Foundation Finally, Part II

Now that the piers were in we could start excavation for the frost wall and crawl space. This began on July 12th but was brought to an abrupt halt when Jay chipped a tooth off the excavator. Gotta love that ledge. He started up again the next day with the tooth welded back on. The footings were poured and erection of the formwork began the next day, July 16th.

Look at all the room in that crawl space! (Well it's more room than I gave Tobin to work in at Richard and Lorraine's.)

Anne and Kelly had to leave their marks, practicing for the day when they get that long-awaited call from Grauman's Chinese Theatre...

And the completed photos of the foundation neatly stripped. On Monday they will start backfilling and running utility lines with framing to follow. There should be a flurry of activity over the next month since our lease is up the end of August. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Foundation Finally, Part I

So I think we got a little complacent here but we are back - and progress has occurred. This post will therefore span about a week's time as we try and catch up.

The septic field and relocated tank went in on Friday and Saturday July 6th and 7th. The tank was lower and indiscernible from the field, the way it was supposed to be. Unfortunately Corey was away in CT and unable to see the field until he returned and it was covered up - some photos below. But at least it was there.







Tobin and Corey laid out the corners of the building on site on Sunday July 8th and excavation for the piers began on Tuesday. And surprise, surprise: we hit ledge. As if we didn't know we had actually purchased part of a big rock it became quite apparent when the earth was scraped away.

Don't be fooled by what looks like dirt, it's not.

At least we know we will have a strong foundation. On July 11th the rock was drilled and the pier forms were set except for one. The piers were poured the following day. All was proceeding nicely.

The black rebar will tie the pier to the ledge. The threaded rods represent a portion of the system that will prevent the building from blowing over in 30 mile hour winds - part of a complex V-bracing system that was a last minute change (first of many) that had Dan, Tobin, and Corey scratching their heads for a while. Let's hope it works.

Gravity (and a little steel never hurt) should keep the building in place...