WE HAVE ACTION

Today we officially started something.  The water and sewer were brought from the curb to their location and backfilled.  Part of the site is dug, and most of it has the black dirt removed.  The hole should be finished on Monday.  I guess we will not be working this weekend...oh well, its supposed to be mid 40s and low 50s....

 

Water and sewer brought in from the curb.  The sewer took a while to find, the pipe was really deep.  It was about 14' down.  This poor white pipe as a long and dirty life ahead of it...

This view is looking south east. 

This view and the one below are from "basement level".  There is about 5' of fall from one side to the other which means less dirt to take out (and truck out of here) but also means better day lit windows for basement bedrooms.

 

This is the Form-A-Drain forms and a pile of rebar that was delivered.  The forms (made by Certainteed) serve several purposes.  First, they are used to form the footings.  Next they have 2 chambers inside them as you can see.  The lower chamber collects ground water on both the exterior of the wall and inside the basement, takes it to the sump pump and gets it out of here. The upper chamber will be connected to a vent pipe to passively vent radon out as well.  The cost of these forms when compared to 2x6 lumber and 4" drain tile is minimal.  Roughly $150 more.  The forms are perfectly straight, easy to connect and install, and do not need stripped.  The $150 is made up in no time, not to mention the superior design over traditional drainage systems.

 

The pile of rebar is about half of what we need for the house. There are 100 20' bars sitting there. About 30 of them are for the footers, the rest are for the basement ICF forms. More will be delivered for the main level ICF forms.

view looking south west.  Our house will stand out quite a bit in this area with the design, but I think we will be accepted eventually....

view looking north west