Day one.

Today was the first day of actual construction on our new house. Harold and his crew arrived just before seven thirty. The lumber delivery truck arrived a short time later and the crew was off and running. I headed into town to try and convince the building inspector to release our building permit. Tomorrow we should be legal to proceed I'm told. In the meantime it is full speed ahead.

By the end of the day tomorrow the footing forms should be ready for concrete. The structrual engineer makes his first visit Wednesday morning, the building inspector shortly after that. Thursday morning the first of the concrete flows into the new house.

Actual construction has officially begun!

-grampa dan

Gathering the building blocks

Today was a pedal to the metal day from the get-go. I got up bright and early to lay out the house before the surveyors arrived. They came early, just as we finished. While they set up Janis and I 'toured' the house one last time, just to make sure everything was right. The surveyors surveyed the site and then pounded in the pins on each of the corners of the house to make it official.

Then it was time to hook up the trailer to the truck and head to the local plant where they make the LOGIX Platinum Series ICF block. We will assemble these large blocks, much like LEGO, laying in rebar as we go, then fill the 8" cavity with a special mix of concrete. 

Monday morning the contractor begins building the forms the footings. Once they fill those forms with concrete it will be time to begin stacking up the blocks to form the walls. I can hardly wait!

-grampa dan

Sculpting with giant tools

My friend Len is real busy these days. He decided to give me a quick lesson on the bulldozer and let me push the gravel around today. It was like sculpting with the biggest tool I've every handled. Three trucks hauled gravel in all day and we managed 510 cubic yards into the hole. It will take another 2-300 cubic yards to bring things back up to the level we need for the footings. 

I've owned and operated a small tractor with a bucket for nine years but a bulldozer is a whole different animal. It was all hand controls on Len's bulldozer and in spite of moving slow there seemed to be lots happening at once. It took a little getting used to but I managed to flatten each load of gravel as it came off the trucks. 

Every few loads I jumped from the tractor to the giant roller/packer we had rented to pound the gravel into place. The roller shook everything around including the old house and all the stuff in it. There is little chance the new house will settle like the old one did. The soils engineer dropped by during the day to check on things and gave the job his blessing. He will stop by one more time tomorrow when the task is complete.

By tomorrow I should be practically an expert on the bulldozer. :)  I think I enjoy my regular job more.

-grampa dan