June 5 - The well has been drilled. The white pipe to the left of the tank is the well casing. Temporary power has been run to the well. Water is flowing out of the gate valve on the right side of the tank.
June 5 - A 1-1/2 inch pipe has been run through the brush to discharge water as we begin to dewater the lot. The water will be discharged in a grassy field beyond the trees.
June 5 - A temporary power line has been run to the approximate location of the dewatering pump. The dewatering trench is scheduled to be dug starting Thursday afternoon. (Rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday).
June 8 - We dug a trench and filled it with gravel to drain any water collecting in the soil to make sure we have a solid foundation. Although we have had rain for a couple of days and standing water, dirt dug from the trench was not saturated. The box in the foreground is for our pump.
June 8 - We built a compartment on the side to hold the pump. To keep gravel out, we covered the openings with stainless steel hardware cloth.
June 8 - About three hours later, the trench is finished and filled with gravel. Water did begin to seep in a bit, but not nearly as fast as we anticipated.
June 9 - This morning, our trench was full of water, so the dewatering plan is working! No pump was in place yet.
June 9 - By Friday afternoon, the gravel was drying. The pump has a float, so as soon as there is water in the bottom of the trench, it is pumped out to an adjoining field.
The pump discharge is in an adjacent field. The concrete blocks are holding the pipe in place. A small amount of light colored silt has been pumped out, but not much. The dark line is mud where a vehicle drove in the field.
June 12 - The water level is low. A check valve (the bulge in the pipe on the right side of the photo) has been installed and the float level lowered.
June 12 - The soil uphill from our drainage trench appears to be drying. The red arrow marks our sump pump. The discharge pipe is just to the right of the pump. The white post on the left marks the lot center. In a few days, we will dig some test holes to determine the moisture level.
June 15 - A batter board fence has been built on the left side of the property.
June 15 - A batter board fence has also been built on the right side of the property.
June 16 - The batter boards are now complete around the entire house.
June 16 - The mini-excavator has been delivered for digging the foundation.
June 17 - The build site has been cleared of the grass and topsoil.
June 17 - The site is now ready to be laid out for digging footers.
June 19 - The footers are being dug on the West side of the house.
June 19 - The job sign is now in place and looks great!
June 21 - A good many more of the footings were roughed in today.
June 21 - The footings of the garage show good, sandy soil. They will get cleaned out by hand later.
June 21 - The very back of the house footings is showing some water and loose sand. This may need extra work.
June 26 - The footings have been dug out and leveled.
June 26 - The packing has been done to the bottom of the footings and we are waiting on the compaction test.
June 26 - The rain over the weekend left a bit of water in the lowest ditches but it is draining and drying quickly.
June 26 - Once we have the compaction test we will start placing reinforcing steel.
June 28 - Footers are dug and vertical rebar is placed around the garage.
June 28 - Rebar (steel reinforcing bars) have been placed in the bottom of the footings.
June 28 - Some of the vertical rebar has been placed but many more will go in before the pour.
June 28 - The wooden pieces across the ditches are where the footers step down. There's a lot of steps due to the slope.
June 30 - The first concrete truck of the day is dumping into the concrete pump.
June 30 - Two more trucks have arrived. The areas the trucks can't reach are poured using the pump.
June 30 - The guys are working hard placing the concrete. The truck up front is pouring directly into the ditches.
June 30 - The garage footers are done and ready for concrete blocks.
June 30 - There are lots of rebars sticking up out of the concrete!
June 30 - There are a lot of step-downs in these footings. There are four in this photo alone.
June 30 - These two footings are the front porch and front of the house.