Selling a house is expensive

The problem with being a child of John Meyers (aka the Perfectionist) is that when I have to repair something I have to repair it correctly. As such, I just can't make myself put a bandaid on some things that need to be fixed for our home, in getting it ready to be sold in May. Case in point, our front porch.

When we bought the house we knew we would need to replace our front porch. Jacking it up was not possible - we found out after 3 companies came to look at it. (Yes, I believe in getting more than one quote. Research is my forte'.) So, after many options were considered, priced and discussed, we decided to replace our front porch.

The original front porch had been on fill (loose dirt) and it also had water going under it from 2 different sources. As a result it had shifted. Here you can see how far away from the house it's fallen. About 1-2 inches.

What a lovely looking crack that would greet our perspective home buyers. . . So - with the help of a guy in church (who builds homes) I had some concrete guys begin demolition. I was told it would only take a day to remove and re-pour the porch. But - I was smart now. (See bathroom adventure in earlier posts.) Turns out it only took 3 days. Here is Ray, with the first cuts in the old concrete.

Jackhammers are cool, by the way.

I had to go to work, but the kids were home for Spring Break. I had Casey send me this picture at work. I thought they would be further along, but again, remember, I was smart in the ways of construction now.

I came home that afternoon and Marcus pulled me aside. "Mom, the workers wanted me to tell you... " Now you have to understand, I always plan and expect the worst. It's gotten worse with Mark losing his job last year, and now overseas. To hear this coming from Marcus, my heart paused... "They wanted me to tell you that they killed some snakes that were under the porch. They didn't mean to." Whew! Dead snakes. I can handle that. No problem!

The second day progress is seen.

I came home on the second day to this in my front yard. Good thing my grass is already dead. But a cool truck nonetheless. That's Jordan unloading groceries on the right. He's a great helper that boy. Become a real handyman lately! (Aren't our Colorado skies beautiful!)

To protect the fresh concrete wheelbarrows were strategically placed. Turns out my niece just weaved around them that night and was just about to step up to ring the doorbell, when she realized what she was about to step into. I asked her if the wheelbarrows hadn't given her a clue. Nope. Motherhood has already started to affect her brain. :)

The finished product. One of my sisters asked if it was paint. Ha. No, I replied, that's fresh concrete. Tomorrow (Monday) they'll replace the rail and the 4x4 post. now I have to figure out what to do with the area to the right of it. Turns out that area slopes towards the house, funneling water under my new porch. Do I pour more concrete and create a slope away from the house? Just replace the stone (which is ugly) and let the new owners deal with it? Put more dirt there and slope it away from the the house, with flowers? Put more dirt under the stones, sloping it away from the house? I don't know, and frankly I'm getting tired of making decisions for a house that I love, but that will no longer be mine.

So - what would YOU do? I'm taking suggestions.