Forms off - Backfilling and house floor

With the forms stripped on Monday and Tuesday, the outside has been damp proofed and backfilling has begun both inside and outside the foundation walls.  We visited the site on Thursday afternoon and saw the slinger placing sand which Cory and Dean were busy tamping in in 6" lifts.  The house crawl space floor slab was poured Wednesday afternoon, and the engineered floor pieces have arrived from Pacific Builders'.

Big Pour

4 concrete trucks delivered 44 cubic yards of concrete on Friday, April 24 to fill the foundation walls in both the shop-garage (formed with 1" x 8" material) and the house (formed with rental form ply).  The shop-garage walls vary in height from 1' 6" to a full 7' in the lowest corner.  The house walls are all 5' 6" tall.  A lot of concrete and a lot of work for our crew, Daryl, Dean, Cory and Dave.  

Foundation Wall forms underway

Although they only spent a couple of days on the site this week, Daryl, Dean and Cory made huge progress on the formwork for the foundation walls.  The shop-garage building is being formed in 1" x 8" which can be reused as sheathing on the 2" x 6" walls and works well for the changing wall height.  The house foundation walls are being done with rental plywood forms.

Footings In!

Time to introduce our builders.  Derby Brothers Construction consists of Daryl Derby and his brother Dean, and Corey Wickham, (recently graduated journeyman Carpenter - congratulations Corey!)  When I talked to Daryl last weekend he said that materials would be arriving on Monday morning, building inspection on Tuesday afternoon and concrete on Wednesday morning.  Sure enough, the footings are all in and ready for the foundation wall forms to begin this week.  Amazing how much work three guys who know what they're doing can do in a short time!

Getting Ready for Footings Tomorrow

One last day of preparation for the concrete work to begin tomorrow.  Because the excavation is 5 and a half feet deep, transferring the layout lines from the main grade to the bottom of the pit was completed with string lines and a plumb bob. 

One other bit of excitement is that our well has been hooked up so it is now pumping strongly.  (Just so you know, Karen snapped this picture when I was in the middle of cleaning up the tape measure.  I was not so excited by the presence of a working well that I peed myself, as it would appear)

A rainy week after the two-day excavation work, shows the house excavation hole filling with water quite nicely.  We've since installed a 4" diameter drain which has removed nearly all of the water.  Just can't stop thinking about that lovely new 400 amp transformer and well pressure tank.

And in the midst of all of the commotion, Gimpi seems unfazed but interested in the proceedings.