Eight truckloads of cement

Dennis' photos speak for themselves . . .at least until he has more to say about them. You'll see a cement pumper.

 

 

 

 Dennis calls this "dancing with cement."

Laying our foundation in the sand

Yesterday the forms went up and today (7-29-2014) the cement trucks are coming. Dennis says three are currently lined up and five more are on the way.

 

Not only are we building in the sand, but it looks like we are building fewer than the typical four walled structure. The other sides are where the basement is open to the outside (a walk out) so it is more useable to other people and groups. There will be walls.

 

Foot by foot

 

These are footers for the house. Not much else to say other than another step, hooray!

 

 

Yes, the house matters greatly, but we are there because of the land. Butterfly weed a week ago:

 



Digging the basement

 You did hope for daily updates, didn't you? After months of nothing happening, the fast changes during excavation are a sigh of relief and broad grin exciting. The sad part is seeing the changes to the pristine land. However, Dennis did explain to me that we are piling the sand from the basement in a pit where sand was removed who-knows-how-many decades ago, so we are actually restoring the land.

  Here is an view of the almost complete excavation. The walk out part of the basement will be done later. If you have ideas about how to accomplish that so people downstairs don't feel like they are sitting in a dishpan, we'd love your ideas. Because we are building on sand, some of the process is different and the hole is larger to ward off slides. You'll note that we have brilliant excavators--they left themselves a way out (Unlike the steam shovel hero of our youth).

 
 

Get out your magnifying glass to see the amazing technology here. See the tripod in front of the truck, above? It is sending out a beam at exactly the correct height for the basement when received by the sensor on the bulldozer. Below you can see better the receiver. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To pack down the garage floor, they filled the dump truck and drove back and forth a bunch of times. (Sorry, I can't be more exact than the information I've been given.)

This is the west wall of the basement as outlined by the orange sticks. Pouring begins on Monday. (Yes, we've heard the admonition about building a house on the sand many times. But way down there is plenty of rock. WAAAAAAAAY down.)

Here is the pile of top soil, such as it is, that is being saved for backfill. Going to need enrichment if we are to grow much, although we do hope to mostly plant natives. I have a few favorites I perhaps will work in on the sly.

 



 Turns out the wheels aren't actually taller than Dennis is. What a relief!

 

Friday we leave for a long weekend in the mountains of PA with Dennis' cousins. This information matters to you because that assures you won't get more photos until Tuesday. Sorry that I can't get the photo outlines to size, leaving lots of white space. Go dig in the dirt this weekend . . .It is great fun!

Destruction

 

House construction starts- with destruction. Today the excavators cleared the land and starting digging the basement. Sandy soil and big equipment. Or as one of the excavators said, "It's just us boys playing in the sandbox." (Dennis' words and photos)

 

Tree, roots and all, in one swipe

Wish you could get a better sense of scale . . .the truck tires are taller than Dennis.

First the trees go on the pile, then the sand will cover it. Although we are moving ground, we're trying to tie the upheaval back into the landscape. This pile will be pushed up against a natural mound.

Two loads of sand were sent to a neighbor also building a house.

Dennis on his new toy for clearing paths during the summer and the driveway during the winter.

These are huge beasts. (I am not eloquent tonight.)

Our land is either wet lands or sand.

(Unimaginative captions: Susan)