The last of the trenches, we hope!

Ok, so y'all are probably getting a little bored with trenches... but that's what we (there's that "we" again!) have been doing. Lots and lots of 'em. After digging the drainage trenches, setting the drains, and re-filling them, Sam has spent the last couple of days digging new trenches- these for the footings of the foundation.

First, they chalked out the edges of the new 'house', which was kind of cool because we got a sense of how big Sam's garage will be! (It's gonna be big!)





Then they started digging. He's been dealing with a new machine (same basic tractor, but without the jackhammer thingie), which has slightly more sensitive controls, which took some getting used to. In the course of the 'getting used to it' phase, Sam did a little bit of damage, but just to the fence. It made him angry, but heck, it's just a couple of cedar planks, and we're lucky it wasn't the house!






These trenches are tricky. One of them, in particular, has to run the entire length of the remaining half-house. This is a complicated endeavor because the tractor needs to be snug up against the house in order for the backhoe to dig a straight line. Needless to say, there is a wee bit of pressure to not crash the backhoe into the side of the house. Then, the situation is made even more complicated by the fact of the sandstone: once the backhoe is digging, the sandstone is so strong that the backhoe can't get through it, but stays put, while the tractor (all 17,000 pounds of it!) is dragged from its position snug up against the house.







To give you an idea of the size of the tractor feet which are being dragged around, here is one, in comparison to my size 10!



The sandstone is... not fun, shall we say, to work with. Here you can see some of the dust kicked up as Sam bangs into it with the backhoe (neatly avoiding the house, which impressed the heck out of me!)...



In comparison, the trenches for the other side of the new garage were easy... except that they were very close to the drainage trenches. Sam got a tad frustrated when he accidentally dug up and broke one of the freshly laid drainage pipes...




Here you can see most of the foundation trenches (and the broken pipe, which got fixed!)



So that all made for a frustrating day.

The next day, it rained a bit. This necessitated protecting the open side of our half-house with sheeting.



Sam also got rid of a bunch of the dirt that Michelle didn't need





Sioux doesn't really like the tractor very much. It has the biggest tires she's ever seen! But she is taking the reconfiguration of 'her' yard in stride...



This is Sam, standing outside the kitchen door that used to lead into the garage, but now leads into a chasm... Sioux can still jump inside the house through her dog door!



And at the end of another frustrating day (in which the foundation trenches were almost finished!) we were rewarded with a stunning sunset... we're looking forward to viewing these from our bedroom balcony someday!



And on the 15th day, he rested. We're off to Cabo for 6 days of much deserved R&R, so there will be a 'blog-break'. When we return, I'll post some pictures of our trip- and then... pouring the FOUNDATION!!

More trenches, and then fewer trenches.

We have a yard again, instead of a maze-like collection of trenches. We still don't have gas or hot water, however. Which actually hasn't been all that bad, largely because our lovely across-the-street neighbors, Ody & Michelle, have kindly let us use their shower. And it's been an excuse to go out to dinner a lot! Last night, for example, we went to the Cheesecake Factory, and shared a couple of appetizers and a salad. Their avocado-roll appetizer is one of the best things EVER- that tamarind sauce is amazing.

Oh, right, you want to hear about the progress on the house!
Sam says that digging these trenches for the drainage has been frustrating, but satisfying. Frustrating because our yard appears to be solid rock (sandstone, actually), but satisfying because, one way or another, the machine wins! Here you can see the rock:



Sam has devised an elaborate double-level drainage system, which will ensure that we never have flooding problems again. There is one (lower) drainage pipe for ground water, and another (higher) drainage pipe for surface water. We also have drained the area where we're going to put an orange tree- you can see that here:



All of this water will run to pipes that will run the length of the house, and then out to the curb. Sam spent most of yesterday finishing digging that trench.





And Sioux helped!



Occasionally, he just had to sledgehammer the rock...



But mostly he did it with the machine.



Everything descends 1/8th of an inch per foot- Sam has some nifty tools to measure that stuff. And after placing all the pipes, wrapping them in special paper, surrounded by gravel, they started filling in the trenches again!

Before...



And after. You can see where the white pipes stick up- that's where the edge of the new patio will be, where the french drains will go.



So now, our yard (mostly) looks like a yard again!



Next steps (happening as I write): filling in that final trench and then digging holes for the foundation footings. And then we pour the foundation! Stay tuned...

A couple of trenches... on the rocks, please

It seems that Monday was a rather frustrating day. A day of a lot of measuring, and not nearly enough time on the big toys. Sam, Nathan, and Dale worked on figuring out, and marking out, exactly where the new house parts should go. This involved a lot of measuring...



... a lot of holding of tape measures and triangulating distances...



... a lot of checking and double checking...









...and not nearly enough playing on Big Toys! There was a little bit of that, though. Big Toys are fun for other things besides breaking up and moving heavy concrete. Digging big holes, for instance. Sam started a very deep hole at the back of the backyard where we plan on planting an orange tree. We found out why our tomatoes hadn't done so well, in previous years: after just 1/2 a foot of topsoil, that part of our yard (indeed, most of our yard) is pure, hard, unbreakable sand-stone. That made for some slow-going, when Sam was digging this:



Nathan continued making that hole deeper- enjoying the power of the Big Toy:



Sam is also digging a deep trench along the length of what will be the new patio to ensure that our 'new' house doesn't have the flooding problem that our current house does. Here is Sioux checking out trench, Part I:



As a result of all this digging, Michelle has a LOT of dirt:



Over the past couple of days, there has been more measuring (not terribly exciting to photograph, that), and more digging. The drainage trench has gotten longer, and deeper. Here is trench, Part II:





So those are the trenches, so far. I promised you trenches on the rocks, though. Here they are.



Enjoy!

BIG TOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the real fun begins! The garage door was given to some guy from Craigs List, the rest of the garage came down, and the toys were delivered! I think this machine weighs in the neighborhood of 17,000 pounds, but Sam knows for sure. It is BIG.

Sam took to this back-hoe thing like a fish to water. In two days the garage foundation, the workshop floor, the driveway, the back patio- gone. All gone. There is a huge (hydraulic?) jack-hammer-like attachment, 5 inches in diameter, that goes (boom!boom!boom!boom!boom!) right through the concrete as if it were a sharp knife on a tomato. Then, like a horse nuzzling an apple on the ground, it just tosses aside these chunks of concrete that I couldn't make budge with my bare hands... and Sam could make budge only with some grunting effort!











You can see our 'half-house' here. DH came by to admire Sam's technique...





... but must've disctracted Sam a wee bit: after avoiding hitting the house at ALL, Sam hit a water line. You can just see the insta-fountain here. Unlike the machine itself, the insta-fountain made a beautiful, soothing sound...


...and a big puddle in the trench that had been dug for the gas meter! (that's the shadow of your intrepid reporter on the left there.)


Michelle came over to play with the toys, too. She loves power tools, so this was a dream come true!






The cats just sat on the trailer across the street, cool as can be, watching the proceedings and waiting for dinner-time...


The concrete got piled into four 10-ton low-boy containers and hauled away, and then we (notice how I keep using that "we", even though Sam did all the work, and I just photo-documented the thing?)... we started digging up dirt. Nathan directed. More dirt for Michelle's back yard!


So, as I left for work this morning, this is what our half-house looked like, from the back yard. (It's hard to get a good photo from the front because of the construction fence).




Today the plan was to dig deep trenches. More to follow soon! (Things are happening amazingly quickly, so I'm going to have to step up the pace in the blogging department!)