I took off almost two weeks from working on the building, most from this stupid infection in my leg, which is all healed and gone now...and then from a few days with my mom for Thanksgiving. It was good to get away and have a quiet holiday and we had a ton of fun too.
We got back on Saturday and I started back to work digging out the basement since the jackers put the building down and removed the I-beams and supports. I had two areas where we still had to dig down about 15 inches to get to grade.
Enough of digging though...that story got old and stale weeks ago! The big news of the week is that that building was lowered onto the foundation, the insulation around the foundation went up, and the trenches were backfilled with sand! Instant gratification is everything right now and I am pleased to see us going forward. I am worried about the roof and want to get something going up there soon.
But for now, here are some update shots for the week.
Ok, I lied and will show you my digging shots. This is the last corner that we can hand-dig. There is a window right above here, so I want to be able to get through the ledge to have a full height space here. I hope we can do it. That is about 15 inches of dirt and rock there.
I have been faced with these huge slices of ledge. Greg and I decided to save some to use for pathways and things. See how the ledge just slices. This was the first big section to come out of the ground. We are on our way!
You might remember the foundation for the barn was here, with a four foot drop down to the old barn floor. We filled in and graded to the level of the street. It is right here that I want seasonal artisan tents and food vendors to rent space. It will be a lovely courtyard for the building.
Or a future building site, once we are rezoned downtown commercial.
Meanwhile I keep to my digging. I feel like Fred Flintstone at the quarry.
Some gorgeous colored stones. The guy who came to finish the block wall told me that I missed my calling as a quarry guy.
Mission accomplished! I dug far lower than I should have and a lot of this will have to be filled in with sand, but I got full height to the corner! What I couldn't get out, we can cut out with the saw. To answer a friend's question, yes, we did dig down below the footing, however the footing is 14 " thick and the wall on top of it is 12" thick made with over 6000 lbs of steel reinforced concrete pinned to and poured over the granite ledge. We are pouring a 5" thick floor and then tying into the footing with more concrete.
Look at all the space
Ok, I lied and will show you my digging shots. This is the last corner that we can hand-dig. There is a window right above here, so I want to be able to get through the ledge to have a full height space here. I hope we can do it. That is about 15 inches of dirt and rock there.
I have been faced with these huge slices of ledge. Greg and I decided to save some to use for pathways and things. See how the ledge just slices. This was the first big section to come out of the ground. We are on our way!
So, while I am otherwise engaged underneath the building, the boys and their toys are working around the outside. The building was set down on the foundation, insulated, and then truckloads of sand were dumped around the building for drainage purposes. The piles of dirt and the orange snow fencing are gone.
You might remember the foundation for the barn was here, with a four foot drop down to the old barn floor. We filled in and graded to the level of the street. It is right here that I want seasonal artisan tents and food vendors to rent space. It will be a lovely courtyard for the building.
Or a future building site, once we are rezoned downtown commercial.
There is a lot of space here!
These are just a few of my new granite pavers, plucked from the depths 10 feet below grade.
Some gorgeous colored stones. The guy who came to finish the block wall told me that I missed my calling as a quarry guy.
Mission accomplished! I dug far lower than I should have and a lot of this will have to be filled in with sand, but I got full height to the corner! What I couldn't get out, we can cut out with the saw. To answer a friend's question, yes, we did dig down below the footing, however the footing is 14 " thick and the wall on top of it is 12" thick made with over 6000 lbs of steel reinforced concrete pinned to and poured over the granite ledge. We are pouring a 5" thick floor and then tying into the footing with more concrete.
Look at all the space
We just got approval from the fire marshall today to change the plan somewhat. Since we are not going to put in an elevator, we are taking the elevator core and making addition space for the basement level adding an extra 225 square feet to the overall square footage. We are keeping the doors as planned, so if needed, this space, which will be rented as one large unit, could be broken down into two or three spaces if needed or wanted.
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