Monday, March 20, 2006

Excavation!

I drove out to PA today with some things to put into storage and with the intent of picking up the mail and visiting the property to see what’s been happening.

The drive went well but I found snow squalls when I went to do my chores. And they got heavier as I went from the storage unit (down in the valley) to the post office and up the hill to the property. The dirt road up was pretty well chewed up but there were dump trucks of gravel going on up the hill past the driveway apparently to work on the road at the top of the hill. With any luck, they will be working more on the soft spots down at the bottom of the hill, too.

Don, Adam and Ron were hard at work trying to break up a chunk of rock in the southwest corner of the basement when I got there. During the week, Don thought they would move the footprint of the house northward to avoid that rock ledge but Ron pointed out this would make the driveway coming out of the garage a little steeper and suggested they just spend the time with the jackhammer to make room for the footing. (Since the slope at the bottom of the driveway currently goes from 2100 feet to, oh, about 2050 feet rather quickly, I’m in favor of making the short stretch form the garage to the driveway a little gentler. A retaining rail will definitely be in order.)

Here are just two pictures from the site.
IMG_0007
Don (on the jackhammer), Ron with the survey pole) and Adam (supervising) are at the south end of the basement. The ceiling in the basement will be 9 feet. Adam is six feet. Gravel, foam insulation and then 5 inches of concrete will form the floor. The walls will be at least 18 inches above grade. At this point, (except for one stubborn rock) they are within an inch or two of finishing the dig.

IMG_0010
Don's truck is parked where the walk-in basement doors will be. The rear wheels are where the basement door will be and the cab is under the deck.

The forms for the poured concrete foundation will be coming soon and then the concrete itself will be poured either the end of the week or early next. That step depends a little upon the weather. Continued cold or rains could postpone that step.

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