The Inspection and Edmund Fitzgerald

Sorry, no new picture.


Met my project inspector---Rob. Rob liked to talk. I wasn't sure what he'd think of the fabric formed foundation---he acted like he'd seen millions of them. Or it's possible that this is his first project, so 100% of them have been like this.
Rob was impressed that I had all my Best Management Practices (BMPs) in place, then proceeded to give a detailed history of BMP's. They were to protect the Great Lakes. He then tried to list the Great Lakes but left out Huron and Ontario. He seemed surprised and impressed that I knew them---I told him just thought of the Gordon Lightfoot song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" because he lists them all, so Rob was even more impressed that I knew who Gordon Lightfoot was.
Just one little thing he wants done before the pour. He wants me to cut all the fabric out of the bottom of the trench so the concrete will sit on the dirt. I have to have a 20' grounding rod encased in the foundation that sticks out so I can later bond it to the electrical panel, which was already done. Rob is afraid the concrete will not provide sufficient ground if it's separated from the dirt by a layer of fabric. Never mind there are TWO 8' copper rods at the power pole already and I'm grounding to the cold water line, too.
I got about a third of it cut out. He wants pictures.
So I've ordered concrete. 14.5 yards (27 cubic feet to the yard)will do it. I've hired out a concrete pump too. The most I can mix in a day myself is two yards, so there would be 'cold joints' if I did it myself and I want a one piece foundation. A truck holds 9 1/2 yards. Delivery is the expensive part so I ordered two full trucks and will use the other 4 1/2 yards for the section of driveway between the parking area and the main driveway. I have two days to cut, grade, form and reinforce. The pour starts at 7:00 am Monday. Byron's coming to help as are a few co workers.

George Michael Was Right

Lee's post prompted this blog. Thanks Lee

I wasn't born with much talent. Anyone that has heard me sing, watched me dance, and so on can attest to it. No one has ever asked me to model. When picking teams in playground sports I wasn't one of the first picked.
No...What I WAS born with, and took for granted for a long time, is a strong faith. The existence of a creator, with a distinct personality, whom I will get to know better after death, to me is unquestionable.
Before my agnostic friends start demanding proof---let me say that faith distinctly implies that which can't be proven. As such, any faith that doesn't contradict historical proof or physical law is equally valid. Arguing faith versus faith makes no rational sense.
Evangelizing to people that don't want to be evangelized at, is a waste of time. I like the Roman Catholic approach better of just leading by example (true, there are plenty of Roman Catholics that have set a pretty poor example. Those actions have nothing to do with faith and are very damaging)
Half of my hour long commute to work is dedicated to prayer (the other half listening to the news, which usually leads to more prayer) Mostly contemplative prayer, like meditation. Some for thanksgiving, some for forgiveness, and a little for intercession though I try to keep that to a minimum.
Bottom line is, faith has been such a good source of calming and reassurance. If I imagine life without faith there's something good and big missing. From the outside it may look like a crutch. People with faith will understand it puts you more in lockstep with the universe. We are designed for it.

Ready For Mud

Yesterday the goal was to get the foundation forms completely ready for concrete. I was sooo close when AnnaMarie told me it was time to get ready for church...Cleaned up, went to church, jammed back home just to get all dirty again.
I went back and forth about how I wanted to form the piers. Basically, there is a pier underneath every point a beam intersects another beam under the house. There's a 24" square hole, 30" deep, for each one--then a 12" square form suspended over the hole. The rebar all had to be bent a certain way. The perimeter foundation forms are all set, too.
Next is having the surveyor come out and make sure I'm building in the correct spot. Sure hope I am---there's no practical way to move this monstrosity. They'll draft a letter, which I have to then give to the county inspector---who will make sure all the BMP's (Best Management Practices) are in place.
Made use of the remaining twilight to clean up everything around the lot. I think neatness counts. There's enough scrap wood for a nice beach party

Pageant of the Masters

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OK here's the Yin and Yang of it.... I think I appreciate the Pageant more than everybody else. I couldn't help but think, if had made an evening of just catching up at the restaurant, we would have had at least as much fun. But we don't do that---unless you come up with some excuse to get together, it doesn't happen. If it involves dressing up, the spouses jump aboard and it happens.
I chose crappy seats. Trying to balance expense/seats is tricky. We were front row of crappy seats, which was crappier because you didn't get the tier effect and people were walking in front a lot.
We didn't get to visit with Shoemakers or Grams much at the restaurant (AWESOME restaurant---I'm biased. Very Flemish, like Vandewalle) I did something rare for me-ate way too much. Big bucket of mussels, then tons of raw salmon carpaccio, then a huge patty of completely raw ground beef (Beoff Tartarre) delicious! Always wanted to try it and would soooo eat it again.
AnnaMarie's been struggling with some pretty severe pinched nerve issues and she was very uncomfortable, to the point of tears---but trooped through. It made it hard to enjoy things since she didn't feel good. Mike drove us back to our hotel... It was hot and muggy (AM was freezing so AC was out of the question) I had my HUGE DHS webex meeting I kept dreaming I was late for, all on a very full stomach of Mussel, raw salmon, raw cow. All after visual over stimulation. Makes for some wild, wild dreams, let me tell you.
AM's Aunt took the girls to Camarillo the next day so it's just Patrick with us until Sunday when they take the train home

Getting The Forms Finished

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The method I came up with for the foundation on the first cabin project worked so well, I'm using it again. I've since seen 'Fabric formed foundations' as a 'green' building method, since it uses far less lumber. 'Green' is good, especially when it coincides with 'cheap'. What I'm doing is suspending 2x material over the trenches, halfway lining it with geotextile 'Morafi', then getting all the rebar in place. After the inside half of the forms are completed, pulling the Morafi up and over, rolling the edge in a 1x2, and screwing it to the form. The yokes that hold up the forms also hold up the rebar. An anchor bolt will sit in a hole drilled in each yoke too, to later anchor the building to the foundation.
When I built the cabin, we pumped in the concrete and the forms perpendicular to the slope started to bow out a bit. This time the yokes have sheer strength and are pinned to the ground with foot long sections of rebar. It's rock solid.
One of the required BMP's (Best Management Practices) is a concrete washout for catching all the rinse water at the end of the concrete pouring day. I saved the ring pool we'd replaced this year just for this purpose...You could say I'm building 'green' since I'm recycling the old pool. You could also say I'm building 'cheap' by not paying for a ready made basin.

Delays Building

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"Hey, Daddy! We're gonna paint our room!" Oh boy...They've never painted anything. This is gonna be an unexpected, unscheduled project..."All you gotta do is buy paint" Well, OK, since my color vision isn't good, I can use this as an excuse for a date with AnnaMarie.
So we head to Lowe's. I needed stuff anyway. The phone rings---"Umm..Lauren was out watering and found a rattlesnake" What did she do? "Kept watering".
When I find snakes I use a makeshift snake pole and play Marlin Perkins, relocating them to an unpopulated place, then say nothing about it. Since we were gone, our neighbor came over and relieved it of its head.
Next day the painting started. I have to admit---the kids took it on, spent the whole day doing the painting, and never once complained or got tired of the project. I had to help a little with the removal of trim and the high spots, but they did the vast majority and love the results.
Rob---we had the whole room apart, no sign of Haley's Ipod. It's not in my car either

Forming The Forms

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You can spend a lot of money on expensive transits to make sure everything is level....It's very important to get the foundation level, especially with a structure that's 50% taller than it is wide. The building site is 57" higher on one corner than the lowest one, and it's all sort of potato chip shaped.
Tool of choice for me is a $4 length of clear tubing with water in it.
The water will find its level no matter how far you go with it. You have to make sure there are no bubbles in the tubing, and wait a minute for the water to level, but it works well.
I'm about half done with the forms. They will hold up fabric that will line the trenches and bring the concrete to the tops of the forms. They have to be really sturdy.
Nice to be working with lumber

Rebar

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"Hey A.M.....I think I need to run to the hardware store" (hour drive away) "What do you need?" I need a rebar bender. "What does it do?" Umm...It bends rebar.
She sensed a hesitation on my part so I explained they were expensive, I only needed it for a day, no one has one I can borrow... "What does it look like? Can you make one?" Well, yeah, I guess I can. I did.
Dug the trench for the utilities. Ran the dihydrogen monoxide line and the conduit for the power, then refilled the trench. Got the base rebar done, too so productive day.
People keep asking when I'm gonna start building. In my mind I started two years ago when I bought the lot and played with plans. Then followed methodical steps since. Maybe people don't consider you starting 'til they see lumber going up. That's real soon.

Finished Digging

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Since digging the foundation on the last cabin took all Summer, my time budget for this one was the same. The goal was to finish by Summer's end.
Last one, though, was digging through bedrock. This time, though, the biggest stone encountered was around 50 pounds. A lot of that was luck---when we dug the leach field, we came across some huge boulders that are now part of a retaining wall.
Father's day---Woke up at 5:00 and made the kids waffles (my request was to have my permanent ban from the kitchen lifted for Father's Day) cleaned up and started digging by 6:00 a.m.... My Summer cold hit the night before but chose to ignore it.
The jackhammer broke after an hour. Not a big deal---the digging bar was almost as fast. The first long handled shovel wore out last week so I was down to the old one; it broke around 10:00 am. So the rest of the day was with short handled shovels. So close to being done, though, so I didn't want to quit.
Finished the last side about 5:00 pm. I still have to dig a little trench for utilities, but that's no big deal.
The cool part---digging was completed the day BEFORE Summer.
Next up, forming the foundation for the big pour

I've Got The Power

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Building really IS 90% digging....Unless you count in the bureaucracy.
Case in point---Electrical power. I followed SD County's instructions and downloaded pole requirements from SDG&E, then followed all requirements. Then called County for the inspection. "Do you have this and that?" well, no, they weren't on SDG&E's requirements, but I'll gladly do this and that...So OK get through the inspection...Now what? "Call SDG&E and get them to write a work order so I can release it"
OK done. Ask the SDG&E guy---(who wanted to run the power in the front were the view was, instead of the rear where the pole is) what else do I need to do? Nothing, we'll handle it from here.
Two weeks, nothing happens.
SDG&E---"County hasn't released it"
SD County---"Wait..What project?" (gave address) Did you mitigate the discrepancies? (no. You said there were none) Is there a work order?
So the work order....It's the key to the whole thing, I never see it, have no influence over it, it's between County and SDG&E. (Work orders done! I declared, having zero idea what, where, or if any work order exists)
SD County---OK I release this project.
Me to SDG&E on phone--"They released the project"
SDG&E----"What project?"
Get home from work, power's in. I love having power there. I plugged in my radio, and little 12v cooler. Then the jackhammer, which greatly increased the speed for digging the foundation. The picture's hard to tell but that trench is 21' long. Now I've rounded the corner and have a second side done. Turkeys are not scared of jackhammers, by the way.
Got my building hands back again, too

Can You Dig It?

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I remember telling my brother, Bob, 90% of building is digging. Now I'm starting to think that's low.
Not going to hire out the dig. It's too complicated and steep. Besides, I spent most of the budget on the materials, so hand digging will slow the project some while I save up more capital.
What looks like holes left by giant square gophers is the footings for the piers. They were supposed to be 18" cube (18 wide square, 18 deep) but with the slope I think going bigger is cheap insurance. There are 5 piers, each 24" cube.
Here's what I don't get. Each hole was 8 cubic feet of soil removed, so you'd think it would be 1 1/2 wheelbarrow loads. (the wheelbarrow is 6 cubic feet level full, and I was piling it up higher) but it was 4 loads. The dirt is getting re-distributed to flatten out spots around the lot...To add to the mystery, I know from experience that if you take dirt out of a hole then put it all back in, it doesn't completely fill the hole.
If all the soil remains cooperative, I can get 10-12 feet dug per day. Not counting the piers, it's 80' total, plus some for the utilities trenches.