The Calm before...

Inspection Day - for all the hookups to sanitary sewer and storm sewer. PASSED...which is good. All the pipes could now be covered.

And Gary was back on site - filling the ditches and moving the earth. He is so smooth. Suddenly, the front of the house starts to have a real feel to it - driveway shot below, front lawn area leveled.

Donna had a busy day. Raking the rocks, moving the downed fence from back to front yard and watching as Gary also leveled the back yards of the 2 houses to the west of us.

and the WALL comes a TUMBLIN down...

The wall at the front of our property came down this morning - rocks trucked away. All to get ready for the sump for the storm sewer connection, the water main connection, and the sanitary sewer connection. All done by 2PM and ready for a Monday inspection.




The whole hole is now backfilled for the crawl space. A cement skim slab will be placed on top of it. The site is NOW READY for the framers who are scheduled for Monday.


Donna, Mike & Steve will have a good sleep tonight! Leveling that much dirt was a lot of work.

Fill er UP

More gravel to fill the bottom foot of the whold house arrives. As the sides of the house have been backfilled it is time to fill in the crawl spaces.

YES - it cost us to take the dirt out - and YES - it cost us to put it back. An investment? YES, if Burnaby changes the Bylaw (as Vancouver just did) then we can take the dirt our AGAIN and have our foundations in place for an extrat 1,800 square feet or so. Great for the great great grandchildren!



And the mountain in the back disappears and our back yard starts to take shape...boy it is on a hill.

ABOVE GROUND - here we come...

Drain tile (PVC pipes with holes) down, rain water drain pipes in, 2nd coat of damp-proofing applied, dimpling on and all attachments loaded with more tar, and all inspections PASSED - and the wood cleaned and ready to move off site.....IT IS TIME TO BACKFILL.

TARPS come down...(they did a great job through 90 km winds and heavy rains...


BACKHOE arrives with GARY and he begins to backfill the eastern side - he levels the front yard area and then creates area for sumps to be put in on Friday.



GETTING READY TO COME ABOVE GROUND....

Getting Ready

Manjit surveys the site from the far corner as the day starts...

Mike and Donna take nails out and clean the wood so it can be taken to recycling.

BC Hydro arrives to put up the new pole. Three trucks, some rookies as there was lots of yelling - but it was erected straight.


And Oscar and Robin just would NOT go to preschool. They are fasinated by the big trucks and just had to watch the new power pole going up. We were hemmed in by the trucks and a BIG THANKS to Ariel for the pot of coffee AND for the glass of ice water later in the day.

The Diaper and the Drain Tile

A dimple is a diaper - placed on the backside of the building where most of the water comes down the hill - the diaper is designed to keep the water away and let condensation or moisture fall freely to the ground. Some say it is not "required" but others say it is a little bit more protection against leaks and seepage.

Drain tile is also down and bedded in gravel ready for inspection. Not like the old days with Dad when I had to lay it down one piece at a time and wrap the seams with tar paper.

Damp-proofing

Forms gone - site clean - tar guk put into fastner and nail holes in concrete - walls sprayed with tar. All is ready for inspection on Thursday.

SOLD

Our home for the last 12 + years is now sold. We move on May 30th. Not sure where we are going but will will worry about that at the end of April. Somewhat sad - but we move on. It has great memories with kids and was wonderful for hosting and gave us total privacy out back. Thanks John Tobin - you were great!

Day of Rest

But we just had to stop by and see how hard the concrete was. Donna was at a guiding event on Saturday so she missed all the activity. Here she is up on the catwalk - wait till you see her in the rafters!

Foundations Poured - April 10

Saturday - sunny and warm. On site at 7:50 AM, Pumper arrives at 8:45. First concrete truck at 9:15 AM and we placed until 1:30 PM.

The team was great. All bracing and walls were complete before we began. We could have been finished earlier - but we had to wait for the last truck load.

52.5 meters of concrete. As we said earlier - Fort Knox North.

Muniz and Mike gave a hand with some of the concrete work. The team only blew out one small wall as it was not fully braced.

Everyone is taking Sunday off - and Monday we will being taking the forms off, then drain tile etc.

Survey & Engineering Ready

Engineers signed off on steel work. Surveyors took all measurements and will issue report on Thursday, Rempel Concrete on site to determine yardage for Saturday placement. Donna and I finished the plastic wrap (more rain coming) and set the outrigger pads for the pump truck.

Hard Core - we passed

Steel work was completed today. The Engineer came out - had a look - and said we passed his inspection. We pick up his "sealed" letter tomorrow. Things slow down in this stage. No framers til Thursday. Surveyors on Wednesday and City inspection now moved to Friday. Concrete placement likely all day on Saturday.

Also - that one wall on the right - the back wall - will likely take some 24 yards of concrete

FORT KNOX NORTH - send MONEY

Easter Sunday off for all - steel workers really go at it on Easter Monday. This wall will never fall down - Fort Knox it will be - and send money for safe keeping. Option: Is there still government money available for building bomb shelters?

Donna stood by the piers that will hold up the front steps. Amazing but true...foundations run deep!

Good Friday - and the work goes on...

In the rain and howling winds - crew stripped down the footing and started putting up the outside structure for the foundation walls. The completed most of it on Saturday and took Easter Sunday off.

Steel workers arrive on Monday - it will be a BUSY week
.

Let there be CONCRETE - but wait a minute or 10

Today was a "wait" day - wait for engineers, wait for inspections, wait for framers, wait for concrete and wait for pump truck.

The engineer showed up first - did his thing and gave us a letter for the inspector (1500 psi load capacity) etc. Called the inspector at 8:10 AM - they have full days - and he arrived at 1:45 PM or so. Our framers showed up, our concrete showed up - BUT the pump truck was coming from Chilliwack. (it is a long story - few beers might get it going)

So, 4PM, we have it all and away they go! Donna and I were taking our lives in our hands on Marine Drive as we had 2 concrete trucks on the road and buses and rush hour traffic. Amazing how some people behave - you learn a lot about human nature or lack there of.

BUT - they got it done. It was Thursday with Good Friday following and NO concrete for the next four days due to the Easter holidays. We made it - kept ourselves on schedule. But, a good sleep followed.