We took a week vacation and spent it stripping an amazing amount of top soil off the build area and digging our foundation. We rented another large mini excavator and we thought everything was good until it was too late and the machine needed to go back.
Mr. Dometastic got sick so the first half of the rental week was kinda a bust. He needed to sleep not dig. It was super bad timing and it cost us an additional $400 and an extra vacation day because we had to rush at the end of the week. Rushing means we missed the part on the plans that says our footer is 4 feet wide in some areas, 3 feet wide in others and then the rest is 2 feet wide. We thought the whole thing was 2 feet wide. We didn't dig as much as we needed in some areas and in others we were just a little off because the painted lines kept getting blurred by the machine.
If we hadn't had the sickness delay we would have realized it was not right in time to fix it before returning the machine. We had to rent a small mini excavator to fix what we missed the following week.
Click here for a little video Mr. Dometastic made of the finished foundation hole.
We called more concrete contractors than I can remember and only ONE got back to us after seeing the plans. I can't blame them for not wanting the job. They could most likely bang out 3 or more jobs in the time that it would take to do ours. It does seem to be industry standard to just not call back once deciding they have no interest. I find that a bit strange but I guess since I am not a general contractor by trade they don't need to be nice in the hope of future projects. The one that got back to us was a friend of a friend. They took the time to come out and look at the site but still politely declined working on the project. We held out some hope that we would be able to find a company that would take the job but in the end we are doing it ourselves.
Our plan is to build the forms and then try to get a company to come in and add their 2 cents and complete the pouring part. We are pretty sure they don't want the job because building the forms is too time consuming. We think we will pour the footer ourselves since it is only 12" thick but decided a little direction from the experts would be a good idea.
We started building the forms while we were waiting for the small mini to be available. With some advice and direction from Monolithic and South Industries we now know that we need to do the bracing a bit differently but here is our start so far. We have to really beef up our bracing but this was a bit of a trial to see how to do the curves. It is a good start it just needs more.
The last bit of news is about our loan. We were supposed to close the end of June but like everything else it takes an extra 4 weeks longer than the estimated time. Everything is all set and our insurance is in place we just need to close.
The next step is to continue to build the footer forms and get our rebar order set. We have found a local rebar shop that will check a few things off our list. They will cut, bend and deliver all the rebar to the site for us. This should simplify our form building. They are also going to create the "shop drawings" that are required by the engineer. That was another step that we were confused about. We have the regular construction plans, the detailed engineering plans but the engineering firm requires us to supply "shop drawings". Turns out these drawings are even more detailed drawings of where and how all the rebar goes into the forms.
It's hard to tell how tall the dirt piles are but the very tall ones in the back are the top soil.
We accurately set the pins in the center of each of the 4 domes according to the plans and then painted lines to follow while digging.
Digging with the big mini blissfully unaware we were not doing it correctly.
One shot with the drone before Mr. Dometastic crashed it into a tree. It now needs repair parts again.
Fixing things with the small mini.
Compacting the trench
I am glossing over all the time spent digging by hand in the heat because it was difficult to fix our error without causing the walls to collapse a bit. I think I am trying to block out the experience. I am no stranger to the humble shovel but it gets old really fast when you are working in the heat and humidity. We rented the small mini so it would be easier to maneuver within the house area but is was still impossible to get the correct angle to to do cleanly. The end result after our fix it day is a foundation hole that resembles a lazy river water ride.Click here for a little video Mr. Dometastic made of the finished foundation hole.
We called more concrete contractors than I can remember and only ONE got back to us after seeing the plans. I can't blame them for not wanting the job. They could most likely bang out 3 or more jobs in the time that it would take to do ours. It does seem to be industry standard to just not call back once deciding they have no interest. I find that a bit strange but I guess since I am not a general contractor by trade they don't need to be nice in the hope of future projects. The one that got back to us was a friend of a friend. They took the time to come out and look at the site but still politely declined working on the project. We held out some hope that we would be able to find a company that would take the job but in the end we are doing it ourselves.
Our plan is to build the forms and then try to get a company to come in and add their 2 cents and complete the pouring part. We are pretty sure they don't want the job because building the forms is too time consuming. We think we will pour the footer ourselves since it is only 12" thick but decided a little direction from the experts would be a good idea.
We started building the forms while we were waiting for the small mini to be available. With some advice and direction from Monolithic and South Industries we now know that we need to do the bracing a bit differently but here is our start so far. We have to really beef up our bracing but this was a bit of a trial to see how to do the curves. It is a good start it just needs more.
The last bit of news is about our loan. We were supposed to close the end of June but like everything else it takes an extra 4 weeks longer than the estimated time. Everything is all set and our insurance is in place we just need to close.
The next step is to continue to build the footer forms and get our rebar order set. We have found a local rebar shop that will check a few things off our list. They will cut, bend and deliver all the rebar to the site for us. This should simplify our form building. They are also going to create the "shop drawings" that are required by the engineer. That was another step that we were confused about. We have the regular construction plans, the detailed engineering plans but the engineering firm requires us to supply "shop drawings". Turns out these drawings are even more detailed drawings of where and how all the rebar goes into the forms.
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