Saturday, December 17, 2011

Backfill almost complete

From almost getting nothing done, to getting almost everything done - today was a whirlwind.  Up at the crack of dawn, I had Manuel's guy put some bracing on the South wall as Horatio wanted to bring in some heavier equipment.  The small bobcat was not working well on the still very wet ground between the foundation and the neighbour to the South.  The solution?  A quick call for some recycled gravel.

We took off 2 feet of mud then had some gravel shot up the side of the house (what a great job that guy has - stands around with a remote control shooting gravel all over the place).  One hour later, and Horatio was whistling away while working in the hole of the former walkout.  By end of day, they'd finished 90% of the backfill.  A great day!





Machines

Lots of machines here today. Still having trouble with access on south so we've ordered some stone to "pave" the way to the back.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Wet mess

The rain has created a really wet, sticky mess.  The mud is unbelievable and has really slowed down the backfill.  Horatio has had to bring his back how over to try and move the top layer of mud a bit to put some dry earth on top, otherwise the going is too tough with the small bobcat.

Sam is onsite doing a lot of cleanup and prep of the inside of the house to prepare for arrival of stone and more hay to protect the footings (probably next week).

Tony was in to partially fix the electrical conduit on the neighbours side (it will be completely fixed when the backfill is done) and hopefully Pinewood will come by to reattach the gas line for the neighbours pool heater.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Rainy day again??

Who would have planned for 36 hours of rain in mid-December (and a high of 16 degrees).  There's no climate change going on here!  So this fine weather is holding back our backfill progress another day, but we should be done by Saturday.  The pool guys have said they're going to be putting the liner and water in today - that will be very messy work, but I guess the appeal of the warm temperatures is outweighing the damp and muddy conditions.  Good luck to them! 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Backfill Continues

We've completed the front and are working on the sides.  I'm just not comfortable, given the tightness on the side and the reaction from the neighbours on the excavation caving in a bit, with using the larger bobcat as per usual.  We've decided to rent a smaller bobcat (3 foot).  It will take more labour effort, but be much safer and respectful of the neighbours space.


Backfill

Backfilling started this morning - awesome.  Although, we're looking at another rainy forecast for this afternoon and tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get the south side done, but it's 50/50 at this point.


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Inspection Passed

So the inspector was early again, and I wasn't there... luckily my carpenter was there and he passed the inspection.  These guys are very hard to nail down - I begged him to come today, even though I had booked the appointment last week, but because he just got back from vacation, it wasn't on his to-do list.  So he said he's "squeeze it in" to the end of the day (which ends at 3:30!) and meet me there at 3:15.  I get a call at 2:45 from my carpenter who was just passing by and said the inspector was looking for me (guess he didn't have my phone number, email address etc!).  Wow, frustrating!  But, another milestone passed and we're ready to backfill.

Waterproofing complete

The stone has been spread around the base of the house and the weeping tile pipe beneath the windows on the South side have been hung (see second picture), so we're just waiting for the inspector to approve.  Hopefully we'll be backfilling tomorrow morning!



Monday, December 12, 2011

Waterproofing

The guys arrived just after lunch to start and complete the waterproofing.  The gravel should arrive early morning tomorrow (to cover the weeping tile) and then we'll just need a nod from the inspector before we begin backfilling on Wednesday.  I had an advisor come look at the walls today to get his opinion on whether the walls needed bracing or not, and we agreed that since the window areas on the south side were above grade (they are the weakest areas) and the walls are so thick and reinforced, that we should be good to proceed with backfilling without the bracing.

The sanitary upgrade was supposed to take place on Wednesday, but I've pushed it back to Monday so we would have the fill out of the way (they have to trench all the way to the road).  Hopefully my concrete guys will also show up to do the drain connection to the house, as well as begin forming/pouring the garage ceiling.