Will the demolition ever end?

So there's good news and there's bad news. Of course, you always want the bad news first, right? The bad news is that things are worse than we thought. We had three general contractors come and none knew exactly what to do with our situation. So we called the inspector so that he could tell us what he was expecting to see done--astoundingly, he kind of threw his hands in the air and proclaimed that it was beyond him and that we needed to consult a structural engineer! The main problem isn't the flooring, it's the footings and the bearing wall that's rotted through. The wall between the kitchen and laundry (my dad is standing in the doorway of that wall in the picture below) has had such extensive water damage that the engineer really doesn't quite know what's holding it up. The 1962 remodel that we are removing consisted of a LOT of rock including a rock shower in the laundry room. We've discovered through our research that the woman who used to own the house was once married to a stone mason (surprise, surprise) named Ballard Hale. The problem was that there was no lining of the shower besides the rock and mortar--so all of the wood surrounding that whole area just crumbles to the touch from the rot. (Did they not understand that rock is NOT impervious? How do you think caves came into existence? At least now we know who to curse!) Sorry, I'll quit ranting now. Anyway, luckily our bishop just happens to be a structural engineer and has been gracious enough to help us out. But to really see what was going on, he needed us to dig out the dirt to see what the footings were like. So here comes the good news: my family came to the rescue! There's nothing so wonderful as having five strong, hard-working, helpful adults show up to help with a seemingly impossible task! My brother Barry, with the help of various other men in the family, was able to remove the cement base of the chimney--quite the task that I know we couldn't have accomplished on our own. And with LOTS of digging, we also filled two-thirds of a 30 yard dumpster with dirt and debris. It was amazing! (This is our second dumpster, by the way. The first one weighed almost seven tons! And that doesn't even included the piles and piles of rock that we kept. Anyone need any stone? We can hook you up...)
With needing to dig 2 and a half feet down, we totally wore them out and I don't think I've ever seen any of them that filthy before, but I don't think I killed any of them off. (Though I was afraid for my dad because he was definitely working harder than he should have! But he could still smile at the end of it, so it couldn't have been too tramatic!) We made a major dent, but didn't quite get enough done. So thankfully our WONDERFUL neighbor, Evan Edwards, came and finished most of the rest of the work on Tuesday.
I don't think I can ever thank Mom, Dad, Barry, Jordan and Sammy (and Ella), and Evan enough! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

One other bit of bad news though, my dad joked that this was exactly the kind of work/movements that cause carpal tunnel (he knows from experience), not knowing that Jason really was developing it! Yep, Jason got "demolition elbow" (since he doesn't play tennis) from all of the hard work he's put forth. It hasn't been a pleasant experience for him, but he's getting much better since I won't let him work anymore. So, we've decided that most likely we are going to let the pros do the rest of the kitchen. We've fallen so far behind with this "hiccup" that we are worried that it won't get done before the baby comes unless we have people working on it full-time. So I'm sorry to disappoint those that were cheering us on, but when it starts effecting our health and so much of our lives, it comes time to hand off the responsibility to those that do it for a living! (Besides, there is so much more of the house to do, we don't want to get completely burned out with this project!) And you don't need to be sympathic, we're actually kind of relieved at the idea!

But we are now accepting donations to help cover the extra costs.... (ha ha)