Long weekend

The long weekend provided us some time to get some serious work done on the homesite; Nor did our contractors get a break either. Saturday started with light showers, perfect for burning brush. It was a pain to get the fire lit, but we had our giant brushpile going by 10:30 AM. Loralee tended the fire, while I cut more trees for the drainage ditch. By 11:30, the weather broke, and we spent the rest of the day working under clear blue skies and temperatures around 70-- A perfect summer day!

We had hoped to see the plumber on Friday or Saturday-- he needs to lay both the sewage pipe and the basement radiant system so we can pour the foundation slab this week. Right now, getting that slab done on time is our biggest risk factor; Old School just wrapped up another big project in Kirby, so hopefully we should see more resources coming our way over the next week. It won't take them long to get the deck up on the house, and we'll need that done by the 9th to hit our raising date.

I headed back over on Sunday (Lor had the Green Mountain Run for BMA), and cut out the two remaining trees earmarked by the electric company. I also cut out some small stuff near our field bridge-- Brent will help us out by excavating the silt from the upper end, hopefully preserving the bridge. At some point, I need to look into why that has silted up as much as it has. I would like to find a long-term solution to that problem.

Oh, another note: Brent dug a hole in the southwest corner of the property to bury some stumps and immediately hit heavy clay soil and water. Someday, it could be a good area for a pond... Someday...

So, for this week, I hope to see the following:

• Pour the foundation slab
• Install power pole (Wednesday?)
• Run electric up from pole
• Start work on decking

Break from rain

Last night was another long one at the homesite. I ran by after my 'day job' to check on work, and decided to stick around to help Brent get the foundation insulation done.-- He was ahead of schedule, so this would enable him to keep moving forward. Lor came up, and we worked until almost 9 PM. It came out well, and Brent can finish the curtain drain today, as well as most of the back-filling. Loralee and I picked up the jobsite after sundown, with a clearing sky overhead and Jupiter just visible in the southeast.

Today I had planned to pick up the conduit and wire for our electrical run-- 320 feet from the pole. However, when I talked to Jeb this AM, he said that our electrician Hans would be doing that instead. Okay, I'm off the hook for that piece. Jeb also confirmed that Paul the plumber will be there around noon Friday.

The weather report currently looks good for the next 3-4 days. Partly sunny and in the 70's. I am keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way. Even without having to run the electrical conduit, it's going to be a busy weekend....

Foundation insulated

This morning, we woke up to the 15th straight day of rain, but luckily it's been clearing throughout the day. Yesterday, Mt. Mansfield got 3 inches of snow, and Burlington officially recorded the wettest May on record.... Ah, springtime in Vermont! On the positive site, things have really been greening up and the weather is supposed to be a little better.

Last night, Brent met me on site, and we got 3/4 of the foundation insulated. Lor came by 7:00, and helped me wrap up-- We were done by 8:00 PM. The project was manageable, one of those easy ones for the homeowner to knock off. Brent had tarred the walls earlier that day so we slapped the insulation in place and tacked it with a single screw per sheet. Brent will be back today (Wednesday) to finish the curtain drain and backfill.

Unfortunately, the plumber has not showed up! our intent was to have the floor ready to pour the slab on Thursday, but that is not going to happen. Jeb now has a commitment from him to do the work on Friday-Saturday, with the pour scheduled for next Tuesday. I'm keeping my finger crossed.

In other news, I've priced out the wire and conduit for our underground power line... Not cheap. The pole installation is scheduled for next Wedneday, 5/31. I'll keep my fingers crossed. The three big tasks we have for this weekend are:

- Pop a couple more trees for the power line
- burn our brush pile
- cut a couple small trees along the road for drainage.

This week's tasks

Things have really greened up with all the rain we've been getting. unfortunately, all this rain has caused our schedule to slip. Paul the plumber was supposed to work on the house yesterday, but never showed up. Likewise, Brent was supposed to have the tarring done on the walls, but couldn't because of the weather. We have a bit of slip, and are still on track for the raising on the 9th of June, but it all depends if we can pour the foundation pad by the end of the week. Let's pray for sun!

Tonight, I am meeting Brent on site, and will start insulating the foundation walls. I'd like to get half of it done tonight, with the goal to wrap it up by the weekend. On Saturday, I'll be burning our big brush pile. Oh, and today I priced out the underground conduit and wire-- 320 feet from pole to house... Yikes! $5/foot for wire. The conduit isn't cheap either.

Hopefully, we'll see some progress by the end of today....

Crisis Averted

What a rainy week. We've had rain for 7 days straight, so it's a good think we were'nt trying to pour the foundation pad yet. On Monday, we met with Jeb from OSB and our plumber Paul and discovered a possibly significant problem... Our plans have been to install a basement bathroom at some point. In addition, much of the basement plumbing was intended to be in or below the floor, as it is hard to hide pipes in a post-and-beam. It turns out, however, that the slope from the basement to the engineered septic leach field was not great enough: you need 1/4" drop per linear foot, and we just did not have it. This left two options:

1) Install a 'pump up' system in our basement
2) move the leach field.

The pump-up would cost at least and additional $1,000, and be a possible failure point in the future. It's also a system that requires electricity to run, thus adding operating costs. On the other hand, Vermont's strict new septic system laws are restrictive and costly to navigate. To install a conventional septic system, we required 4-5 feet of perkable soil above the ledge... The question is, would we have it in the new suggested location. Luckily, our excavator thought yes.

After a few frantic phone calls, we got our engineer back the following night and with Brent dug a few new test-holes in the pouring rain. In each new hole, we had a solid six feet of sandy soil before hitting ledge, meaning the leach field could be moved. The State Permit will need to be modified, but our engineer though that he could get by with an 'as-built' addendum, since the overall field only moved about 20 feet downhill in the same soils. I called Jeb to let him know, so the plumber could get started with his basement prep work. I now know more about septic flow than I ever wanted to.

In other news, the electric company is on track to get power to the site by the end of the month, and we now have builder's risk / homeowner's insurance in place. This weekend, Lor and I will be in Saratoga NY for my Brother's graduation, but next week will be a busy one as we insulate the basement.

Foundation in

The forms came off our new foundation on Friday. It looks great. Once again, we are on schedule, and we are very pleased with teh quality of work. The weekend has been pretty wet and rainy, so it's a good thing we've gotten as much done as we have. On friday, I called for quotes on homeowner's insurance-- It's gone up since the last time I needed it! We should have that in place by next week.

In addition, Tim cleaned up the cutting for our power, and there was very little we had left to do on Saturday. It's time to get Lyndonville Electric in there, and get them hustling on the power line. We hope to only need one pole, installed at the base of the drive, from which we will run power underground.

Monday night, Loralee and I will be meeting with Jeb from Old School and Paul the plumber. They are preparing to start laying out the basement plumbing as well as the Radiant Heat system in the slab. Radiant works very well in stone or concrete, but does not conduct as well through wood. We've made the decision to run Radiant ONLY in the basement. Since our primary heat will be the Masonry Stove on the main floor (another form of radiant heat), it does not make sense to install a redundant radiant floor system there as well-- They would complete against each other.

Also this week, Brent will tar the foundation, then Lor and I will insulate it. The 2" insulation board is already on site and ready to go. It would be great to coordinate the installation of the board with Brent backfilling at the same time, but I am not sure it will be possible.

Good Omen?

I took this image Wednesday evening at our homesite. Sunset, looking east at the near-full moon and a spectacular rainbow:

On Wednesday, Brent wrapped up getting the forms ready, and Tim wrapped up the cutting for our power line. Today was partly cloudy and very breezy, but the good news is we poured the foundation walls today. It all went very well; The one challenge we will have is that the drop from the foundation to the leach field will require a pump-up for our future basement bathroom. not a show-stopper, but this will add some cost. This evening, I met with Jeb Harris at the site. He was dropping off the blue-board insulation which we will use to wrap the foundation. Lor and I will tackle that project next week. Meanwhile, Jeb will be working with Paul our plumber to lay the radiant system in the basement floor, in preparation of the slab pour. Over the next few days, we expect to accomplish the following:

• Clean up cutting for power, and schedule Lyndonville electric for installation.
• Call regarding homeowners insurance.
• Schedule well drilling.
  

Forms going up

The black flies are out! It was a bit overcast and around 70 today, we spent an hour after work puttering around the homesite. I did some more cutting for drainage, while Loralee moved brush. The foundation footings went in without a problem yesterday, and Brent started setting up the forms for the foundation walls today. It looks to be almost done- We may be on track for a pour on Thursday, if the weather holds. Later in the week and weekend isn't looking good rain-wise, but for now we're okay. As homeowners, it's pretty exciting to see those forms go up!
From this image, which is taken from the southwest looking northeast, you can see our walkout basement to the left.

Pouring foundation footings

Our excavator/foundation guy worked through the weekend; Satuday was nice until the rain moved in by mid-afternoon. We did have a problem with the ledge in the basement's southeast corner, but solved it by moving the entire house footprint two feet to the west, and changing the drop-downs slightly. A quick, inexpensive fix to a potentially big problem.

Sunday we had clear blue skies, but temperatures never got out of the 50's. Really, ideal for working outside. Brent set up the forms for the footings, while I cut wood for drainage ditches and our underground power line. We are planning to pour the footings today, and should get the forms for the foundation walls up by Thursday. Weather permitting, we could have poured walls by the end of the week!

Cellar hole is in!

We lucked out on weather this week. Tuesday, we saw some rain, as well as Wednesday afternoon and night. However, Thursday and Friday both saw clear blue skies and temps 65-75. WOW! Our Excavator has been busy, getting the base in for the driveway, which looks very good, as well as digging out the cellar hole! So far we are on track, although I am a bit concerned about a 'hump' of ledge in the southeast corner.... This may need to be blasted, I'll check with Brent over the weekend-- That could put us behind, unless we can find a work- around.

Also, the cutting for our power-line looks good as well, and is about 2/3 complete. I would expect that one more solid day of work could take care of it, then some cleanup. I may need to chip some of the downed wood, or at least move it so the power company can pull the wire through the cleared lane. Next week, I'll need to call Verizon about getting phone service. That will take a long time, but if we don't have it by the time the house is complete, it's not the end of the world. That's what cell phones are for.

This weekend, I'll be doing some brush cleanup and skidding some logs so Brent can finish the end of our driveway. Loralee is heading to Maine to visit her friend Chris and finish working on her wedding dress.