The Ridge...the History and the Dream

Why "Up On the Ridge"?

The "Ridge" is the location we are moving the "big white monster" to (what the kids call the new house). It is where the Hubs' paternal grandparents lived, where his father grew up with his 7 siblings and where his maternal grandparents lived for a few years.

The farm in the 1980's when only the kitchen portion of the original
 farmhouse remained and a mobile home was the residence at that time. 

The piece of the house, mobile home and a few buildings are now gone but there is still the old barn, a corn crib and a smaller shed on the place. It sits on a location where you can see for long distances and has some of the prettiest views at all times of the year.

Spring

Early Summer 

Summer 

Fall 

Winter

We spend a ton of time at the farm with our cattle and other commitments. The children ride their 4-wheelers all over the farm, we had birthday parties and picnics there as well. We even camped this past fall some with our camper. We have joked that we may be living out of the camper this summer there while completing the house...the boys are all OK with that idea. They are usually outside most of the time anyway so if it is for the short term we could probably do it.

My mother-in-law was telling me when the Hubs' grandfather came back from the war he wanted to purchase a farm. He was a prisoner of war and said he wanted a place he would feel free. He picked this location because of the space and how far you could see. It is like you are sitting on top of the world when you are there. It is so peaceful and calming to sit on one of the hay bales in the summer time and feel the wind blow...and boy does it blow up on the ridge. Maybe we should name it Breezy Ridge! ;)

We purchased some of the acres on this farm and have planned for years to build a home there to raise our family. Heck, we even had a floor plan for the home picked out and stuck to the front of our refrigerator for years. We had mulled over and scoped out the location of where the house would go on the property and which direction it would look out. This dream of ours was many years in the making and it seemed just that...a dream.

Then in early Spring of 2013 a friend mentioned there was an old farmhouse in the area that was going to be bull dozed down if it didn't go elsewhere.

Farmhouse..."the big monster"

We contacted the owner, toured it and started the work of researching the costs with carpentry contractors, electricians, HVAC contractors, a concrete company, house movers, plumbers, etc. Then we visited with our financial institution and the next thing we knew our gears shifted from building a house on the ridge to moving one there.

Due to the location of the house and the location of a large creek near it we will have to move the house across approximately 1 mile of farm fields to get it to a road to move it. There were crops in the field by this time and we had to wait until they were harvested in the fall before proceeding with the moving. So we waited.

Meanwhile, all buildings and trees were removed from around the house and she stood all alone awaiting her new home.

While brainstorming ideas of names for my blog I asked the Hubs for his input. I told him loosely what I wanted to write about now with the house move and in the future and he suggested "Up On the Ridge". We continued to brainstorm but I kept coming back to it, so it stuck and here we are.

While waiting for the house movers to come in the fall, we had abstracts updated, surveys completed, estimates compiled, we did dozing work and site prep.

Driveway before dozing 

Driveway after dozing

House site. Little Man looking at the dozer starting up

Excavator working on removing trees

The site is starting to open up.

All that remains is the tree between the apple trees.

Cleaning up the debris after leveling and tree removal.

Site is ready!

We had the basement dug and poured the basement walls in December 2013.

12/16/2013 Breaking ground on the basement

Breaking through the frost. 

The hole is dug. 

The boys were more interested in the new dirt pile!

Little Man checking out the "walk out" portion of the basement.

12/17/2013 Setting up the forms for footings.

Footings poured and forms ready to set up for wall pour.

12/18/2013 Setting up forms for walls.

Pouring walls. 12/18/2013

Pumper truck putting last of concrete in walls.

Walls are poured.

Water repellent applied.

Drainage in and sills on for house to set on. 

We covered the area with hay bales in hopes of insulating the footings some from the cold.

Large bales over the walkout area.

Small bales for some insulation.

More small bales.

We also completed what demolition needed done on the house before moving it including removal of the back addition on the house as well as removing the double brick chimney that went from the roof to the basement floor.

Back of house with addition on it.  

The addition was removed due to goofy floor plan and part was concrete floor.
We will add an addition at the new location.  

Due to holes in the house after removal of the addition we had to cover it with plastic. Poor old gal. A lot of demo but she will be great when we get done with her. :)

The attic where the chimney was. The Hubs
had to remove it with a sledge hammer.
The bricks were dropped from the top down the inside
of the chimney to the basement. 

Second floor chimney removal. 

First floor chimney removal. It was a long tiring process, but he got the job done! Now there is a whole clear through the house. The boys think we need to install a fireman's pole in the space. Hmmm...I'm thinking no on that one. :)

The movers showed up in February 2014 to start jacking up the house for transport.

The lonely house with the movers trailer of beams and equipment.

As of today, the house has been jacked up approximately 12-18 inches and as long as there are no hiccups I am optimistic it will be rolling by the end of the week. Time will tell tho.

Slowly, but surely, our dream is beginning to become a reality! (insert a little squeal of delight here from me.) :)

So, I guess these are the tales of our life "Up On the Ridge". (and how we got there) ;)