Monday, June 4, 2012

House Journal Part 6

There has been a break in the action at the house site, and my blog has suffered, but activity has resumed as of the last few days. Behind the scenes a flurry of activity has been taking place, however, with the finalizing of plans for the house. Between the architect and Frits there has been much conversation to determine exactly how the foundation must be built and figuring out the weight loads. Finally the plans are ready to go out for bids and that is where they are now.

From my earlier blogs you will have seen the massive pile of rocks lying in what is to be the cellar hole. I was losing sleep worrying about how it could be possible to move and place all these rocks and still have room to pour a foundation.

Well, three days with the excavator of all excavators and my husband's strong back and good eye we now have a retaining wall that is going nowhere in the next century or two.

To get some perspective on the size, the arm of the excavator from the angle to the bottom of the bucket is about 17 feet. This photo shows it about half way done with still two more layers to go.

Loads of fill has been brought in and now we can see roughly the footprint of the house. One moment I think we must be crazy for taking on this project and the next I am almost overcome with excitement. For the next 12 months or so, decisions will need to be made day by day and minute by minute. Each one will be double and triple guessed and not until we are all done will we know how we did.

The most recent decision we had to make concerned a very large rock that we felt needed a place of honor. The thing is more that 10 feet tall and about the same distance across and about 3 feet thick at the base. By Frits' calculation it weighs about 13 tons. It was moved once when the original blasting took place and now we had to see if it could move it again. The chances of moving it three times were slim so we had better decide on its ultimate resting place once and for all. With very little else to go on we picked the place close to where the corner of the house meets the driveway. It could be the corner stone to the front steps, I thought.

By the time I returned home from work that evening the rock was standing magnificently at attention exactly where we planned. The excavator driver had had his doubts that he could roll it with the bucket and actually stand it up but there it was, the 'Rock of Gibralter', so enormous yet quite beautiful, and I hope, in the right place!

There will be many opportunities to make mistakes, and I have seen plenty in my real estate career, but we are not ones to shy away from taking a few chances. So onward we go.