The first step is a BIG one!

The last couple of days we've been busy on the house project. More meetings to narrow down the final choices for roofing material and contractor. We also scooped a whole lot more soild out of the excavation. Tomorrow should finish that task. The first step out of the old house is a doozy now!

I created the routing files for the window and door bucks (forms for the openings). The first of the house materials arrived onsite today making the whole process a lot more real at last. Much of it will be used to make the bucks. 

Tomorrow we start cutting and putting together the pieces.

-grampa dan

Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better

Today was a big day. The worksite went from fairly neat and organized to total chaos in about an hour. Sometimes things have to get a lot worse before they get better. Today was one of those days.

The gas company arrived to dig across the road and put in the new gas lines to the shop and the new relocated meter for the house. Our gas guy was present to run a line from the new meter to the old house and a line to the new house as well. And our excavator guy was present to dig the ditches on our property as well as do some more work on the excavation for the house. While the driveway was all torn up with multiple ditches we took the opportunity to install the electrical, cable, telephone and secutiry conduits needed for the new construction. It way mahem and pandemonium for a while but by suppertime the pipes and conduits were all in place and the ditches filled in once more. I spent an hour or so on our little tractor after everyone had gone home to spread a little gravel and make the driveway almost normal.

The big pile of broken concrete in the foreground are the remains of the front steps of the old house.

Tomorrow will be another big day. The excavator, buldozer and large dump truck will be busy hauling out the last of the non-buildable soil from the excavation. Then it is time for the soils engineer to have his say. With his blessing the filling back in with engineered gravel will begin. The surveyor will also visit in the next couple of days to exactly locate the house and survey the property for the officials. We are now days away from starting to place the footing forms at last.

It was a crazy, crazy day but exciting just the same. Tomorrow it begins once again.

-grampa dan

BIG day tomorrow!

Today not much was done on the new house worksite. We spent the morning in the studio doing a workshop with our contractor learning the finer points of building with the LOGIX ICF (insulated concrete form) system. It was worthwhile time, even though both Harold's crew and our team had worked with similar products previously. There have been many improvements and refinements since our last experience. Thanks to Patrick for his informative presentation!

Tomorrow promises to be a much busier day. Bright and early the gas company arrives to dig and install new gas lines to our property and remove the old lines which snake across the worksite, This will pave the way for our final excavation and the start of much more activity. Within a day or two big trucks will be rolling onto the site with endless loads of gravel, building up the surface once again with solid material suitable for building on. We'll bring in a large roller as well to pack everything down real hard. Our soils engineer will check to make sure everything is perfect and the surveyer will arrive to lay out the corners of the houseexactly where they need to be. Then the worksite will be abuzz with activity as the construction begins for real. Everyone is pretty excited to begin! Especially me!

-grampa dan