First Wood Arrives and puzzle pieces fall into place

What a rush! First load of wood arrived at 6:45 AM and the framers were waiting - we were late arriving at 6:49 AM.

Our framers, Gerry, Kenny and Pascal are GREAT. And to work they went…next thing we know they are asking for an inspection for Thursday as they want to pour the footings on Thursday at 4PM or so.

What a rush for Donna and I and Manjit today – buy more steel rebar, go to BBY city to find out what is really required, order in the engineers to certify the steel work, call in the surveyors as nobody can really tell us if a survey is required at this stage, add in more safety fencing, order the concrete (oops, they put us on a wait list) , find another concrete firm, get their lead fellow out to see the site, worry and then resolve the issue of the pump truck (has to reach 39 meters and needs large span for out-rigging), buy coffee for the team, go get more rebar, buy lunch, reconfirm engineers (they put us off till 8AM tomorrow instead of doing it today as promised), get assurance that they will bring the letter with them so we can give it to the city inspector….that covers some of it…

Anyway – home, some aches, sit down, oops (closed eyes), lost 30 minutes with eyes closed…

And tomorrow starts at 7 AM again…But it is great to see it happening now…

By pushing today and tomorrow we should be able to start the foundation wall erection on Good Friday – tonnes of rebar over the weekend and ready for survey (again) and inspection of forms with concrete arriving for Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Hmmm…more aches coming and more shut eye we are sure.

And Mike S – hog weed grows fast. In 4 days it is up 3 feet. City says wear heavy gloves, long sleeves and have fun getting rid of it…

Hole Ready, Plastic UP and Pegs Placed

The hole is done - and looking good. Manjit, Mike and Donna put up the safety fencing and the plasitc. Did a GREAT job (we should go into the business). Through winds of up to 80 km per hour and days of rainfall (one 30mm) - our hole survived.

Last shot of surveyors putting in true corner pegs so we know where the house "ought" to be built.

And they KEPT ON DIGGING....

We started to pray that they would hit OIL or find a seam of GOLD...our hole was getting so big. Thank you Tex E for reminding us that big holes take lots of money.



And then we had some visitors - first was BC Hydro to give us a new power pole AND then came our favourite little girl and her daddy...

The days the earth moved

We wanted to dig a small hole for the foundations. 120 truck loads later we were tired of shoveling the ****. The trucks kept coming & going - even in the rain.





We wanted to dig a small hole for the foundations. 120 truck loads later we were tired of shoveling the ****. The trucks kept coming & going - even in the rain.

Trees had to go

House gone - work started on the lot. Trees had to go due to danger of spliting. The big Douglas Fir in the bake aw 39 years old and about 120 feet high. The cedar at the front of the lot was sitting right on top of the sewer line - it had to go also. We will be replacing the Douglas with 2 large evergreens of good health.

Day 3: Dirt!

Day's end on Monday, March 22nd.

Tomorrow the 2 big trees come down, more site cleanup, dirt starts being trucked out (Donna & Mike get to count trucks), surveyors mark excavation area & depth benchmarks - and they start digging the hole!

Oh, and we'll get our very own port-a-pottie!

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Day 1: Demolition

We start.

The asbestos came out and was taken away separately. (Amazing that the quotes ranged from $2,300 to $6,500). The drywall all had to be removed also and taken away separately. Then the BIG Volvo arrived - it did not take long and it was GONE!