No More Talking About When We Might Start

HI!

Gotta' stop talking about when we might dig dirt on the house; we dug the first spadeful today. Steve the Builder says that the home will be done 250 days from now - November 10, 2014.

It snowed last night, but the snow was different from the rest of the snow I've seen here. It's really wet and sticky instead of being light and fluffy. The excavation crew was really happy to see it come since it means that Spring is on the way! The wet snow melts almost immediately and thaws any frozen ground below it.

It's going to take about a week to dig out for the foundation. The excavator in the background will have to dig out about 10 feet of earth at the North of the home, and will dig from there (where it is in the picture) down to where I'm standing. Most of the dirt will be stockpiled on the property somewhere, to be used later as backfill. Still, a substantial amount of dirt will have to hauled off site and dumped.

The next thing to happen is an "open hole inspection." A long time ago, we took a soil sample by drilling a hole near where the excavator is sitting. Based on the analysis of that soil sample, the soils guy recommended a certain type of foundation. The purpose of the open hole inspection is to ensure that the foundation recommendations in the soils report are valid.

After the open hole inspection and a sign-off by Douglas County, the foundation can be poured. That'll take a while; after the concrete is poured it has to cure - sits there and dries - for 29 days. While the foundation is drying, the work is on the foundation drains and the radon removal system.

So, keep that date in mind - November 10!

Phil