2006 House Addition - July
Excavation, July 20th
Progress was quick at this stage. After signing the contract on the 10th, ground was
broken on Thursday, July 20th. First the topsoil was cleared then excavation proceeded
in earnest! All the excavation took place in one day!
This monster was used for the excavation!
Bill watches the action on the left; topsoil and debris removal on right.
They moved some topsoil to half of my garden which I will convert back to lawn.
After the topsoil and debris are removed, Sean spray paints centerlines for the trenching.
Two of my favorite photos gives a good perspective on how big this monster really was!
Notice how square the edges of the hole are where the crawl space will be under the
new living area. How does a round shovel make square holes???
The trench for the garage footers extends off the crawl space excavation.
Sean made extensive use of laser leveling. The stick and leveler can be seen in photos above.
A light rain started about midway through the excavation work.
Sean and Alex had to sump pump water out of the hole!
Nearing the end of the day, excavation almost complete!
The truck returns (after making 9 other excavator deliveries) to pick up the machine!
Footer forms, gravel, footer pour, July 21st
The next day, Friday the 21st, Sean built footer forms for the crawl space. The gravel truck showed
up with 22 tons of gravel and filled up around the forms. Later, two cement trucks delivered ~16 yards
of concrete for the footers...
Sean and Alex checking the footer forms on the left, while Ed checks them on the right.
Now here's the way to get gravel exactly where you want it. This truck had a conveyor that flung
a stream of gravel up to 40 feet away, accurately!
Gerry and I watch the gravel going in while Sean directs the flow!
Gravel getting spread around the footer forms...
It took two truckloads to get all the concrete in for the footers! 9 yds + 7 yds!
Rebar is put into the footers to give them strength in tension. Concrete by itself is
great in compression, but weak in tension.
Rain! Block, sand, mortar deliveries.
Masonry by Freeman and Mike goes from Monday to Wednesday, July 24th-26th
It rained like crazy over the weekend. Here is a photo of the excavation by Sunday. Monday
morning was dedicated to pumping out water and cleaning up the cave-ins!
Monday, the truck showed up with block, mortar and sand.
Sand and block being off-loaded from truck...
More block being off-loaded
Laying in PVC drain pipe, holes down and laying up first corner of block. Always start on
a corner! Check elevation often. Freeman and his son Mike are excellent block and mortar guys!
Block going up quickly; drain pipe with T-joint for later connection
Crowd gathers...
Freeman is a nice guy who likes good coffee and the radio. He does excellent work
Progress as of 1:00 PM Wednesday 7/26/06
------------------ The Flood ! ------------------
On 7/27-28/2006 we had a record rainfall! I guess we should have expected it; we had a new
hole and our neighbors across the street had their old roof torn off prior to replacement!
Fortunately, concrete will harden underwater! Sean sump pumped the foundation several times.
After reducing the water level, Alex was able to give the three walls of the crawl space block wall
a coating of foundation cement.
------------------ The Heat Wave ! ------------------
Sean ordered in 22 tons of pea gravel for later use as backfill. The photo on the right shows
the two drain crocks in the garage. The backfill was not put in at this point.
------------------ The Heat Wave ! ------------------
On 7/29 through 8/1 we had a major heat wave with temperatures in the mid-nineties. Combined
with the humidity from the recent rain, the apparent temperatures were around 104!
At the same time, Alex and Sean had to do some major manual labor in trying to cut a channel
through the garage for the drain pipe. The problem were HUGE tree roots from a 54" diameter
ash tree that used to grow where the garage is. I had the tree removed about three years ago.
Note in the photo on the left that Sean stacks block up around the circumference of the wall
so the concrete floor does not crack from overhung load...
This is the end of the July photos...