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Engineers Revealed

There is a sudden lurch forward in our project that was so stuck. I have spent quite a bit of time writing emails and on the phone.

For months we have been stuck waiting for spring and working out our engineer problems. It feels good to have finally gotten things moving again even if we are stuck jumping over wacky hurdles just because we are building something new to our state!

Yes there is such a thing as competitive Bunny Show Jumping!

Things officially started with both structural engineering firms and it is now time to name names. The dome engineer responsible for the superstructure and the instructor of the group is Chris Zweifel of ZZ Consulting in Idaho. He will not only engineer the dome but also teach the CT licensed firm how it all works so they can take official responsibility. On the Connecticut end, we have hired Elizabeth Acly of Cirrus Structural. Elizabeth and her staff engineer Sergio Guindon, will be handling the basement/garage as well as the floor that is suspended over it. Their other important role is to be involved in inspecting the work that is done during the construction and becoming the engineer of record for the project. The reason the town is requiring official stamped engineering for a residential home is their inability to properly inspect it. They normally do not require engineering for residential buildings but they normally are able to do the inspections of traditional construction. Since we do not fall in the normal category, an engineer needs to fill this gap. At least that is my understanding of everything.

It is a bummer that we have to add an expensive surprise expense to our project BUT we are thankful to both these professionals for being willing to have an open mind and work together. With any luck our excavator purchase will help us recoup the extra expenses by making other phases significantly cheaper.

Another area that has suddenly moved forward is the plot plan. This past week the civil engineer and the health department got our tests done for the new septic location! Since the excavator still needs its new part installed we did have to hire someone to dig for us but it was good to move forward.


Both the engineer and the sanitarian thought the tests were great. Good perk rate and the soil looked good and very consistent even during our very wet spring there was no water.

Since we are delayed by our excavator needing repair we are spending our time cleaning up the property and fixing the existing barn. My task the last two weekends has been to remove barb wire fence and clear out the prickers so we can see the stone walls. Basically spending lots of time with stuff that wants to stab me!


Yep, that is a 5 foot high pile of rusty barb wire fencing. I wish I could say I was done but there is a lot more buried in the prickers.

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