We’re Getting Framed

Since the beam was installed things have started to progress quickly. The framers, Paul and Halim from HP House Framing were in the same day the beam was finished and they put up all of the first floor exterior walls. The next day the second floor subfloor was mostly installed. We have had alot of delays because of the weather, which quite frankly, has been lousy. Before we knew it though, the second floor exterior walls were up and then the difficult part started…the roof. There are a number of issues with respect to the roof that we have been debating. At first we were going with engineered roof trusses but we are glad our framer convinced us otherwise. Ultimately we have chosen a hand sawn roof. Also because the new roof will be partially supported by the old roof, there are some engineering issues which needed straightening out. Viktor, our engineer from B-Design has been instrumental in assisting us with a number of changes during this project.

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The other significant event was that we have

gotten Rankel, the excavator to come back in and do the backfilling, so the giant mound of dirt is no longer in our backyard. We are starting to look a lot less like a construction site and that makes us happier.

The Big Dig

Well for two days we have been playing in the mud. Excavation and rain, what a combination! Our excavator (Rankel Excavating) got right into it with his Bobcat skid steer, followed by a mini excavator. First thing we uncovered was the old poured concrete septic tank. Luckily it was mostly empty and dry. The big surprise was uncovering a cistern constructed out of clay brick. Apparently these were installed in the homes back 70 years ago to act as a catch basin for the laundry room in the rear basement of the house. Anyway, out it came.

On day one we filled 5 dump trucks with clean fill which got trucked to a dump north of the city. The remains of the septic tank were disposed of elsewhere. The excavation had to be 9 feet below the bottom of the existing floor joists so that eventally we will have 8 foot ceiling height in our new basement area. Rankel used a high tech laser level to dig to the proper depth.

Day two we removed three more truck full of fill and left a huge pile in the rear yard for backfill. Progress was a bit slower on day two. This was mostly because Rankel had to dig the last of the hole as he backed out our driveway. This was the only way to accomplish the task and get the mini excavator out as our driveway was going to be too narrow once the excavation was completed.