of errands to run, washed windows, and Brett's only "big" project was to hang pictures inside the house and/or install outside motion sensor lights. I figured we'd divide and conquer the chores and have a nice relaxing afternoon.

After I got back from the grocery store Brett tells me he now owns a ladder. My response is the following string of questions: What happened? Did you go buy one? Did you break the one Wes let you borrow? Did Wes tell you to keep the ladder? Well you can imagine my confusion when the answer to all those questions is no! Brett being the resourceful/lucky individual he is actually found the ladder under our house. He then tells me, "You're really going to like this ladder it's an antique!" Not sure "antique" is really the key term one should use in describing a ladder. But he was right, the ladder looks surprisingly sturdy! 

After I admired Brett's newest toy, I headed inside to unpack groceries. About an hour later I head outside to find this...

Brett has decided to dig out the tree root that is under the driveway and thus forcing the corner of the driveway to be raised about 4.5 inches. I still really don't know why he decided to take this project on but nonetheless it has begun. I think it all really started with curiosity and then he just couldn't stop digging! The theory was dig out all the tree root and gravity would take care of the rest and we would have a level driveway. Brett spent all Saturday and Sunday afternoon digging out the tree root. The neighbors came over multiple times to check the progress and were pretty impressed with his dedication.

I feel like the pictures speak for themselves.

You can see a little progress is made, a very small piece of the root is missing

I TRIED to help, in a sundress and all! I get points for style, right?

More progress, this is hour 3 of operation - Level Driveway

I think he really just wanted to play in the mud all day...

I had to walk with this mess to the hardware store to buy a shovel....Yes I know we are home owners we should already own a shovel.

Shelby offering her assistance

4.5 hours into the project

Now THAT'S progress!

Shelby was very intrigued by all this bark that just kept appearing 

We don't even need to buy firewood!

No joke, that's one piece of bark that we/Brett pulled out from under the driveway!

Everyone notice that car jack in the lower right of this picture...no idea what Brett was planning to do with it!  Anyway, moving on...the next few pictures made me a little nervous mostly because I expected the driveway to slowly start sinking and leveling itself out. Thank god that didn't happen, Brett managed to dig out enough of the tree root that he was able to stick his entire arm under our driveway...

The driveway has now settled about 2 inches and has about another 2.5 to go in order to be truly "level" but it definitely looks better! We decided to speed up the settling process by using a hose and a pressure nozzle to force some of the dirt under the driveway to loosen up and level itself.

We estimated it would cost about $7,000 to jackhammer and haul away the old driveway and pour concrete for a new driveway. This project's grand total so far is $37.18; $27.18 for the shovel and $10 for the pressure nozzle (plus Brett's labor, but he says he loves this stuff so we won't consider that a cost!) Not bad for a lazy weekend, right?