Working With Sand

After all this discussion with the plumber, he finally told me yesterday that he needs sand, not gravel, as a base to work in. I kinda figured that before, but Jay Scafe (Terra-Dome) told me they always use gravel below their slabs. I think that's for their convenience, not for the convenience of the home owner. It makes sense that copper or pex are more vulnerable to gravel than with sand.

So I had 4 loads of sand delivered today and raced to get it into the house and approximately to the height of the footings, in preparation for the plumber, who arrives to work tomorrow. On top of that, I was also racing the weather today, as there was a chance of rain and it looked like it could rain at any time. I took no time for breaks. We really can't work with wet sand, and so it was important to get it inside before any rain.

I beat the rain and I beat the clock, but now I'm beat. I am sore.

After Rachel got off work, she helped me smooth out the surface of the sand and pack it down in areas. I did most of the packing with the tractor, but there were areas that I couldn't get with the tractor. We used a hoe and a rake, and went over the entire surface, getting it pretty well.
The four loads of sand allowed me to get the basic areas where plumbing will be. I omitted an area in the master suite because I have stuff stored there that I need to keep out of the weather (paraseal is one item that I'm protecting until ready to use).There's also about half of the great room that I didn't cover (yet). I figure I need another couple of loads to finish out the house, with the exception of the garage. Only the southeast corner of the garage is being plumbed, so that's the only area that I scraped out gravel and put sand in. Hopefully, any pex in there that might be in gravel, will be protected with insulation (which we ought to have with the hot water pex anyway).

One item to note is that the plumber (Mike) suggested that instead of the sump pump in the garage (to account for the grade problem with the sewer line), that instead, for approximately the same price (and less labor on my part), we might get a contractor to bore a 4 inch hole in a more convenient place for the sewer line. I like that idea and Rachel did too when we discussed it this evening.

Anyway, the plumber and his crew arrive tomorrow. He said it would be between 8:00 and 9:00, and he says that it'll take 2 days for the sub-slab work. I'll pay half and then 35% when he comes back to do the top-out work (that wont be until we have framing in). and then 15% upon completion.

I took a few photos (click here) of the work I did today. It's not the most glamorous photographs I've taken, but I figured I wanted to document that I put in a 10 hour job today with only enough break time to use the restroom. I huffed to get it all done in case there is rain.