Solve one problem; create two more

One thing that I've discovered, is that if I could do this all over, I'd "drain the site" before any construction began. As it is, we had a wetter than average summer (so far) and so the rain has swamped the job site and the rain isn't stopping. There's more to come.
I made one step toward solving this problem today, but I created two new problems in the process, and I'm particularly upset about it.
I rented a backhoe and dug trenches to allow water to flow away from the house at 3 points that were problems. We still have a problem, which I hope to solve by shovel tomorrow, near Rachel's west garden. It's swampy there right now, as we've drained water from the job site to that location. The backhoe got stuck, and it took 3 of us to unstick it. I was finally able to drive out with a wide turn, and with fear of stopping and getting stuck again, I kept on going. Unfortunately, the hoe was positioned to one side of the tractor, and so I side-swiped the garden shed, tearing out a corner of the building. That costed me time and money (probably near $500).
I dug another trench at the northeastern corner of the site, hoping to drain water past Rachel's east garden (the orchard) to the woods. I was careful to avoid the water line (and phone and electric lines to the garden) by digging carefully with a shovel to locate them. I still managed to snag the water line and so that'll have to be repaired. The phone and electrical lines are fine, but it's just frustrating to have this new problem, and I'll have to dig the rest of the trench by hand. So I have all this work ahead of me, and it feels like I just don't have the time or the money to solve these new problems.
I dug a trench (within view by the IP-cam) at the southeast corner of the site (at the end of the retaining wall there) to drain the site to the pasture. We got great flow from the site at that location, but the trench is across our driveway to the building we're currently living in. This means that I have to finish this job this weekend, so that Rachel can get out and go to work on Monday (although she hates her job and wishes she could retire from it)(I hate my job too, by the way, but it pays too well to quit. We need the money for the house).
So tomorrow, I've got to put the drain pipe in the ground (with the sock around it, of course). I'll need to put what little gravel I can scrounge up (I'd have gravel delivered, but we've had so much rain that the dump truck would get bogged down in the mud if they tried to bring it on our property).
As a side note, I should mention that we've had this property for over 10 years and have never had these kinds of problems with wet ground. However, we've never had this much rain combined with this much traffic on the property. And the driveway is new since the old established driveway path went through the area where we're building the house. Even so, the driveway out near the road is also bogged down, and that's a part of the old established driveway that never had this problem in the last ten years.
Anyway, tomorrow, I'll be finishing that french drain so that I can cover it up so that Rachel will be able to drive over it Monday morning. I bought six bags (I'll likely need more, but if so, I'll buy more tomorrow) of concrete, and I plan to cover the top surface above the pipe, so that driving over it wont crush the pipe. I'll have 3 inches of dirt atop the drain pipe, but that's not enough to distribute the weight, but the concrete should span the trench and distribute weight to both sides of the trench, protecting the drain pipe. That's the goal, anyway.
My advise to anyone doing this, is establish your drainage of the site before building (regardless of your average climate and conditions, as they can change, as we've noticed). In addition, if you ever rent a backhoe, make sure to always reposition the hoe to point straight back before driving around with it. Having it to the side really hurt us. I'm sick over it. I've worked so hard to build this house for my wife, and then I've created these new problems to solve, and it makes it tougher for her. That was her garden shed, and she stores her tools in it. And now we have to pay someone to fix it. We'll be paying with money that should've been going toward the house.
By the way, I should add that after all this turmoil, I got ready to return the tractor (so that I wouldn't have to pay an additional $200, since the rental place isn't open on Sunday and so if I kept it past 5pm, I'd be keeping it another day and couldn't return it until Monday morning). Anyway, I had to stop and park the trailer at the town hall (not far from our property) because I noticed that one of the tires on the trailer had gone flat. So I had to park the truck and trailer and walk back home (probably half a mile home).The rental guys said they'd come and get the trailer, and so on my way back to the truck, it started to rain. By the time I made it to the truck, I was fully soaked. It was reasonably pleasant to walk in the rain though, but I would've preferred to have stayed dry. This experience just topped off a fairly miserable series of events related to that backhoe today. I helped the guy change the tire (while it was raining, although he had a raincoat). I was happy to see him drive away with the trailer behind his truck, and I returned home.
I don't believe I'll ever feel good about today's work. It was a miserable day. It was a job that needed to be done, and in fact, was well overdue. However, the experience is one that I will not relish. I can't remember a time when I had a worse day.

A mountain to cross before the slab is poured

We're looking at a mountain to cross over before we even get the slab poured. The Terra-Dome guys are gone, and there's so much to do.
This is a short list (for the immediate future) of things to get done on the house. Bear in mind that some things can be done in parallel (if we have enough people to do them). So far, it's just the wife and I, and so this is going to take time.

• Clean up the job site. There is an enormous amount of debris, trash, nails, form pegs and wedges, rebar tie-wire, tools, etc. strewn all over the job site and surrounding area. I can't even mow until some of the grass is inspected for pieces of rebar, tools, etc.
• Utilities to the house
  This involves:
1. trench for the water line (avoiding the well, the slab by the shed (where the pressure tank and other well water pluming is), as well as the water and power lines to the garden shed.
2. trench for electrical line (avoiding the phone line to the quonsit, and an irrigation line to the pasture).
3. trench for a propane line
4. finish the trench to the waste water treatment system (the storage container sits in the path of this today, and I'll have to pay extra to get the Mini-Mobile company to drive out and move the container).
5. At some point in time, I need to repair the water line to the garden shed. I damaged it when putting in the french drain at the northeast of the house. I worked so hard to avoid that line, and still managed to damage it.
6. Phone line to the house (even if we don't immediately hook up phone service, we still need to provide for a way of getting the line into the house when that time comes. Otherwise, the guy that the phone company sends out to do the installation, will want to run his phone cable on the outside of our house, stapled in some fashion to the exterior surface, and then he'll drill into a wall to get the wire into the house, and then he'll want to staple it along an interior wall to get it to a phone. I'd prefer to provide a conduit that he can get it into the house from, and then I will have conduit to each of the phones in the house. That way, no staples and no hassles later.
7. I want to provide a fresh air intake for our wood stoves. It'll just be a small pvc pipe that will bring in outside air so that when the stoves burn oxygen, they'll have their own air supply. A tight house must provide oxygen to anything with a flame or else we'll have to open a window in the middle of winter (which defeats the purpose of the stove). We'll provide an air supply for our kitchen stove too.


• gravel distributed below slab level in preparation for sub-slab utilities
  sub-slab utility installation




• I'll likely bring in a plumber first, because that work needs a specific slope (for flow) and it's easier to make electrical conduit go around a waste water pipe, than it is to get a waste water pipe to go around something else. (the bad part in having the plumbing roughed in first, is that the workers that follow usually need babysitting, because they don't care about anything but their own work, and will totally trash anything done before them, giving no mind to the fact that they're ruining other work. For the cost, I'll need to babysit to protect work as it gets done). I'm hoping that while the plumber is doing his work, that I can be working on some of the waterproofing tasks (so we can have two things going on at the same time).


• 
  We'll get an electrician to install the main breaker box and bring in electricity from the pole, but once that's done, Rachel & I will run all the electrical circuits throughout the house, as we have done in the current house. Of course, all of the sub-slab electrical stuff will need to be done first.


• The central vacuum lines and electrical circuit will be installed sub-slab.


• The propane lines will be brought in (maybe by the plumber) and roughed-in.


• I'll be installing security wire lines to all of the windows and doors, so this will need to be set up below slab as well.


• We'll be setting up all phone, computer networking, stereo and television lines sub-slab. The network lines will include lines for surveillance cameras (probably ip-cams). (We might not install all of these things up front, but if the conduit is in place, then it's easier to add later)


• 
  The television cable is a little tougher for me to know what to plan for, so I'll just have to size well for future cable. With the transition to high definition, I'm not sure what cable to run for video (I'm most familiar with coax, which is definitely old technology).


• Waterproofing the exterior:


• 
  All of the areas that will be buried must be waterproofed first.


• Waterproofing involves more than just slapping petroleum products on surfaces. Whenever possible, the ideal thing is to create paths for moisture to flow, so that it will flow away from the house. The best waterproofing system is one that doesn't get wet (or that doesn't stay wet very long). Water is an unstoppable force, so if you don't create the paths for the water to flow, then it will find its own path and that's rarely a good thing.


• Jerry recommends using some hydraulic cement at the bottom of the inner surface of the parapets, where they meet with the tops of the overhangs. He indicates that rounding this corner out will cause water to flow away from the base of the parapets, rather than possibly collecting in tiny cracks there. This recommendation seems like a good idea to me, so I plan on doing this. It's a bit of additional engineering (as with most waterproofing).


• Before any of the waterproofing material, we need to wash the loose grit off the roof. We've already been up there sweeping some initial stuff off, but there's much more to do. After sweeping, I'm hoping to hose it down (with some pressure) and then once dry again, I want to take the shop-vac up there and see if I can pull up the dust with that. Waterproofing material sticks best to a surface that is clean; not covered with grit, dust, etc.


• The current plan is to use the Ecoline-T (it's a thicker substance) on all of the steel "straps) that go through the concrete walls (these straps are used inside the forms, to tie the exterior to the interior so that the forms don't buckle from the pressure of freshly poured concrete).


• The Ecoline-T will be used in the "valleys" between dome modules
  Any bubble holes in the exterior concrete will be filled with Ecoline-T.


• Ecoline-R will be spread over the roof and the exterior walls (the ones that will be buried), including the back sides of the retaining walls. It'll be rolled on with a paint roller (with a good nappy roller). We'll likely do a couple of coats of this messy stuff.
  I should point out that there's an Ecoline-S material that can be sprayed on. The thing is, it would take special equipment, which I don't have and don't want to buy. For someone that is willing to do that, the Ecoline-S might be a better choice than the Ecoline-R, but I'd check to make sure the thickness is the same (or better).


• Paraseal (it's a membrane) will be rolled out and cover the valleys between domes, as well as the overhangs and up the sides of the parapets (all this area will eventually be buried).


• The next step will likely be to protect the waterproofing with 2 one-inch layers (with overlapping seams) of extruded polystyrene (rigid foam insulation), although Royce Hamer in Canada (Drayton, Ontario) suggests to me that I should be using a sprayed foam insulation (which will have no seams) instead. I'm going to get more information on this, but I'm going to have to figure out it rather quickly to get this work done before winter. The insulation not only insulates, but it also provides protection of the waterproofing layer from pebbles and other somewhat sharp objects.


• French drain flexible pipe (like http://www.flex-drain.com/) will be run in the valleys and along the overhangs to provide space for water to leave the roof. I plan to make sure that there is a bit of grade beneath the pipe to insure that there'll be a way for the water to flow away. A "sock" (filter fabric) will cover the drain pipe to assure that dirt will be kept out of the pipe but water will be allowed in.


• I've toyed with the idea of a sump pump at the southwest corner overhang, just to help any water that collects there to be pushed to an area of the overhangs that it can flow off the roof. I'll likely put in some casing so that it'll be there in the event that I want to inspect from the surface to see if water is collecting there later, and I will always be able to install a sump pump there if the casing is already in place.


• We'll put in a couple of feet of dirt (probably cheap fill dirt above the insulation and french drain pipe. I'll use the dirt to create flow paths for water to flow away from areas most vulnerable (valleys between the domes, and the overhangs).


• Once the two feet of dirt is in, we'll employ a PAHS (passive annual heat storage) ( http://www.primedesign.us/self_heating_houses/pahs_article_1.html ) "umbrella" system , which will add a membrane (possibly a pond liner or four) to make water flow off the roof, as well as another inch of insulation to allow for heat storage (or cool storage) in the two feet of dirt. We'll protect the umbrella layer with synthetic fiber carpet. We'll get this for free as it's going to be buried, so there's no need for brand new carpet. We'll get throw-away carpet that would end up in a land fill. It'll just be on our roof protecting the umbrella layer from rodents.


• Above the umbrella will be one foot of top soil, which will then be planted with grass. (Rachel wants an herb garden on the roof, but I don't know if we'll have that off the front or if it'll come later. We might just have grass at first to get a root system that will keep the top soil from erosion problems. I'm hoping we can get a grass with a great root system, but that doesn't grow very high very fast, so that we don't have to mow it so often. I'll be picky about what we allow to grow on the roof, because I want to protect the umbrella layer and the waterproofing. There'll be no "woody" plants allowed on the roof.


• Did I mention that the PAHS umbrella system actually extends out into the berm? Before we can put dirt on the roof, we're going to have to berm up the north and east sides of the house. This will require the service of a bulldozer, as well hauling in more dirt (we don't have nearly enough).


• Luckily, the Terra-Dome guys already insulated the overhangs and parapets.


• We will need to put sheet insulation (2 inches) on the front (non-buried) walls of the house. There's a glue made for this insulation.


• There's a lot of work to do on the roof, but once it's done, I'll never have to deal with it again. Tornados wont tear it off. Hail wont damage it. The sun wont wear it out.

Bear in mind that I haven't even written anything about getting the slab poured, or putting in doors and windows to close the house in. There's so much to do with the waterproofing and utilities, and I see no reason to even write about anything further until these are done. Building a house takes lots of labor; lots of time; lots of patience; lots of determination; lots of engineering; ... and lots of money.

Oh, and somewhere in all this, Rachel & I still have to keep the current house up, keep up the garden, go to work Monday through Friday, keep the place reasonably mown, and somehow work in a life. This is gonna be tough.

They poured yesterday (and it pours today)

They did the big pour yesterday morning. This time, I climbed up on the roof of the first module and watched as they worked the concrete around on the 2nd. I took a bunch of pictures, which I hope to post soon.
There was the big pour yesterday, and then rain came today but I was hoping we wouldn't get as much rain as other areas nearby. Somehow, I just hoped we'd get enough rain to help the concrete cure slower (and therefore harder), but not so much as to make the ground slushy.
One thing the concrete pumper operator told me is how much he liked working a construction site in the country. He said that they're nazis about it in Broken Arrow. He said the concrete trucks and pumper trucks aren't allowed to operate earlier than 6AM, and even if he shows up at a site 30 minutes ahead of time, just to get parked and wait there for the concrete trucks, he's been threatened by police that they'll cite him.
The guy has been threatened by people in neighborhoods where he's worked. They've whined and complained about mud in the road (even after a big rain where the mud is there even if his truck isn't). He even had a woman threaten to call the police on him if he didn't move his truck so that she could get by, and when the police didn't do anything (because she had another way out), she went and got her husband to physically threaten him to move (and of course, he told the guy that he'd never be able to beat him up like he said he was going to, from the inside of his pickup).
and people in the city complain about the concrete mess, with no regards for the mess that was made when their own house was built.
I thank God I'm living in the country, and that I don't have whining neighbors. I'm sure I have a few neighbors that would prefer to not have concrete trucks driving through, but most are working and not home during the day to have a problem with it

Preparing for Monday's Pour

Despite the fact that it was supposed to dry out (it rained a couple more times and swamped the place, although not as bad as a week ago). The guys have been working as a two-man crew (the 3rd guy never showed up) for a few days, although they got a third hand yesterday (in our son). He wasn't used to that kind of work, and he could hardly walk after 8 hours. However, his help got them on schedule for the next concrete pour, which is scheduled for Monday.
I was a bit frustrated to get into the IP-cam with the front end loader this morning while I was mowing. I've been lazy and haven't removed the loader, because I am still moving cravel and dirt almost on a daily basis, and it seems like a pain to put the loader on and then back off and then on again.
I think I messed up the audio on the camera when I hit it though. The weatherproof case protected the camera, but I noticed that the audio was horrible (not that it was great before, as it mostly was the sound of the fan inside the case). So I've turned the audio off so that it wont be a problem.
I'm planning to get another IP-cam so that we can watch progress from antoher angle.
I experimented and was able to move most of the larger rocks out in the pasture. I merely moved them so there was enough room to mow between them, but ultimately, I'll want to move them to the north side of the house to be used as a retaining wall and stairway up onto the roof. For now, they're out in the pasture, out of the way.
I think Justin is supposed to return some time today (although Jerry hasn't heard from him and feels he'll have to cancel tomorrow's pour if Justin doesn't show), and will be working with the crew in preparation for Monday's pour, although I think with Jeremy's help, they're on schedule.

2007.06.20 - Progress

I'm thinking about only making entries about once a week now (or more often if I feel necessary), rather than every day as I had been trying to do during the construction of the first module. I may post photos as often as I can though.
They're expecting to pour the 2nd module next Tuesday. Currently, they've put up interior forms and are installing rebar and block-outs (for windows, doors, outlet and switch boxes, etc).
One of the crew is going home to attend a wedding. However, they have another guy coming to work in his place so progress should continue at the current pace.
They're progressing. I can't complain. It's slower than Terra-Dome usually put up the modules, but the quality more than makes up for it. The slower pace is allowing more attention to detail, I think.
On a side note: we swamped with more rain lastnight and this morning. However, here at the first day of summer, they're not expecting more rain for at least the next 8 days or so. That's good news.

They removed the forms from the 1st module

They removed the forms from the first module today. It looks good. The area where the patio doors will be and where the bedroom windows are, will make that suite very open and full of light. We're happy with it.
I'm not happy with all the rain we've had. There is drought in other areas of the country, and we've gotten more water than we can use. The ponds are full. Our ground is saturated and both of the Terra-Dome trucks got stuck in the mud. We've got ruts all over our property now. I got stuck several times with the tractor, spreading gravel to make better areas (non-muddy areas) for the guys to work in. I ended up using the front-end loader to lift the tractor and back myself out of the mud.
Things need to dry out. Other areas of the country, such as Alabama, could use the rain we're getting. 4 inches in a 24 hour period is too much, and some areas in northeastern Oklahoma got 7 to 8 inches of rain in that same period of time. We're having flash floods and other areas of the country are in the worst drought they've seen in 50 years.

Footings - More of Them

The guys formed the footings for the next 2 sections of the house yesterday, and the concrete for the footings was poured this morning. The guys took off early after that, planning to work some this weekend. They probably plan on removing forms from the master suite module, and set them up for the next section of the house.
One thing I noticed is that they guys took off without locking up the storage container. I had to call my son and verify that he was awake (since he works nights) and that he'd be aware if anyone showed up and was snooping around out there. We don't want our tools and supplies "walking off" (as happens all too often on construction sites).
The guys are really good at what they do, but they seem to have a problem losing keys and forgetting to lock up. They lost the first key I gave them for the storage container, and so I ended up having to give them the only key I had (hoping that I can get a copy made soon (very soon)).Anyway, in addition to that, Jerry told me that he had to drill out some screws in the top latches for the container, because he or one of the guys jammed it up one day, and they couldn't get it closed completely, and they couldn't get it open again either. So he had to drill out those screws in order to get the latch loose. (So I'm wondering if I'll end up paying for that when the container rental is up).
Anyway, I hate to complain. The guys have been making progress. I'd have preferred to be further along, but you can't control the weather; in addition, Jerry said they normally have crews of 4 to do these jobs, but he's having to do it with 3. He had hoped to hire someone locally to help, but so far, he hasn't found anyone.
Anyway, I had to take off work early to get home and secure the site. That was a bit frustrating. I'd have had my son to lock the thing up, but he doesn't know how to operate the latches on the door. It's not hard to learn, but if you haven't seen it done, it's a bit of a mystery.

Concrete - Master Suite

We were surprised this morning. Rachel left for work at 6:00 and then called me to say that she'd seen a concrete pump truck in our driveway when she left, and she thought she passed the Terra-Dome guys in their truck headed for our property.
She called me back a couple of minutes later, telling me that she just passed a concrete truck headed our direction. I went outside and the concrete truck just showed up. The guys were oiling down the dome forms and soon after, the concrete pour began. I took photos, of course.

Little Progress

Jerry was the only one on the job site today. The other two guys (Josh and Jason) didn't show up today. Later, I heard that they had a fender bender on the way back from Missouri. As I hear it, third-hand, they drove into a storm (and we've certainly had them between here and Kansas City) and hydroplaned.
Supposedly, there wasn't that much damage, and Jerry was expecting the guys to arrive around noon today. As of 20:42, we've not seen them on site.
Jeremy did do a good job of smoothing the joints in the dome forms. However, none of the rebar was installed today, so they're not going to be pouring concrete tomorrow either.
If they do pour on Wednesday, we'll be 3 days behind. Normally, one of these modules is supposed to take a week to put up. Wednesday will put it at a week and a half. I don't want to complain though, as we want quality. Jerry has been making sure the quality is there.

Slow Weekend

It was a slow weekend. We went to a family reunion over the weekend, and two of the Terra-Dome crew went home. They returned today, as did the family and I. Jerry did some work over the weekend, but it doesn't look like enough to have a pour tomorrow. This is a disappointment, but we understand the need for family going home to see family for the weekend.

They Put Up the Dome

The got the dome in today and more rebar. They formed the retaining walls and plan on finishing the rebar for the dome, as well as setting the flue liner for the chimney tomorrow.
There wont be any concrete deliveries this weekend, so they plan on concrete Monday. Two of the guys are going home for the weekend, but Jerry says that he's sticking around here to do a few things this weekend in preparation for the pour on Monday.
With a possibility of thunderstorms in the forecast, I trenched a bit north of the garage area this evening and then put down the largest tarp we have (with rocks on top of it). I know it isn't going to keep the ground beneath dry, but at least maybe it'll prevent some of the water from getting through, and the ground will be that much drier because of it. At least maybe it'll dry out faster. We pour that module last, but I want that ground suitable by that time.
Rachel took pictures but I was so tired that I didn't get a chance to post photos yet. I will later (probably this weekend).

Lots Done Today

There was lots done today, but it required me taking off work (which I don't like to do).
While waiting on people to show up, I used the tractor and pulled gravel from the pile and spread it around the building site, just so that on wet days, the guys wont be standing in mud.
The septic tank guys showed up and started digging. I posted pictures, so check it out. They hit seemingly inpenetrable rock 5 feet down, and the septic system really requires 7 feet. Since the cost of a hammer hoe is around $1200 a day, I chose to take the dirt (and rock) from the hole and berm up around the top of the system, which, on the side closer to the house, hardly needed much dirt to cover it.We ended up with several humongous rocks (which I'll need a bigger tractor to move) and these are good enough to use in our landscaping. Currently, I'm thinking that these can be used as a set of steps up the berm in the back of the house.
They couldn't fully install the system since we don't have electricity for it, and we don't have a house to hook it up to. So I paid half and they'll come back at another time (probably in 3 months) to finish the installation. At least this way, we don't have to worry about them disturbing the earth and cracking concrete. The system is in the ground, and I'm happy about it.
Rachel wont be happy about how the pasture looks all torn up and rocky right now. It looked like a park prior to this morning. It looks like an industrial park now.
The Terra-Dome guys showed up and got back to work. They had an additional guy with them that had driven down with the dome (roof) forms on a trailer. I got pictures of that too. The trailer with the forms was backed up into the master suite module and I suspect that they'll put those forms up in the next couple of days.
The storage container was also delivered. We have a special lock for it, after renting one of these containers a couple of years ago. Even without the lock, the container is going to be difficult to open for someone that doesn't know how. That'll be a good place to store items so they wont be stolen.

Putting Up Walls

They formed walls yesterday, or at least put up the inner forms, and put in conduit, form-ties, etc. More rebar and then outer forms will be done next, then the roof and overhang forms. Jerry says they hope the next pour will be on Monday.
By the way, I finally got our ip-cam working. Here's the link: http://206.231.103.245:81/
It might not be up at times, as they gave me a power supply that doesn't provide enough to accomodate the housing fan and the camera. So plugging into the weather proof housing, the fan and camera come on, but there's not enough power for the camera to really work. If I plug directly into the camera, then we get a video picture, but there's no fan and so the camera could overheat (being inside that weatherproof housing with no ventilation).
I'm hoping to post more pictures as soon as freewebs allows me to upload more. They have this funky limit on how many you can upload within a 7 day period, and to get beyond that limit, freewebs isn't free. I'm sticking with free as long as I can, although I might post a few on my google photo album, which doesn't have such a limit. I have a link to that call "More Photos".

See http://www.freewebs.com/stocktonunderground

Footings / No Septic

The footings for the master suite were poured today. It finally feels like progress.
The crew has run into cash issues, as the credit card they have expired on the first, so I'm paying an invoice early to help the guys out.
The septic guy called at 8:00 this morning. He said he couldn't come until tomorrow. So when I got to work, I made some calls to schedule a few things around tomorrow. He called this afternoon to tell me that he wouldn't be out tomorrow after all, but that he'd be out on Wednesday. (Something about the dog ate his homework, or something like that...)
Anyway, I had to reschedule for Wednesday, and I'm having a 20 ft. storage container delivered. It'll be delivered Wednesday instead of tomorrow. I figure if I have to be on-site Wednesday, I'll be there for the container delivery too.
The container will be a secure place for us to lock up the expensive tools and materials. The Terra-Dome crew doesn't lock anything up. They left an expensive laser level out on the tri-pod overnight. They at least pull our generator under their trailer to hide it a little bit, but I think the storage container will be better. I'll rest a bit easier knowing that we have that to secure our tools and materials.

Jerry Is Jay's Brother

When Jerry and the crew first arrived, I kept thinking that he looked a bit like Jay and that the voice was similar. I also figured out that Tracey Allen (the guy that normally runs the construction crews) was his brother-in-law. I didn't ask though, but I figured out today when Jerry mentioned that I should call "his brother" (referring to Jay) to ask a question dealing with block-outs for the plumbing.
Seeing as how Jerry was raised in a Terra-Dome and that it's the family business, I feel privileged to have him running the crew, and knowing that he is very relaxed and confident in how things are going so far. We see progress and it feels like, although we had a bumping start, that things are going well.

Ready For 1st Pour

I think we're ready for the 1st concrete pour. Jerry says that they'll pour tomorrow. This will be the footings for the master suite, and probably half the footings for the 2nd module.
I was a bit disappointed that the pad isn't as level as the excavation guy led me to believe. I never thought it looked level, and I should've checked it, but I would've had to re-rent one of those laser levels, and at the time, I thought that Terra-Dome was going to be out in a day or two and that there just wasn't time for that. I should've made the time, because as it turned out, a week went by before Terra-Dome came down anyway. There would've been time to correct the problem, although we had all that rain and that I might not have been able to get the guy back out to level things out.
When he was operating the dozer, his partner was using the stick to check level, but I kept thinking that he wasn't holding that stick plumb, but I was trusting that those guys were the professionals and that they knew how to do their jobs better than I did. However, as it turns out, I think I understood how to operate that laser level better than his helper did. We've off by at least 2 inches so far, and it's likely to be more than that by the time we get to the north wall of the garage.

Master Suite Footings Formed

The put up the forms for the footings in the master suite, and started on half the footings for the next module. Getting rebar and/or metal stakes into the rock to secure the forms, was tough. They had to drill into the rock. The drill was having a problem with it, and Jerry thought that they might be pulling too many amps through all that extension cord. We had the heavy duty cords, but the drill seemed to be getting excessively hot. At the end of the day, he figured out that this wasn't the hammer drill that he'd picked out, but that the folks at McCoys lumber had given him the wrong drill with his order of lumber. They'd given him a drill that wasn't a hammer drill, so it wasn't that affective with the rock.
I had thought that seemingly industrial strength drill should've been able to do a better job than it was doing this afternoon. We'd done better with out little cheap john hammer drill. However, I didn't look at his drill close and he evidently didn't either until late in the day.
He said they'd be back tomorrow and hopefully with a better drill.
We'd fired up our portable generator so that they could have power without having to have long extension cords. This didn't help that drill though, but at least it ruled out the extension cords as the source of the problem. The fact is, the drill they were using was the problem. I'm sure they'll have the right drill tomorrow.
On a side note, I spent most of the day working on the ip-cam. It got it set up and in position. I got the network cable ran and power. Then I discovered that I'd damage the network cable (the plug) when I fed it through the tight port we have in the side of the house. I cut the end of the cable off and then rewired it into a new plug, but had the terminals all wrong, and so it took a couple of hours to get it right. Luckily, I had the right kind of testing equipment to figure out that terminal 1 on one end of the cable, needed to be hooked up to terminal 1 on the other end; and then the same with each of the other wires. What a hassle!!!!
And after all that, I truly believe that we have a bad power supply or something wrong with the camera, because this time, the camera never powered up. The fan inside the weatherproof housing powered up, but I never was able to get the camera running, and so obviously, wasn't able to bring the video feed up on a web browser. I had it working lastnight, but I was tired and so I hope to mess around with it some more tomorrow morning.
If it doesn't rain, I figure I'll be doing a little bit of mowing front and back first, and then once that's out of the way, I'll mess with the camera.

Little Progress

The guys showed up around 9:15. We received over an inch of rain this morning before they arrived and so the construction site was sitting in water. I went to buy a small pump and got it set up to pumping water out to the woods. The guys left around 11:15 to go find a better place (cheaper) to stay than the hotel, and so I went to work. They were supposed to return in a few hours.
I got home and they'd not shut the little pump off when it ran out of water, and so the motor burned up. I wish they'd turned it off but they didn't. There was still some water in one area of the site and so I was hoping that maybe it will dry up over night.
We go the bad news that they can't get the concrete poured for the footings this weekend, so that wont happen until Monday. I feel like we've lost a week (another week).
Also, I went to pick up my ip-cam since Fedex couldn't find our house to deliver it (although they delivered something for my wife yesterday with no problem). I hooked the camera up this evening, and there seems to be a power problem. Rats!