Archive for May, 2010

The excavator started his early work today, rough grading the home site. A major milestone. Next comes the well, and then the foundation.

Our engineer said we are looking at only 7 day cure time before we can tilt up the walls. That’s great news.

At best, I was hoping for a 14 day cure time. We are poring 6bag mix with #5 grade 60 rebar 12 inches on center horizontally and vertically. 1 extra rebar around all openings. Wall thickness 8″ for concrete +1 for the stone protrusion.

1st wall forms = stripped
2nd wall forms = 60% complete (built on top of the 1st wall to save time while the first wall cures.)

(this post was delayed by a tech glitch)

The very first wall I made using my tilt up monolithic stone masonry method was intended to be used as a flood wall for our bridge. Yesterday I placed it and today I plumbed and levelled it.

We (my dad and I) poured the first wall of the carriage house today. I figured for 3.5 yards which involved a bit of guestimation, given the fact that the stones we were pouring the concrete on were all varying sizes. In the end we ended up with about 5 wheelbarows extra. Plenty of margin.

It took me right at 3 hours to finish the concrete once we (dad) floated it. I did a border around the windows with some stone finish mats I had made, and the rest of it with a rock salt finish. (Not sure how the transition between the two finishes will look, but this carriage house is the experiment to prove and improve the methods.)

more later….

Electric meter base inspected and approved for installation. next they set the transformer and turn on the juice.

I started building the stream crossing around 5 pm yesterday, and as of 8 pm today, it’s done. Now we can have our well put in, electricity activated, and provide access to the job site for ready-mix trucks and the 90 ton crane we’ll need to lift our walls. This was the last major hurdle before actual construction begins.

This week marks a major milestone for the castle project. we received our building permit (authorizing us to build by the stream) and a variance, allowing us to put our crossing in the creek during spawning season. (There are no gamefish in our stream).
So things will start fast-tracking now. I start putting in the crossing today and have 72 hours to finish it. (shouldn’t be a problem).

Once that is in, the well driller can come drill our well, and the electric co can come activate our power. After those are done, we can start excavation for the foundation.

And so the snowball is at the edge ready to start down the hill.