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.