House on Stilts

Overall the original house foundation is in great shape, especially considering it's over 100 years old and is constructed out of bricks stacked on top of giant base stones.  But the north side of the house was starting to sag slightly so in order to straighten out the house and hook it up with the new and perfectly level addition in the back we had to do a little extra work on that part of the old foundation.

Big Dig in Chicago

In which Contractor Larry and his Steam Shovel dig a giant pit in our backyard.

Mr. Contractor, Tear Down This Wall

News about the baby is exciting, but he isn't the only 2011 new addition we're focusing on right now. The reconstruction of the back of our house is well underway. Demolition is pretty much complete and the first steps of new construction have started. I'll post some pics of the construction progress, but first here's a quick review of the demolition.  

Since this post has so many pictures, I'll put all of them after the jump.  Click the "Read More" link to see the full post and all of the pics.